Here are just a few examples. A Canadian school district filched most of my disclaimer. SLTs at a residential school in the UK reproduced 18 of my pages on their site and dismantled their entire site when I contacted them about it (though I received no apology...nor even a response). A US academic set a bad example to his students, one of whom blew the whistle on him, by copying my Brown's Stages page onto his course page. A University department in India took my meta-tags, and a South Korean University communication disorders department cloned 35 pages including all the links pages.

These and other exploits were overshadowed, however, when two highly credentialed Linguistics academics at a reputable university in Egypt brazenly pinched most of the phonology content here and cobbled them into a book chapter  (which I have on file) without a word of acknowledgement! When I drew it to their attention in June 2005 their horrified colleagues and employers apologised publicly, privately and unreservedly, but I heard not a word from the two perpetrators.

It was equally remarkable, and even more upsetting, when a prestigious US organisation, comprised chiefly of high profile SLPs, converted my pages on SLP around the world into one massive .pdf, purportedly their own 'International Directory', and posted it on their site. I had to remind them three times over three or four weeks, but they took it down eventually and apologised both for putting it there in the first place and for the delay in removing it. But alas, I have been waiting since December 2005 for a promised explanation of how it came to be there in the first place. Who dunnit? So disappointing!

Meanwhile, numerous Speech-Language Pathologists, in a range of work settings, have reproduced pages from my site without asking. To take one small but annoying example, the ___ Speech and Language Center somewhere in the US proclaimed:

"In setting fees, we are guided (1) by our professional association (2) by considering what people can reasonably be expected to afford, and (3) by determining what we need to charge in order to maintain an exemplary level of service. Fees are discussed with potential clients prior to consultation." 

The paragraph above was an unauthorised adaptation of the following paragraph on my web site. The 12 words in grey are the ones that were not included in the copy-cat version. Note that even the punctuation is the same! And because of the vocabulary I used in the original, it was not necessary to change any of it into American spelling.

"In setting fees, we are guided (1) by our professional association, Speech Pathology Australia, (2) by considering what people can reasonably be expected to afford, and (3) by determining what we need to charge in order to maintain an exemplary level of service. The fee scale is displayed in the waiting rooms. Fees are discussed with potential clients prior to consultation."

Proof
Can I prove that my words predated the ___ Speech and Language Center words? Yes, I can. The page is an electronic copy of a printed information sheet that dates back 25 years! The information sheet has been modified and updated periodically, but somehow this particular paragraph has remained unchanged. 

The 'right' in 'copyright'
Plagiarism is unethical and illegal. As owner of speech-language-therapy.com, and author of its content, my material is covered by copyright as a literary work. This gives me the right (the 'right' in 'copyright') to reproduce the work, communicate it to the public, and make adaptations of it. 

If someone copies a substantial portion of the work it is an infringement of copyright. For a literary work 'substantial' means about 10%. Depending how you interpret it, the ___ Speech and Language Center paragraph comprises 80.6% or 100% of my paragraph. Either way, it is 'substantial' to say the least!

I also have moral rights in the work, including a right of attribution and a right of integrity. 

Remedies
Remedies are available in the form of injunctions through the courts. This is costly, time consuming, and potentially unpleasant, so, what I have tried to do in instances of plagiarism of material from here is to contact the people responsible. Some have 'ignored' my emails, but removed the material very quickly. Some have modified or rephrased the plagiarised information. Many have said they did not realise my words were copyright, while several have been outraged that I would object! Some have apologised (thanks, all is forgiven, but it is difficult to forget).

Interactive areas & email
The person or people behind a web site 'interact' with the Internet community via forms (for example, Guest Books, Chat Pages, Message Boards), and of course, email. One of the pitfalls of such interactive forums is that you cannot always be sure that the entries are genuine. Many webmasters, myself included, have had the experience of material from elsewhere being copied and pasted into interactive forms or emails. In one incident an entry on a (now discontinued) message board on the ASHA site was pasted into my message board by a third party, and in another, a post to a listserv I participate in was pasted into my guest book (now also discontinued because of this type of abuse).

Permission granted!
I receive frequent requests from consumer advocates, clinicians, teachers and academics wanting to print and distribute, with appropriate attribution, information from this site. Some wish to include material from here in information or teaching packages in print and electronic form. People have also sought permission to translate and distribute certain pages in Afrikaans, Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Welsh. The answer has always been yes, since I regard such requests as a great compliment.

Reference
American Psychological Association (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association : Fifth Edition.

A few MORE words...
In the article A few MORE Words about Plagiarism suggestions for citing electronic references in electronic documents are provided. Feedback is welcome. CB

Links
Academic Plagiarism
All about the Internet: Code of Conduct  
Antiplagiarism strategies
Chilling Effects Clearinghouse and copyright 
Implications for educators
Open Directory: Intellectual Property  
Plagiarism awareness day 2007
Plagiarism in Colleges in USA 
Plagiarism dot org  
Plagiarized dot com
Wendy Web 

Academic honesty
Many institutions and instructors caution their students about the implications of, and penalties for, plagiarism. For example: Regulations and Policies  from Loyola College.

APA Style
The Fifth Edition of the APA Style Manual (American Psychological Association, 2001) provides comprehensive guidance for citing electronic references in scholarly publications, some of which is available on the web. These guidelines differ from those found in previous editions of the  manual.
Reference Examples for Electronic Source Material 
Electronic Media and URLs 
General Forms for Electronic References 
Citations in Text of Electronic Material

Cloned logo!
The logo here was lifted from my professional association, here. We wrote to you here lots of times! Why haven't you answered our email, guys?

Page updated 09 May, 2007

http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/plagiarism.htm