Everyone gets so uppity about plagiarism.
I realize the difference is quoting, referencing and plagiarizing has been discussed in many academic circles. However, it continues to elude high school students who honestly thought they were just paraphrasing the article. Why can you set off 4 pages worth in block quotes, but if something remains uncited it is plagiarism?
In my profession we consider research published more than 5 years ago to be "common knowledge." Why should that not be the case for more genres?
This subject is not particularly timely or relevant, I was just thinking back to the time when I considered becoming an english teacher. I would carefully plan out my strategy for encouraging plagiarism from my students. Using the work of others is how new work is eventually created. If the original author does not want his/her work to be used - don't publish. "But then nothing would ever get published." Exactly.
