The guideline in
Korea for determining whether or not material has been plagiarized is
passing off as one's own 6 or more consecutive words that have been
taken from another's work. The media tends to report the suspicion of
plagiarism when they learn that a particular dissertation exceeds the "6
consecutive word" guideline, and when there is a lack of proper
attribution of source material.
The columnist, when studying in
the States, was told that plagiarism is considered to have occurred
when taking from another's work three or more consecutive words without
referencing the source. If the suspicion of plagiarizing is not
explained away satisfactorily, the person is then reported to the
department head and may be expelled. The person may also be given advice
on how to change the wording so it's not considered plagiarizing, and
with practice, avoiding the problem becomes easy.
The columnist
tells us he has never been impressed with those who have a
doctorate. For him, the title of Ph.D. does not mean the person has a
great grasp
of knowledge or has mastered all that can be known, even about his own
field of knowledge. It indicates only that a person has studied a
particular field of knowledge, and may have very limited knowledge in
other fields
of study. The person is also telling us, if only indirectly, according
to the columnist, that he or she has little knowledge in other fields,
though not liking to acknowledge this fact.
He is impressed, he
says, when meeting persons with a doctorate who, while confident in
their field of study, are humble enough to admit their ignorance and
listen to others. They do exist, he assures us.
Although there are many legitimate Ph.D.s, the columnist would like
to know why, in Korea, we are so tolerant of those who received their
Ph.D.s illegitimately. It has gotten so bad, he says, that even
typographical errors from the original material are sometimes copied.
One simple solution to the problem he would like to see used more often
is to ask or force those who have plagiarized to resign from their
offices
and return to the life they had before.
