3Qs: Catching the copier
A well-respected German defense minister resigned recently after he admitted that parts of his 2006 doctoral thesis repeated passages by other authors without proper citation. These days, copying and pasting makes it easier than ever to plagiarize, especially in academia, where papers, projects and dissertations are written every day. Brenda Berkelaar, a professor of communication studies at Northeastern, clarifies what plagiarism is, how to prevent it, and how the short-term repercussions can have lasting effects.
