What is Plagiarism?

Random House Dictionary defines plagiarism as the following:

1. the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.


2. something used and represented in this manner.

Recently on this forum there was a discussion of plagiarism in a now-closed thread titled Magazines and Journals.[1]

In that thread, Carl Bergstrom pointed out that plagiarism is a serious concern that should be substantiated:
Former member, "Dan Robin" demanded proof: Dan also suggested this might just be a matter of professional jealousy, and that plagiarism could be readily identified. He discussed "groundbreaking" and "original" work by a certain author, and made the claim that "Stuff like plagiarism just doesn't last long any more":In reality, the Internet provides motive, means and opportunity for individuals to access, duplicate, reword and republish. Internet plagiarim is an increasing concern of educators[2] and frequency of plagiarism has been ranked as high as 40-60% in some studies.[3]

For this reason, we're instituting a NO-PLAGIARISM policy here at bonsaiTALK Community. We invite members and guests to report to the moderators any plagiarized article content or posts containing unattributed quotes. The first offense will be a warning. Depending upon the severity of repeat offenses, there may be more severe penalties, including banishment.

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Please consider the Random House definition of Plagiarism at the top of this page, and then reflect on the five paragraphs excerpted from following two articles:

1. In the left column: "The History of Chopsticks"[4] at http://www.asianartmall.com/chopstickshistory.htm , published ~June 24, 2004
   
2. In the right column:, The introduction to the article "Chopsticks: Bonsai's Most Versatile Tool"[5] by Will Heath http://www.knowledgeofbonsai.org/tools/chopsticks.php

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The History of Chopsticks		Chopsticks: Bonsai's Most Versatile Tool
It is believed the first chopsticks were developed over 5000 years ago in China. Early Asian man would retrieve his food from the fire using sticks or branches broken from trees. Later, as the population grew and resources became scarce, people would cut food into smaller pieces to save fuel because the smaller portions cooked faster. This eliminated the need for knives, and chopsticks became the utensil of choice.		Chopsticks were invented over 5000 years ago in China and as is commonly believed, they evolved from Asian man's use of sticks to retrieve food from the fire. In order to conserve fuel which became scarce, food would be cut into smaller pieces that enabled it to cook faster using less fuel and eliminating the need for knifes

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The History of Chopsticks		Chopsticks: Bonsai's Most Versatile Tool
Confucius taught, "The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table." Confucius' disdain for the presence of knives at the kitchen table, coupled with the popularity of his teachings no doubt contributed to the expanding use of chopsticks among the population.		Confucius is credited with advancing the use of chopsticks with his teaching that, "The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table." His aversion to knifes at the dining table no doubt fueled the popularity of chopsticks in China.

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The History of Chopsticks		Chopsticks: Bonsai's Most Versatile Tool
By 500 A.D., chopsticks had spread from China to other countries such as Korea, Vietnam and Japan...and their use became as widespread as the rest of Asia in no time...		It is believed that by 500 AD chopsticks had spread to many other Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam and soon to the rest of Asia as well.

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The History of Chopsticks		Chopsticks: Bonsai's Most Versatile Tool
While initially only used for religious ceremonies in Japan, chopsticks quickly gained popularity there as well...Japanese chopsticks originally resembled tweezers made from bamboo, with the two pieces joined together at one end.		...Japan once used chopsticks for mainly ceremonial purposes before the practicality of using them as an eating utensil caught on. These Japanese chopsticks were commonly joined at one end and used like a pair of tweezers.

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The History of Chopsticks		Chopsticks: Bonsai's Most Versatile Tool
Chopsticks come in many different forms. Bamboo tends to be the most popular material to make them from. There is lots of it in Asia, it is easy to split and it is especially resistant to heat. Other popular materials were wood and bone, and chopsticks made of precious metals were not uncommon among the wealthy. It was believed that silver chopsticks would turn black upon contact with poisoned food, although this has since been disproved.		Although bamboo was and still is used mostly for chopsticks because of it's resistance to fire, fast, straight growth, and its affordability, many other materials have been used from gold and silver to ivory and exotic woods. It was once wrongly thought that silver chopsticks would turn black if they came in contact with poisoned food.

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[1] Magazines and Journals thread at bonsaiTALK Community, http://forum.bonsaitalk.com/showthr...00&page=1&pp=10
[2] Keeping Plagiarism at Bay in the Internet Age, by Bridget Murray, Monitor on Psychology, Feb 2002. http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb02/plagiarism.html
[3] Internet Plagiarism: Strategies to Deter Academic Misconduct, by Mary Hricko, Kent State Library Director, http://www.mtsu.edu/~itconf/proceed98/mhricko.html
[4] The History of Chopsticks,, Asian Art Mall, http://www.asianartmall.com/chopstickshistory.htm Publish date unknown, but appeared in archive.org Internet crawl on June 24, 2004.
[5] Chopsticks, Bonsai's Most Versatile Tool, by Will Heath, The Knowledge of Bonsai forum, http://www.knowledgeofbonsai.org/tools/chopsticks.php The article also appeared in the print publication, Journal of the American Bonsai Society, distributed in May 2006.

