Plagiarism &

Some Infamous
Plagiarists

Muhammad 20
Asad Qaisar 23
 Table of
Contents
1 Abstract Pg. 1

2 Introduction Pg. 1
What is Plagiarism? Pg. 1
Action Considered as Plagiarism Pg. 1
Types of Plagiarism Pg. 1-2

3 Plagiarism Statistics Pg. 3-4

4 Infamous Plagiarists Pg. 4

The Case of Melania Trump Pg. 4-5
The Case of Martrin Luther King Jr. Pg. 5
The Case of George Harrison Pg. 5
The Case of Alex Haley Pg. 5-6
The Case of Saddam Hussein Pg. 6

5 Conclusion &
Pg. 6
Recommendation

6 Bibliography Pg. 7

PLAGIARISM & SOME INFAMOUS

PLAGIARISTS
 Table of
Illustration

1 Plagiarism Statistics Pg. 3-4

Figure 1: Plagiarism Cases in
different Regions
Pg. 3

Figure 2: Plagiarism Cases in

Pg. 3
different fields

Figure 3: Experience &

Assumption of Plagiarism a/c Pg. 3
to pepole

Figure 4: Type of plagiarism

experienced by people
Pg. 4

PLAGIARISM & SOME INFAMOUS

PLAGIARISTS
Date: 17 January, 2023
To: Rabia Saadi
From: Muhammad Asad Qaisar

Subject: Plagiarism & Some Infamous Plagiarists

Abstract:
As you requested, I searched about some infamous plagiarists and some famous cases of plagiarism in
the world, include the fields of politics, music, literature, and academics so, I am submitting this
summary of plagiarism and some infamous plagiarists.

Introduction:
What is Plagiarism?
Plagiarism is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “The act of presenting someone else's
ideas or work as your own, with or without that person's permission, by incorporating it into
your work without giving it due credit, is known as plagiarism”. This definition applies to all
works, both published and unpublished, whether they are in manuscript, print, or electronic form.
Plagiarism can be wilful, careless, or accidental. Plagiarism that is deliberate or careless is prohibited
under exam regulations and is grounds for disciplinary action.
Plagiarism is typically not in itself a crime, but like counterfeiting, fraud can be punished in a court
for prejudices caused by copyright infringement, violation of moral rights, or torts. In academia and
industry, it is a serious ethical offense. Plagiarism and copyright infringement overlap to a
considerable extent, but they are not equivalent concepts, and many types of plagiarism do not
constitute copyright infringement, which is defined by copyright law and may be adjudicated by
courts.
Not all nations have the same views on the propriety of language or ideas. The copying of another
professional's work might be seen as a sign of respect or admiration in some countries, although some,
like India and Poland, consider plagiarism to be a crime punishable by imprisonment. It could be
challenging for students from nations where plagiarism is tolerated to adjust to life in the United
States and other Western nations.

All of the following are considered as Plagiarism

 turning in someone else's work as your own
 copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
 failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
 giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
 changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
 copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work,
whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)

Types of Plagiarism
Plagiarism comes in many forms but some common types are as follow:

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 Complete Plagiarism
When a writer submits someone else's work under their own name, it is considered as complete
plagiarism. Paying somebody to write a paper for you, then handing that paper in with your
name on it, is an act of complete plagiarism. Plagiarism also includes stealing or "borrowing"
someone else's work and submitting it as your own.

 Direct Plagiarism
Direct plagiarism is similar to complete plagiarism in that it, too, is the overt passing-off of
another writer’s words as your own. The difference between the two is how much of the paper
is plagiarized. With complete plagiarism, it’s the entire paper. With direct plagiarism, specific
sections or paragraphs are included without crediting (or even acknowledging) the author.

 Paraphrasing plagiarism
When a writer reuses another's work while making minor word or phrase modifications, it is
known as paraphrasing plagiarism. It’s a common type of plagiarism, and many students don’t
even realize it’s a form of plagiarism. However, plagiarism occurs when you use someone else's
original concept without giving them credit, even if you put it in your own words.

