2008 Woodie Awards
Letter To The Editor
Issue date: 5/7/03 Section: Letters To The Editor
- Page 1 of 1
In my rambling article, in the March 20th issue of Le Provocateur, I inadvertently included a joke which was not my own. I had taken the joke off one of my away messages on my computer. What I did not realize at the time that I used it was the fact that the joke did not originate with me. I had taken it from an article by Bob Halloran on ESPN.com last November 6, 2002. I put it into my collection of away messages without properly attributing the quote to the author. I now realize how careless that was of me, because, five months later, I had forgotten that the joke was not my own and included it in my recent article.
As an English student, I know that all quotes should be attributed, and it was sloppy of me to include this quote on my computer's away message without doing so. This stupidity has led to a concerned AC student's charges of plagiarism. He is correct. No matter how unintentional, this is plagiarism. An honest mistake is still a mistake. The fact that it was not my intent to deceive does not change the fact that I used someone else's words as if they were my own.
I am truly sorry that this has occurred. It was never my intention to undermine the standards of Le Provocateur, or to deceive the staff or the readers of the paper. I have learned a lesson the hard way and will be scrupulous in attributing any quote I use in any application from now on. With the proliferation of information via the Web, scrupulous attention to attribution is increasingly necessary. I am glad that I have learned this lesson early in my career. It has been a very painful, embarrassing, and costly experience.
As a result of this error, I have been placed on probation until November, 2003 and warning until December, 2003. I have been suspended from Le Provocateur for the Fall semester. At the end of that time I will be allowed to petition to be accepted once more as a contributor. I have also had to withdraw from any honor society I was in.
I not only wish to make my apologies to the staff. I would like to make sure that readers of Le Provocateur are aware of the situation and the correct attribution of the joke.
As an English student, I know that all quotes should be attributed, and it was sloppy of me to include this quote on my computer's away message without doing so. This stupidity has led to a concerned AC student's charges of plagiarism. He is correct. No matter how unintentional, this is plagiarism. An honest mistake is still a mistake. The fact that it was not my intent to deceive does not change the fact that I used someone else's words as if they were my own.
I am truly sorry that this has occurred. It was never my intention to undermine the standards of Le Provocateur, or to deceive the staff or the readers of the paper. I have learned a lesson the hard way and will be scrupulous in attributing any quote I use in any application from now on. With the proliferation of information via the Web, scrupulous attention to attribution is increasingly necessary. I am glad that I have learned this lesson early in my career. It has been a very painful, embarrassing, and costly experience.
As a result of this error, I have been placed on probation until November, 2003 and warning until December, 2003. I have been suspended from Le Provocateur for the Fall semester. At the end of that time I will be allowed to petition to be accepted once more as a contributor. I have also had to withdraw from any honor society I was in.
I not only wish to make my apologies to the staff. I would like to make sure that readers of Le Provocateur are aware of the situation and the correct attribution of the joke.