PRICE'S PLAGIARISM[:p]

Some artists are plagiarists. The composer, G.F. Handel, used the material of other composers and passed it off as his own, sometimes improving on it. Of course, T.S. Eliot said that one of the qualifications of a great poet was the ability to use the work of other writers. I certainly draw on the ideas of others, often like some sort of patchwork quilt. Sometimes I quote phrases, sentences and paragraphs without acknowledging the source. It does not always seem necessary, appropriate, desirable or fitting to do so. My poetry, as it is, is loaded with quotations and acknowledgments in both the epilogue and at the end of a poem. -Ron Price, Pioneering Over Four Epochs, 29 September 2002.[}:)]

This story is my unique blend
and plagiarism is just not an issue,
especially now that I do not occupy
an academic chair, lounge-suite
or pillow in the corner of a cloister.[8)]

I have put together my own package
with the help of thousands,
the ideas of more than I can count.
Just how much of me is me
and how much of me is not me
is impossible to tell
in the instance writing.[8)]

It's not all new,
just a changing landscape
in the great quest
for identity and how to live
in and through community
as we rise from obscurity
in these several epochs
and play our role in this
immense human family. [:)]

The surge forward
at this climacteric of history,
in these days of my maturity,
heading down a track
no one can foresee,
such a long struggle,
dazzled and bedraggled
by the chaotic events
of our time at, perhaps,
the darkest hours
before the dawn?[8D]

Ron Price
29 September 2002[;)]

We all borrow, and borrowing can be both good and legitimate. Copying without acknowledging, however, is usually simple theft, and it can ruin any writer's reputation.

It's fine to build on a theme, if you make significant changes or improvements to that theme. This has never been considered plagiarism, and still isn't.

Using the work of other writers does not in any way mean simply copying that work.

There's a reason it's called "creative" writing, and that reason is because legitimate writers create what they write, they don't simply copy from someone else who really was creative.

There are certainly times when borrowing is fine and legitimate, but it's walking a very fine line, and if you step over that line you will be called on it, and rightfully so.

 Online publishing isn't right for that reason. Once someone plagerized an entire piece I wrote years ago, down to my name, which I had for whatever reason tacked onto the end of the writing. Proceeded to E-mail for removal and was told that my five or six sources weren't enough to prove legitamite reason to have it taken down (and how about E-mail address matching the name at the end of the writing?) Many websites refuse to edit some articles - all very frustrating!