 Self-plagiarism
You must not submit work for assessment that you have already submitted (partially or in full),
either for your current course or for another qualification of this, or any other, university, unless
this is specifically provided for in the special regulations for your course. Where earlier work
by you is citable, i.e. it has already been published, you must reference it clearly. Identical
pieces of work submitted concurrently will also be considered to be auto-plagiarism.

 Patchwork plagiarism
Patchwork plagiarism, often referred to as mosaic plagiarism, describes situations in which
copied work is mixed in with the author's original work. This type of plagiarism may occur in
conjunction with direct plagiarism and might be subtle and simple to overlook.

 Source-based plagiarism

Understanding source-based plagiarism can be challenging. This type of plagiarism involves

the writer correctly citing their sources but misrepresenting those sources.

 Accidental plagiarism

The most frequent sort of plagiarism, accidental plagiarism occurs when a writer doesn't
recognise they are using someone else's words in their own work. Included in accidental
plagiarism are the following:

 Forgetting to cite your sources in your work

 Not citing your sources correctly
 Failing to put quotes around cited material

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Plagiarism Statistics:

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Infamous Plagiarists:
In the 1st century, the use of the Latin word "plagiarius" (literally "kidnapper") to denote stealing
someone else's creative work was pioneered by the Roman poet Martial, who complained that another
poet had "kidnapped his verses".
There are many famous cases of plagiarism, the five of the most well-known of these, which includes
the cases of:

 Melania Trump,
 Martin Luther King Jr.,
 George Harrison,
 Alex Haley,
 Saddam Hussein.
These incidents of plagiarism, include the fields of politics, music, literature, and academics, were all
carried out either intentionally or unintentionally, and they all received a lot of press coverage around
the world.

The Case of Melania Trump

One of the most well-known recent cases of plagiarism is a speech given by Melania Trump soon after
President Donald Trump's inauguration. The speech resembles Michelle Obama's in every way. Both
the organisation and the content were extremely similar. This caused a bit of a social media craze and
will probably cause the Trump family some embarrassment. Thus, if we contrast two passages from
these two addresses, we can see that Melania stated the following:

“From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what
you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your
promise, that you treat people with respect”

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(Melania Trump, 2016).
However, if we compare this to the Obama speech in 2008, Michelle says that:
“Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want
in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do; that you treat
people with dignity and respect, even if you don’t know them, and even if you don’t agree with
them”

(Michelle Obama, 2008).

This section of the speech in particular has a number of different matches, which include:
(1) hard work leads to success,
(2) being honest and keeping one’s word is important, and
(3) that it is important to treat people with respect.

The Case of Martin Luther King Jr.

Another high profile case of plagiarism is that of Martin Luther King Jr. With an untouched legacy as
a civil rights leader, and his famous “I have a dream…” speech, King committed plagiarism. This case
related to the doctoral dissertation he prepared in 1955, parts of which were plagiarised.
However, his doctorate was not revoked. Although this case of plagiarism may have cast a shadow on
King’s achievements, it has not significantly changed how people view him. However, this incident
does serve as a caution. Any case of plagiarism may be brought up even after death. A person's life
achievements and everything they have worked for could be damaged by this.

The Case of George Harrison

Harrison’s 1970 hit ‘My Sweet Lord’, has showed many similarities to the Chiffons 1963 hit ‘He’s So
Fine’. Bright Tunes filed a lawsuit against Harrison for an infringement of the copyright of ‘He’s So
Fine’. This resulted in Harrison paying a fine of over half a million dollars, which at the time was a
significant amount of money. Accidental plagiarism was ruled out. Harrison has allegedly listened to
the 1963 hit, had forgot about it, and had subconsciously took in some of the elements of the song.
While this was not the best start of the Harrison’s solo career, but he went on to have success as a solo
performer on his own. Yet again, this incident had cast a doubt on his artistic ability. This serves as a
warning to all artists and writers. It is very difficult to guard against this type of plagiarism, as it is
rooted in the unconscious mind.

