Malcolm Gladwell Plagiarism

If someone steals from you, it is quite normal to get angry. But what if what they stole is not tangibly yours in the first place? How can it be protected? In his essay “Something Borrowed” Journalist Malcolm Gladwell recounts the time playwright Bryony Lavery plagiarized content from his 1996 news piece “Damaged” in her Broadway play “Frozen.” Throughout “Damaged” Gladwell documented psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis’s interviews with serial killers. Not only did Lavery take themes from both “Damaged” and Lewis’s 1998 book “Guilty by Reason of Insanity” but also copied verbatim sentences verbatim from Gladwell’s article. The issue at hand regards intellectual property theft and copyright infringement. Even though Lavery borrowed from both Gladwell and Lavery, Gladwell claims in his essay that the way Lavery borrowed from Lewis’s work is “transformative” and therefore protected by the fair use clause of copyright law. She drew inspiration from Lewis’s life and changed the story for the stage. By appropriating the exact words and phrasing from Gladwell’s work, without any credit, Lavery not only committed acts of plagiarism but also what Gladwell calls “derivative” borrowing. Plagiarism, “the action or practice of taking someone else’s work, idea, etc. and passing it off as one’s own” (OED Online) can be simplified to literary theft. Either way, Lavery did something illegal under copyright law. Yet Gladwell writes that while Lewis “‘felt robbed and violated in some peculiar way … as

-This doesn't mean that people are stealing others' work, it means that each and every piece of literature directly affects the way a writer views and processes things.

Not only does he uses the work of various other people to enhance his point, he adds multiple examples. He addresses the success of people such as Bill Gates and the Beatles and talks about how they became outliers while also using other examples to solidify his argument. While talking about Bill Gates and the Beatles, Gladwell emphasizes that they got the opportunity to get better, that “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” (42) Adding points such as that are what give him that

Two popular historians Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin, Goodwin show signs of plagiarism contained in the ''The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys'' to Ambrose book ''Kathleen Kennedy: Her Life and Times”. This was discovered while reviewing Goodwin’s book, although the review was kind, a copyright lawyer was then hired which ended in satisfactory. There was many attempts to make plagiarism seem right with artistic and historical thing beforehand which can be excused as a popular writer can use any material that they seem to like. But when the plagiarized material was taken away the text was anything besides the main idea. Plagiarism is always bad whether the article plagiarized was published

Plagiarism, defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary, is “the act of using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to that person”, but in simpler terms is the wrongful copying of another’s work for your own(Merriam-Webster). Plagiarism though seeming like a simple offense, can cause the downfall, if not caught, of a creative person and their work. However when justice is served, and the plagiarizer is caught, they can lose everything from their reputation to even their job. Even though plagiarism seems like a common sense crime not to commit, people such as Joe Biden, Jane Goodall, and even president Barack Obama, have been found to plagiarize another’s work. For the purpose of this essay, Jayson Blair, a once up and coming

Plagiarism is an act of lying, cheating, a form of deception. However, it's an easy alternative to getting your work done. People believe that they can get away with plagiarism, but every time the action is done, the risk increases. "What I found is that when you cross the line once, it becomes easier, and easier, to cross it again" (Blair). Jayson Blair was a former journalist in the New York Times who dedicate their lives to finding the truth. In a surprising turn of events, it was revealed that Blair wasn't creating his own work.

I believe that Gladwell’s purpose for writing “The Trouble with Geniuses Part One and Two” is for individuals to reevaluate the way that society defines and calculates a genius. According to Gladwell, society continues to make the mistake of not understanding what an outlier truly is. I believe Gladwell’s true purpose is to have individuals question the norms that have been set into place by society when it pertains to labeling someone as a genius. Specifically, those who are put into a position of prestige and or great admiration. Gladwell, wants individuals to question the determining factors which allows people to become an outlier.

People invest and take pride in their contributions; it is unfortunate that someone else could have no consideration and not give credit to whom it is due. Whether people are inclined to plagiarize because they are hesitant to work thoroughly or it has become culturally acceptable still makes it disreputable. Either way this infringement can and will have adverse effects on a person’s personal and professional

I concur with Gurney’s argument based on the free ride many students take in college due to the easy access of plagiarized work. Plagiarism refers to the practice of using someone else's work and passing it off as one's own. There is an old Caribbean saying that goes, “What you put in is what you get out.” This simply means that one cannot accomplish their goals fairly without putting in the necessary time and effort. For instance, Gurney’s article stated, “It is much more valuable, that diploma in hand, when you earn it yourself". Plagiarized work does not benefit one because he or she is using someone else’s opinion and experience instead of their own. This does not allow one to learn more about the particular topic and to express their

Through a thorough compare and contrast, Gladwell is able to reveal the legitimate difference brought on by the given environment and social upbringing. He employs juxtaposition to describe the very contrasting outcomes of wealthy families, with “concerted cultivation,” and poorer families, with a “more hands off approach.” Gladwell’s goal is to reinvent the simplistic mindset of his audience, by linking circumstance with success. This inspires the audience, seeing as though many are often discouraged by their inability to grasp a concept instantly.

Gladwell separates the novel into three sections. The first section deals with what he calls “obsessive’s, pioneers, and minor geniuses.” The readers are introduced to Ron Popeil, the pitchman

The book I am reviewing is a great non-fiction book about our worlds outliers. The book is written by Malcolm Gladwell who’s a staff writer at the New Yorker. The book talks about the outliers in our society. It’s topics stretches from rice paddies to music performers that have excelled in their fields. But all the topics are related by a sense of success and the ability to achieve that success.

In today’s society there is a wide variety of TV dramas shown for entertainment purposes such as CSI, Grey’s Anatomy, Code Black, as well as NCIS. Unfortunately these shows have the capability to alter someone’s perspective and respect that they have for the people that have to cope with these situations in their everyday life. The show, CSI, directly correlates to the article by incorrectly portraying criminal profiling, which is the message that Gladwell wishes to knock. A similar situation occurs with Grey’s Anatomy as well as Code Black, which are both hospital dramas that incorrectly show life in the ER and busy hospitals, romanticizing the life that they live no matter how wrong the portrayal may be.

After reading Gladwell's discussion of plagiarism, it made me see plagiarism a bit different. I had never really paid much mind to it as I did until after this reading this story. From her point of view, I could see how or why she was so upset and distraught. Like she mentioned at the beginning she even felt as if the had stolen her essence. Various types of cheating are shameless in diverse ways. In any case, if the primary concern the matter with scholarly

For Gladwell, plagiarism is defined as a borrowing that is not approved by the source of inspiration and this is made evidently clear when he states, “But to lift material, without my approval, is theft” (Gladwell). The theft, in this case, that Gladwell is referring to is highly discussed towards the beginning of his article. The essay opens with a case study of an example of plagiarism utilizing a play entitled “Frozen,” written by Bryony Lavery, the work of psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis, and Gladwell himself. The culprit, Lavery, plagiarized not only the work, but the life of Dorothy Lewis and a profile of Lewis’s life written by Gladwell. Gladwell states, “Lewis sat down and made up a chart detailing what she felt were the questionable parts of Lavery’s play.