Jayson Thomas Blair and Plagiarism

 

This is the story of Jayson Thomas Blair

 

Blair was born in Columbia, Maryland. He was born to a civil servant and a teacher. Perhaps Blair had opportunities that many people don't have. He was the editor-in-chief of the university's student newspaper. Blair used his experience to become a journalist and later an editor at The New York Times.

 

It's a great opportunity for anyone, but especially for Black people. It's not easy to be a journalist or editor, but Blair made it.

 

But one day, Blair got a call.

 

Blair clearly understands the standards of journalistic writing. And you have to understand the standards of writing in the social sciences. We generally use the standards of the American Psychological Association (APA). These standards create and set the standard for the social sciences and other fields. They make writing more consistent and easier.

 

A very important part of APA format is plagiarism: what it is and how to avoid it.

Plagiarism takes many forms

Plagiarism takes many forms. All types of behavior constitute plagiarism.

1.     Quote others without citing a source. Use quotation marks.

a.      For example - Since the 19th century, numerous Austrian sociologists have considered themselves as Marxists. In a perspective from the outside, John Torrance captured this view in a nutshell: “For nowhere else did the sociological perspective develop so exclusively under the aegis of Marxism [...] and nowhere else was Marxism so consistently interpreted as sociology” (Torrance 1976, p. 192).

2.     When paraphrasing, if some words are changed but many others are retained, it constitutes plagiarism. "Patchwork Plagiarism."

a.     For example –

                                                             i.      Original - In retrospect and with hindsight, we see now that the 2008 crisis played a decisive role as a turning point in the social evolution of the capitalist societies and it induced unprecedented and irrevocable socio-economic and political developments.

                                                           ii.      Plagiarized – In retrospect and with hindsight, we see now that the 2008 crisis played a important role as a turning point in the social evolution of the capitalist societies and it induced unprecedented and irreparable socio-economic and political developments.

3.     Changing a few words without changing the structure also constitutes plagiarism.

a.     For example –

                                                             i.      Original - For Peirce, both on a social and individual level, human beings strive to be in a state of belief, that is, they seek the cessation of strife, of doubt, and not merely "cognitive achievement."

                                                           ii.      Plagiarized – According to Peirce, both on an individual and social level, human beings endeavor to be in a state of belief, that is, they seek the ceasing of strife, of doubt, and not only "cognitive achievement."

 

4.     Don't paraphrase one sentence at a time. Don't repeat yourself word for word. Paraphrases should cover entire paragraphs or more.

 

5.       Don't use other people's topics. Create your own topics.

 

a.       How would you change the topic sentence below

 

                                                               i.      On using and building Sociological Marxism: The contributions to this volume

The double understanding of underground Marxism in sociology described above is complemented at the level of theory by a third observation. The constellations of compromise within the sociological status quo, which are embedded nationally, always represent a precarious consensus. Times of societal crises herald successive “crises of sociology”, shaking the discipline to its very foundations. Seen in this light, debating the conflictual relationship between Marxism and sociology could be a productive contribution to breaking up a false consensus, or even helping to remedy structural failures in sociology’s subterranean foundations.

6.     Don't use your own words more than once. Self-plagiarism.

a.      Don’t repeat yourself in the same paper.

b.     Don’t copy and paste things you wrote in other papers

7.     Consult your instructor when using their work in other courses.

          Ask your professor before using work from other classes

8.     You don't have to quote a sentence that is generally agreed on, but quote those sentences anyway. This is good practice.

a.      For example – “People need oxygen”, “The United States is a country” Can you think of any more examples?

9.     You may use technical terms without attribution, without citing the source.

a.     The text below does not offer a definition or a citation of its technical terms. The text was written for individuals familiar with the terms of the field.

                                                             i.      “…the democratic institutions of capitalism have already mainly been devastated by the neoliberal finance-led regime and its accumulation and legitimation functions based on the expansion of private credit system instead of the development of social rights and justice protected by political and fiscal authorities.”

10. When taking notes, you can copy everything, but don't use it in your work without editing it, without modifying it, in your own words, or using quotation marks.

 

Use your own words.

 

Blair received a call from his national editor at The New York Times about the similarities between his story and another by a San Antonio reporter. But this investigation is only the beginning.

 

Blair’s Plagiarism

Blair is accused of plagiarizing a quote, commentary, from the Washington Post in an article titled "Peace and Answers Eluding Victims of the Sniper Attacks." In another article titled "Relatives of Missing Soldiers Dread Hearing Worse News," Blair allegedly plagiarized quotes from the Associated Press. In another article titled "For One Pastor, the War Hits Home," Blair plagiarized from the New York Daily News and The Plain Dealer.

 

Fabrication

While working at The New York Times, Blair spoke with lawyers who were not present for the questioning. He published information he claimed was "off the record." He presented evidence that didn't exist. In the article, titled "Relatives of Missing Soldiers Dread Hearing Worse News," Blair, in an interview that never took place, talked about the surroundings of the house, such as tobacco fields and cattle pastures that are not visible from the property. He also described a dream that wasn't real.

 

Investigators uncovered his past as editor of a college newspaper. Many said Blair had made worse mistakes, such as his time as a reporter and editor. But during this time, the newspaper's board ignored him.

 

Blair's investigation sparked a debate about affirmative action. Was Blair hired because he was Black? But many white people plagiarize and don't identify their race.

 

After resigning from The New York Times, Blair fell into depression and was hospitalized, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He self-medicated with alcohol and cocaine.

 

Blair eventually returned to journalism.

 

Lesson knows this very well. If you cheat, you'll get caught. Cheating is easy until you get caught.

 

What rules of Plagiarism laws did Blair break?

 

 

Paraphrasing assignment

Example 1

Ghant and Whetstone (2016) also recommend the application of reflection sessions. During these reflection sessions, participants should focus on work competencies pertaining to their experience as federal work student participants (Ghant & Whetstone, 2016). A large amount of research suggests that work-study programs lead to improved academic success and aid in the development of professional career-related skills. Students should be encouraged to focus on the skills they learned that are transferable between academics and employment during the reflection sessions (West & Stirling, 2021; Lim et al., 2020; Zhang & Schmidt-Hertha, 2020; Owen et al., 2018; Ramos et al., 2021). Work-study programs lead to improved academic success and aid in developing professional career-related skills. 

 

(from - Impact of Work-Study on Career Skills and Academic Success of Women and Minorities in Undergraduate STEM Programs)

 

 

 

Example 2

 

Rule consequentialists are able to put our considered moral judgments in reflective equilibrium by taking those benefits to be relevant even if we individually can’t bring them about. Consider the sort of schematic case that Judith Jarvis Thomson gives: “You are a sheriff in a small southern town. A murder has been committed, and you do not have the least idea who committed it, but a lynch mob will hang five others if you do not fasten the crime to one individual.”10 We judge that it’s wrong for me to scapegoat in this case, even if I can get away with it. Act consequentialists struggle to vindicate this judgment. If I can get away with scapegoating, scapegoating could easily be the action with the best consequences: it results in four more people surviving. This sort of case illustrates how act consequentialists can struggle to put our considered judgments in reflective equilibrium.

(From Solving the Ideal Worlds Problem by Caleb Perl)

 

Example 3

 

Sociology is the immediate neighboring discipline of political economy and social economics, in that sociology theoretically and empirically deals with the organization, structure, and evolution of the society. Sociology is engaged with a series of fundamental questions such as: How does the present society change? Where is the direction of social change? What are the immediate and indirect factors of social change? In retrospect and with hindsight, we see now that the 2008 crisis played a decisive role as a turning point in the social evolution of the capitalist societies and it induced unprecedented and irrevocable socio-economic and political developments. Sociology with its sub-branches (notably cultural sociology, political sociology, economic sociology, and fiscal sociology) helps us develop a holistic approach to achieve a comprehensive and adequate understanding of the crisis as both a unique event and a structural process.

 

(from Fiscal Sociology and Veblen’s Critique of Capitalism: Insights

for Social Economics and the 2008 Crisis)

 

 

 

Example 4

 

Streeck’s reframing fiscal sociology with institutional political economy is helpful to understand the 2008 crisis within the historical scope of the capitalist economy, how the crisis has morphed into the crisis of democracy and what comes next. For Streeck, in line with Schumpeter’s opinion, capitalism has little chance to overcome the crisis and make another successful start. This is so, because three main reasons behind the crisis lead Streeck to anticipate the coming end of democratic capitalism: “decades of declining growth, rising inequality and increasing indebtedness - as well as of the successive agonies of inflation, public debt and financial implosion since the 1970s” (Streeck, 2016: 57). These have created five “systemic disorders” which are likely to condition the future of democratic capitalism in a way to put an end to it: “stagnation”, “oligarchic redistribution”, “the plundering of the public domain”, “corruption” and “global anarchy” (2016: 28-34). These are powerfully transformative and challenging conditions and outcomes for the social order of capitalism to persist into the future. Stable capitalism needs a definite social order based on a democratic political system and a form of state, i.e. the tax state. However, the democratic institutions of capitalism have already mainly been devastated by the neoliberal finance-led regime and its accumulation and legitimation functions based on the expansion of private credit system instead of the development of social rights and justice protected by political and fiscal authorities.

