I’m not a lawyer so I’m not the end all, know all about copyright. I do have a degree in journalism, learned about copyright, fair use and plagiarism several times over in my course work and have read up on the subject. I can’t pretend to know all the details, but I do know this, whenever you use someone’s words, you must cite the author, publication and title of the piece.
Yes, that goes for a blog. In fact, it even goes for a Facebook posting. Every time you copy and paste someone’s Facebook status, you should make sure to cite your source.
Last week, one of my blog posts was copied completely into a Facebook post, without even citing the source. You cannot copy and paste a large amount of the work, so copying the entire thing into your status is definitely plagiarism. While it’s highly unlikely you’ll be sued, it’s still illegal.
Again last week, I stumbled on a blog that copied and pasted most of a page of mine. While that author did cite my webpage, still wasn’t okay because the author didn’t have my permission.
It’s a clear cut situation, anytime you use someone’s words or thoughts without citing, you’re doing something illegal.
“Simply put, plagiarism is the use of another’s original words or ideas as though they were your own. Any time you borrow from an original source and do not give proper credit, you have committed plagiarism and violated U.S. copyright laws,” from Plagiarism.org.
Sure copying from someone’s blog or Facebook status doesn’t seem like a huge deal, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a New York Times best selling book or a friend on Facebook, use their words and you must cite.
Also, for the most part, you can’t copy the entire work and simply cite it back to the source, or most of the original.
You could not copy this entire blog post, legally, and then cite it to this blog. You could pull out a few sentences and credit it back to this blog.
It is important, when you copy and paste someone’s work without credit, you’re making it harder to track down the original source in case there’s ever an issue. You’re also stealing their ideas and words.
In summary:
1. Whenever you post anything that isn’t oringnal, you must cite it (list the author and where you found the posting), even if it’s just on Facebook.
2. You cannot just copy large amounts of text from a source and cite it. You must ask and receive permission to use a large amount of someone’s work.
