COPYING AND PASTING LETTERS TO THE EDITOR AMOUNTS TO PLAGIARISM

When a high school or college student copies material off the Internet
or out of an encyclopedia and presents it as his own work, the teacher
should give him an F. Or maybe two -- one for effort and the other for
ethics. Such an act is plagiarism.

When a Bee reader copies the work of another and submits it as a
letter to the editor with his name at the bottom, that, too, is
plagiarism. We don't give out grades, but we're doing our best to keep
such letters out of the paper.

We don't get a lot of plagiarized letters, but the number is growing.
Editors across the country report the same phenomenon.

I want to share the exchange between one editor and one plagiarizer in
another city. I can't identify the editor because I've long since
deleted his e-mail anecdote.

After discovering a letter that did not contain original thoughts, the
editor called the reader to chat. He explained that representing
someone else's material as your own is a copyright violation and a
no-no, amounting to plagiarism.

But I don't write very well and I agreed with everything this other
person wrote, the letter submitter responded. To which the editor
replied: I agree with the Declaration of Independence, but I don't
claim to have written it.

I don't think most letter submitters -- since they're not really the
writers -- realize that there's anything wrong with the copy-and-paste
practice. Most wouldn't think of themselves as common cheats or thieves.

Some people are actually encouraged to send in copycat letters.
Newspapers throughout the country received a mimeographed letter this
fall signed by American soldiers serving in Iraq. It was a testimonial
to what a great impact they felt they were having in improving the
daily living situation there. The letter, it turned out, was
mass-produced by a zealous officer and distributed to soldiers to sign
and send off to their hometown newspapers. We received two on the same
day, signed by different soldiers, so we immediately knew what was
afoot.

Many copy-and-paste letters come in as part of campaigns on hot-button
issues. Organizations perched all across the political spectrum urge
people to write letters to their newspapers. Some offer a list of
points to cover. Others offer a sample letter for supporters to just
copy and paste. The first suggestion is acceptable, though it
encourages letters that read a lot alike. The second idea is
mass-market manipulation.

Editors call these "turf" letters, apparently a reference to the
effort to "AstroTurf" the media landscape with one opinion.

We know that letter campaigns originate close to home as well. We've
gotten two almost identical letters supporting Proposition 56 on the
March ballot, both from school employees. At least two candidates in
the Nov. 4 Modesto city election asked their supporters to write to
The Bee. There were common themes in both sets of letters, but they
were not identical and did not amount to plagiarism.

If you spot a letter in The Bee that matches a letter you've read
elsewhere, please let me know.

If you're inclined to write a letter, please make sure it represents
your own thinking and contains your own words. That's the standard for
students and not too much to ask of adults, either.