(from Fiscal Sociology and Veblen’s Critique of Capitalism: Insights

for Social Economics and the 2008 Crisis)

 

 

 

Example 5

 

Since the 19th century, numerous Austrian sociologists have considered themselves as Marxists. In a perspective from the outside, John Torrance captured this view in a nutshell: “For nowhere else did the sociological perspective develop so exclusively under the aegis of Marxism [...] and nowhere else was Marxism so consistently interpreted as sociology” (Torrance 1976, p. 192). Without historical contextualization, this dramatic intensification cannot claim universal validity. But besides the obvious self-denomination of some, others have expended considerable time and energy in differentiating themselves from Marxist positions. Whereas Paul Lazarsfeld called himself a “Marxist on leave” (Morrison 1976, p. 50) even in American exile, Othmar Spann wanted his Gesellschaftslehre to be understood as antithetically distinct from the “dead science” of Marxism (Spann 1921). If the former group carried on with an “underground” Marxism in their sociological work, the latter, conversely, tried to banish Marxism underground within the discipline. In both ways, the impact of Marxism on Austrian sociology can hardly be overestimated.

 

(From Marxism underground. Latent Marxism in Austrian empirical sociology)

Example 6

 

In Peirce's 1877 essay, "The Fixation of Belief," the precursors to several major themes in Dewey's later work were manifest and the semiotic, pragmatic circuit was naturalized. For Peirce, both on a social and individual level, human beings strive to be in a state of belief, that is, they seek the cessation of strife, of doubt, and not merely "cognitive achievement." On occasion, inevitably, problems arise that shatter the equilibrium, the peace of mind, the contentment of being in said "state of belief." When these problems arise, "inquiry," that is, investigations into the nature of the problem unsettling the equilibrium are instigated in order to ascertain ways in which to overcome the problem, and incorporate the findings of this investigation in conjunction with knowledge of the nature of the problem, into a new, better, state of belief. This, in short, is Peirce's definition of social and individual progress, and we can see clearly that this definition of "progress" mapped upon the pragmatic triune circuit. Firstness is the equilibrium, the rest, the state of belief prior to secondness. Secondness is the instigation of a problem, disrupting an equilibrium, leading to resolution and understanding, a cognitive thirdness which establishes a new and more dynamic firstness, a new "state of belief." This new state of belief is strengthened by the incorporation of both the latest problem and the solution to that problem. The new state of belief will have incorporated it into its gestalt of experience, creating a more robust, dynamic organism in equilibrium with its environment.

 

(Form - STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY: A Deleuzian Reading of Pragmatic Habit Formation)

 

Example 7

 

Additionally, since Miranda warnings are only required for the situation of ‘custodial interrogation’, courts have interpreted the terms ‘custodial’ and

‘interrogation’ so narrowly that police may circumvent its requirements by

claiming that the suspect was in the police station ‘voluntarily’ or that the questioning was merely ‘investigatory’. Moreover, notwithstanding Miranda’s disapproval of deception by the police, courts have found only the most egregious

tactics sufficient to render a waiver or a confession involuntary (Roppe, 1994).

Similarly, inducements or implied promises of leniency will not necessarily render a waiver invalid; they are only a factor in the ‘totality of the circumstances’ test (Leo & White, 1999).

(From- Gudjonsson-The-Psychology-of-Interrogations-and-Confessions)

 

 

 

Example 8

 

At appeal two psychiatrists (Dr George & Dr Joseph) and two clinical psychologists (Miss Moore & Mr Bellamy) were available to give evidence. In the end, the court only heard from the two defence experts. The Crown experts were

not called, because their evidence was in agreement with that of the defence

experts. The Crown objected to the admissibility of the expert defence evidence

on the basis that it did not meet the criterion set out in R. v. Ward that the personality disorder had to be ‘so severe as properly to be categorized as a mental

disorder’. The judges admitted the evidence, citing the judgment in R. v. Long that the importance was not the diagnostic label attached to the condition, ‘but

whether the confession might have been unreliable’ (p. 19). The psychological

evidence in Mr Richard’s case ‘went directly to the reliability of the confession,

and in those circumstances the limitation suggested in Ward does not apply’(p. 19). Dr George stated in evidence that Mr Richard was a ‘dependent personality’ with passive and submissive features.

(From- Gudjonsson-The-Psychology-of-Interrogations-and-Confessions)

 

Example 9

 

A number of studies have shown that suspects confess less readily to serious than non-serious offences (Evans, 1993; Irving & McKenzie, 1989; Moston, Stephenson & Williamson, 1992; Phillips & Brown, 1998). For example, in the Phillips–Brown (1998) study suspects in the less serious cases confessed more often (72%) than those suspected of ‘moderately’ (49%) and ‘very serious’ (46%) offences. However, Phillips and Brown point out that this difference was accounted for by interactions with other variables, such as greater access to legal advice in serious cases and the improved strength of evidence against the suspect. The relative lack of incentive among suspects to confess to serious crimes may sometimes be compensated for by the fact that the more serious the crime, the longer suspects tend to be interrogated and the larger the number of interrogation tactics utilized (Leo, 1996a). This is consistent with the British case

data presented in Chapter 4.

 

(From- Gudjonsson-The-Psychology-of-Interrogations-and-Confessions)