This article contains excerpts from one or more copyrighted work(s). The excerpts are used under US Copyright section 107 "Fair Use": http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html

This article is the opinion its author and does not represent the position of the management or membership of the bonsaiTALK community.

This only endorses what i have been trying to get across for a long time about that person. No original thought whatsoever, just feeding off existing writings blatantly and shamelessly with no regard for anyone else, only a quest to further his own agenda. Anyone who regularly appears in this forum and others under numerous guises has to be deemed in need of help urgently. Parroting shows a lack in a person and has no redeeming qualities. Perhaps the weight of the law may be a deterrent for this unfortunate plagiarist.

Many thanks for highlighting this problem for our members Matt and i won't be using chopsticks unless catching flies, for a long time into the future.

Regards Ash

One assumes all publications, on line and in print, have a similar policy. Too bad it's not always policed.

Brian

Excellent job Matt! You found the dead fish that was causeing the smell.
Bob O

Matt, thanks for bringing this matter to our attention. An eyeopener.

Regards,

Chris.

The point has been made. Do we really need to beat up on this guy anymore?

Will already apologized to all the parties involved, including Matt Chroust.

Yes. In fact, Will wanted to apologize to those here as well, and asked me to post the following. Perhaps this will help clarify some of the speculations regarding his motives.

Best regards,
Carl

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From Will Heath:


To whom it may concern,

Recently it was brought to my attention that I plagiarized work from The Asian Art mall (http://www.asianartmall.com/chopstickshistory.htm) in an introduction to the article "Chopsticks: Bonsai's Most Versatile Tool" that I wrote and published sometime ago.

After careful scrutiny of the introduction, the work of The Asian Art Mall, my other sources, and consulting with my friend, Carl Bergstrom, I'm afraid I have to agree with this assessment and apologize for my ignorance.

I also wish to thank Matt Chourst for bringing this matter into the light of day and helping me to learn a valuable lesson. As an amateur writer, this experience is indeed valuable and educational, I am grateful to learn it now when it can be a learning tool instead of when I turn professional where it would be damaging.

I would also like to thank all of you who emailed me with letters of support and encouragement, I have never before received so many emails on a single subject. You can count on two things, that this mistake will never happen again and yes, I will continue to write. Again, thank you for all the kind words, they are appreciated very much.

Although there is no excuse for plagiarism, I would like to explain my actions and the reasoning behind my ignorance. I had no intention to plagiarize nor a motive to do so, after completing the article, I decided that a brief history on chopsticks would be nice as an introduction to the piece. This was my major mistake, going against the rule I respect the most, which is that an author should stick to writing only what they know about. By including a history of chopsticks in the introduction, I had to rely on other works.

Upon doing research on the web and off-line, I noticed that all the sources I found were all remarkably similar and all gave the same information using slightly different wording. In my ignorance, figuring history was history, I reworded many of the sources, being careful not to duplicate them, but still keeping the facts intact. At the time, I did not realize that this constituted plagiarism, I have certainly learned my lesson, it will not happen again.

Below is a partial list of my sources and my introduction to the article for comparison. I wish to thank Matt Chourst again, for listing these examples out so clearly. He has done me a big favor by doing so.

As shown by the examples below, the history of chopsticks on the Internet seems to be rewrites of rewrites of rewrites, I should have known better, my ignorance led to my unknowingly plagiarism of seemingly many sources but most specially, the Asian Art Mall. I have sent an letter of apology to them and offered solutions, I am still waiting on their reply.

Again my apologies to the Asian Art Mall, the other sources, my readers, and my friends for this action and my thanks to all of you who have shown support. I have learned a valuable lesson, I will not make this mistake again.



Will Heath



Example One

My Words

“Although bamboo was and still is used mostly for chopsticks because of it's resistance to fire, fast, straight growth, and its affordability, many other materials have been used from gold and silver to ivory and exotic woods. It was once wrongly thought that silver chopsticks would turn black if they came in contact with poisoned food.”


Asian Art Mall

http://www.asianartmall.com/chopstickshistory.htm

“Chopsticks come in many different forms. Bamboo tends to be the most popular material to make them from. There is lots of it in Asia, it is easy to split and it is especially resistant to heat. Other popular materials were wood and bone, and chopsticks made of precious metals were not uncommon among the wealthy. It was believed that silver chopsticks would turn black upon contact with poisoned food, although this has since been disproved.”


