Texts, Lies, and Changed Positions

Judith D. Fischer, 1789

Abstract

This review of Judge Richard Posner's Little Book of Plagiarism concludes that the book adds to the discussion of plagiarism by noting the topic’s gray areas and proposing criteria for identifying plagiarism. Posner states that plagiarism occurs when a writer who copies another's language or ideas both conceals the copying and induces readers' reliance. By discussing plagiarism in different settings, including novels, court opinions, professors' work, and student work, the book shows why analysis of the offense and its consequences must be nuanced. Professors should be warned that in places Posner seems to minimize the gravity of student copying, especially when he states that plagiarism may be a rational choice for the student who derives benefit from it. He also says the main victims of student plagiarism are the student and his or her peers, omitting reference to clients and the courts, who reap the long-term consequences of incompetent student work. Those points, though, can be balanced against Posner’s statement elsewhere in the book that student plagiarism may deserve harsh penalties.