Inspiration doesn't mean you copy word from word...

Can plagiarism happen unintentionally? Sure it can just like other things in life. Can it happen on purpose? Of course. I don’t think Viswanathan example was unintentionally. There were just too many similar phrases to argue it was unintentional. However, it is almost close to impossible to come up with an original idea in this day and age. Look at books, movies, television, even music. In jazz music, musicians are encouraged to copy “licks” from jazz greats like Charlie Parker. How many times can we go see a movie about boy meets girl, girl leaves boy, boy goes off to win girl back? Or in my movie taste how many times must I see: girl meets girl, girl leaves girl for boy, girl goes crazy after seeing her love of her life with a boy and decides to seek revenge and ends up dying in the end? It’s hard to keep ourselves from plagiarism because in the end, everything is similar.

But we can keep ourselves in the clear. There’s ways of citing or giving credit to those who inspire us. There are also ways of being caught if you stole someone’s words or work without credit. Any teacher can go online and type in a phrase and find out if it was someone else’s words. If that doesn’t push you to use your own words, then I don’t know what to say.

It’s easy to paraphrase and copy quotes while citing. But is it rewarding? Writing or playing an instrument is about your creative opinion. There are so many writers, musicians, and actors among many other creative occupations that inspire us on a daily bases. If we copy or plagiarize them, then we’ll be stuck in a world of ungrateful followers and sameness. How can we make sure we don’t get sucked into the vortex of plagiarism? Take the idea and write about what you think. Miles Davis did not make it where he was today by strictly playing Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker licks. Sure, they were the stepping stone, but he created his own sound by himself. He heard what he liked, and interpreted it in his own way. I think that’s what we need to do. Just take someone’s words, think about them, feel them, and allow our own creativity flow from that inspiration.