My Other Reference Sources and Examples

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks

“Chopsticks are commonly made of wood, bamboo, metal, bone, ivory, and in modern times, plastic as well. It is believed that silver chopsticks were used in the Chinese imperial palace to detect poison (possibly metallic oxides) in the Emperor's meals; if poison was present, the chopsticks would become blackened owing to displacement reactions on the silver.”


http://www.calacademy.org/research/...sil/chpstck.htm

“Traditionally, chopsticks have been made from a variety of materials. Bamboo has been the most popular because it is inexpensive, readily available, easy to split, resistant to heat, and has no perceptible odor or taste. Cedar, sandalwood, teak, pine, and bone have also been used. The wealthy, however, often had chopsticks made from jade, gold, bronze, brass, agate, coral, ivory, and silver. In fact, during dynastic times it was thought that silver chopsticks would turn black if they came into contact with poisoned food. It is now known that silver has no reaction to arsenic or cyanide, but if rotten eggs, onion, or garlic are used, the hydrogen sulfide they release might cause these chopsticks to change color.”


http://www.factmonster.com/spot/chopsticks1.html

“Chopsticks are two long, thin, usually tapered, pieces of wood. Bamboo is the most common material, but they are also be made of various types of wood, as well as plastic, porcelain, animal bone, ivory, metal, coral, agate, and jade.

During the Middle Ages, aristocrats often favored silver chopsticks since it was thought that silver would turn color if it came into contact with poison.”


http://faculty.cinstate.cc.oh.us/ge...g/outline1.html

“In ancient China, chopsticks were always made of silver in the royal family. The emperor was very important to the whole country. To prevent the emperor from being poisoned, servants would test the food with silver chopsticks which change color upon contact with certain types of poisons.”


http://www.aboutkitchenware.org/Chopsticks.php

“Early chopsticks were probably made of wood or bamboo. As they became more sophisticated, they were made from other materials, such as bone, jade, bronze, coral, ivory, and silver. Royalty believed that silver chopsticks were able to detect the presence of poisons in food, although this later proved false.”



Example Two

My Words

“Chopsticks were invented over 5000 years ago in China and as is commonly believed, they evolved from Asian man's use of sticks to retrieve food from the fire. In order to conserve fuel which became scarce, food would be cut into smaller pieces that enabled it to cook faster using less fuel and eliminating the need for knifes”


Asian Art Mall

http://www.asianartmall.com/chopstickshistory.htm

“It is believed the first chopsticks were developed over 5000 years ago in China. Early Asian man would retrieve his food from the fire using sticks or branches broken from trees. Later, as the population grew and resources became scarce, people would cut food into smaller pieces to save fuel because the smaller portions cooked faster. This eliminated the need for knives, and chopsticks became the utensil of choice.”


Other Reference Sources and Examples

http://www.calacademy.org/research/...sil/chpstck.htm

“Chopsticks were developed about 5,000 years ago in China. It is likely that people cooked their food in large pots which retained heat well, and hasty eaters then broke twigs off trees to retrieve the food. By 400 BCE, a large population and dwindling resources forced people to conserve fuel. Food was chopped into small pieces so it could be cooked more rapidly, thus needing less fuel.”


http://www.factmonster.com/spot/chopsticks1.html

“The Chinese have been using chopsticks for five thousand years. People probably cooked their food in large pots, using twigs to remove it. Overtime, as population grew, people began chopping food into small pieces so it would cook more quickly. Small morsels of food could be eaten without knifes and so the twigs gradually turned into chopsticks.”


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks

“Chopsticks were invented and developed in China about 3,000 to 5,000 years ago, although the exact date is unknown.”



Example Three

My Words

“Confucius is credited with advancing the use of chopsticks with his teaching that, "The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table." His aversion to knifes at the dining table no doubt fueled the popularity of chopsticks in China.”


Asian Art Mall

http://www.asianartmall.com/chopstickshistory.htm

“Confucius taught, "The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table." Confucius' disdain for the presence of knives at the kitchen table, coupled with the popularity of his teachings no doubt contributed to the expanding use of chopsticks among the population.”


Other Reference Sources and Examples

http://www.calacademy.org/research/...sil/chpstck.htm

“The pieces of food were small enough that they negated the need for knives at the dinner table, and chopsticks became staple utensils. It is also thought that Confucius, a vegetarian, advised people not to use knives at the table because knives would remind them of the slaughterhouse.”


http://www.factmonster.com/spot/chopsticks1.html

“Some people think that the great scholar Confucius, who lived from roughly 551 to 479 B.C., influenced the development of chopsticks. A vegetarian, Confucius believed knives would remind people of slaughterhouses and were too violent for use at the table.”


http://faculty.cinstate.cc.oh.us/ge...g/outline1.html

“The famous philosopher Confucius, who lived over 200 years earlier, influenced the development of chopsticks with his nonviolent teaching. According to his teaching, food should be cut up in slaughterhouses or kitchens, not at the table. Knives, with their association to war and death, were not to be brought to the dinner table.”

Well, the plagiarism might be forgiven, but what's been done to my last name is another matter entirely!

Seriously, though: I am not really the aggrieved party in this. I believe it was Ron Martin who first brought this issue to focus. The individuals who stand to lose the most are the subscribers and visitors of the forums and magazines who are sleighted by recycled material, the editors who lose face, and the professional authors who depend on the originality of their work for their livelihood and reputation.

Regards,

Matt