Word Shoplifting...

We've all heard of kleptomania, the debilitating disorder that causes the ultra-rich, idle hands of celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Winona Rider to stuff makeup into their purses and strut out of upscale boutiques wearing $2,500 necklaces they didn't pay for. But even stranger than this is the kind of borrowing writers and researchers do. Pick up almost any academic journal, and you'll find a solid portion of the text has been borrowed from other sources.

Is it shoplifting?

Well, if the author's weren't to pay for it, it certainly would be. Using information without citing it is a crime, as severe a crime as we have here in the academic world. People have seen their careers go south over such an incident (not to mention winding up in court!) and students have been expelled.

So how to we make sure we're always paying for what we take? By citing!

And its not like it costs very much money. The average citation costs nothing at all, outside of the ink it costs to add that little parenthetical doo-dad (Some Blogger, 20011, pg. 1). And it isn't just quotations and statistics we have to cite, but ideas. Taking someone else's work and rewording it doesn't make it your own. To follow the example, if Lohan had taken that necklace apart and rearranged it into two bracelets, she'd still be expected to pay for it!

So don't wind up on the covers of tabloids everywhere... when in doubt, always cite!