Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

academic dishonesty

I was charged for intellectual dishonesty for submitting an article critique assignment involving direct quotes from an article without any citation of the information as a direct quote. I was given a zero and I was already reported to the Vice President for Academic Affairs without allowing me the right of due process to explain and hear my side of the story. This is already on record in my student file. I had the general citation at the beginning of my assignment, obviously observed right under the title of the article, thus showing no intentions on my part to represent it as my own work.What I was charged for intellectual dishonesty referred to the direct quoting of elements of the research like its purpose, the participants, including their gender, age, type of patients and the length of time since their injury, and description of the intervention done.In reality, I thought there is no need citing them since I do not claim them as my own since they are, I repeat, �elements of the research�.Moreover, it is a critiquing assignment and how else would I criticize the article of the author without referencing to the same words. Wouldn�t the Fair Use Law apply?


Asked on 4/21/09, 3:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Nancy Delain Delain Law Office, PLLC

Re: academic dishonesty

Your use would likely be found by the court to NOT be "fair use" under 17 USC 107 and its surrounding case law. What you describe is likely to be found to be plagiarism.

Citation of sources is incredibly important, especially in the academic world. In successful "fair use" cases, citation of source is there. Every time.

There's nothing wrong with quoting someone, as long as you indicate the quoted passages through "quotation marks" or indentation, as long as the quoted passages are not too long, as long as the purpose of the quote is one of those listed in the statute for "fair use," (critique is one of the listed uses), and as long as you credit the original author with the quoted material. Citation is about crediting where credit is due. Presenting someone else's research results without citation, even in a critiquing paper ... that's plagiarism.

Learn to cite. Cite everything. Overdo it. No one was ever accused of academic dishonesty for too many citations.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.

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Answered on 4/27/09, 11:36 pm


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