The Case of Alex Haley

While these cases of accidental plagiarism can occur frequently in the music industry, they can also
occur in the literature industry.
In Alex Haley's 1976 novel "Roots: The Saga of an American Family," which tells the story of a young
African sold into slavery in the eighteenth century. The popular culture of the West was greatly
influenced by this book. "Roots" contained plagiarised material. A few sections in the novel of Harold
Courlander's "The African," published in 1965.

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 Haley insisted that this was an accident. He acknowledged that the passages had unintentionally been
lifted from "The African," which resulted in a settlement for plagiarism of $650,000. Despite Haley's
success, this settlement must have had a significant impact on his earnings from the 1976 book and
literary sensation; by today's standards, this sum is in the millions.

The Case of Saddam Hussein

Plagiarism evidence can also be quite serious in other ways, as seen in the 2003 case of Saddam
Hussein and the Iraqi government. Saddam and his administration duly responded to the United
Nations' request for information about Iraq's military activities and weapons programme with a
lengthy paper outlining a counter-declaration.
Large sections of the report were directly copied from the United Nations' own reports. It appears to
be an original document because several sections were edited to exclude all criticism of Iraq. This
kind of plagiarism is more dangerous and stealthy. Due to political reasons, crucial information
regarding Iraq's weapons program was concealed. This influenced the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which
resulted in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government and the ensuing political and social unrest
in Iraq in the years that followed.
This willingly kept information from the United Nations. This particular case is not just famous, but
also infamous.

Conclusion & Recommendation:

As previously stated, plagiarism happens when a writer tries to claim credit for another writer's work.
But plagiarism is more than just that. Another case of plagiarism is when a writer uses a passage from
another author's work while failing to provide due credit to the original author. Even a writer can
plagiarise their own work, unfortunately.
There are several reasons why plagiarism should be avoided. It's untrue, to start with. Simply put,
passing off someone else's writing as your own is a form of dishonesty.
You don't learn anything by using another person's work without giving credit, which is another reason
to avoid plagiarism. When your professor gives you an essay assignment, they anticipate that you will
make a sincere attempt to engage with the material, use critical thinking techniques, and show that you
can create, present, and defend your argument convincingly. Your professor can see how you're doing
in their class and any places where you might need extra help by looking through your original essay,
mistakes and all.
It is important to understand the importance of giving credit where credit is due, and to always properly
cite any sources used in your work. Many universities and academic institutions have strict policies in
place to prevent plagiarism, and may use plagiarism detection software to help identify instances of
plagiarism.
Moreover, it is disrespectful to the original writer. Writing is work, and it can occasionally be really
difficult work. When you claim someone else's creation as your own, you deprive them of the credit
they deserve for the efforts they put into making it while giving yourself excessive credit.

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 Bibliography

1. Plagiarism. In University of Oxford. Retrieved January 13, 2023,

from https://www.ox.ac.uk/students/academic/guidance/skills/plagiarism

2. Wikipedia contributors. (2022, December 15). Plagiarism. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved 00:38, January 13, 2023,
from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plagiarism&oldid=1127547326

3. What is Plagiarism? - Plagiarism.org. (2017, May 18). What Is Plagiarism? - Plagiarism.org.

Retrieved January 13, 2023,
from http://plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism

4. Kramer. (2022, February 15). 7 Common Types of Plagiarism, With Examples. 7 Common
Types of Plagiarism, With Examples | Grammarly Blog. Retrieved January 13, 2023,
from https://www.grammarly.com/blog/types-of-plagiarism/

5. Smart P. & Gaston T. (2018, November 27). How prevalent are plagiarized submissions?
Global survey of editors. Retrieved January 13, 2023
from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/leap.1218

6. Cuyas, A. (2019, March 26). The Top Five Famous Cases of Plagiarism: The Cases of
Melania Trump, Martin Luther King Jr., George Harrison, Alex Haley, and Saddam Hussein.
Viper Blog. Retrieved January 13, 2023,
from https://blog.scanmyessay.com/2019/03/26/the-top-five-famous-cases-of-plagiarism-the-
cases-of-melania-trump-martin-luther-king-jr-george-harrison-alex-haley-and-saddam-
hussein/

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