Re: Plagiarism - What's Commomn Knowledge

Subject: Re: Plagiarism - What's Commomn Knowledge
From: Anthony Davey <ant -at- ant-davey -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 09:18:38 +0000


Helen,

My feelings on your questions are:

1) Name the table 'Hypothetical data relating to.....' and the issue is resolved. As all you want to do is show your ability to extract data and represent it graphically, so the fact that the data is not 'real' won't concern many people.

2) If you are writing an article about a scanner I would suggest that it is one that you have used, so that you can bring some of your own value to the arguement. When relying on information gleaned from other sources, say so. "... as John Doe, technical editor of Boring Computing magazine, saidof product X, this machine sucks/rocks/whatever..." And then cite all the places you have taken such information from in a bibliography. It avoids the charge of plagiarism and shows that you can do research.

3) Strictly speaking a portfolio is a commercial use; however if you are not making money directly from its use and not reselling it, you may (I might) feel justified in using it. Again cite the origin somewhere so that you are not purporting to be the source/creator.

4) Do you also have wiring diagrams to connect the dynamo on the bike to the 12V DC converter to recharge the battery?

Best regards,
Ant

stergius -at- att -dot- net wrote:


Hello everyone -

I have 3 questions here - all related.
I'm creating an article for my portfolio. I don't have much writing I can offer as samples because almost everything I've done up to this point was >written for one big company to give another for their internal use
only....


First - When creating items for a portfolio, if you want to display
that you can un-jumble complicated information by creating a graph or other display of that information, is it ok to 'create' the numbers?
Second - >I'm writing an article about a popular desktop peripheral, but of course I'm not an expert on them so I had to read a few other articles and such I've found on them.
I'm struggling with judging what is common knowledge and what parts need
to have the source cited.

- When I describe a
particular type or function - just summarizing in my own words several
articles I've read - it reads remarkably like the originals because, heck, there just aren't that many ways you can describe one.
QUESTION: Is taking this conglomeration of things that seem like common
knowledge, even if I didn't already know them, and just citing them as
general references at the end of the article acceptable?
Third - >Searching for graphics to put in same portfolio item. Keep finding things that say - you can use this for non-commercial purposes. Is a portfolio item that no one paid for and that isn't selling anything, but that is potentially bait for a customer considered commercial? Or is it only commercial if someone paid me for this item?

Last - Not a question - but I read in yesterday's digest that someone wanted to know how to mount a laptop to exercise bike handle bars. I can show you how.




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Order RoboHelp X3 and receive a $100 mail-in rebate, plus FREE RoboScreenCapture, WebHelp Merge Module and iMarkupSoftware, for a total giveaway value of $473! Order here: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

Help celebrate TECHWR-L's 10th Anniversary starting this month!
Check out the contests at http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/special/contests/
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday TECHWR-L....

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



Previous by Author: Re: Please, advice on writing "product literature"
Next by Author: Re: BS-ing your way into a Tech Writing job (was: The Tech Writin g World)
Previous by Thread: Re: criteria and motivations RE: Maximum File Size For Word Documents
Next by Thread: RE: criteria and motivations RE: Maximum File Size For Word Docum ents


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads