A Warning to Would Be Plagiarists

The Harvard undergraduate has stated that she "internalized" the other
author's works. Is "internalization" a crime?

"Internalization" is the plagiarist's euphemism.

"Theft" would be a more accurate word for what she did...

Apparently, if it is indistinguishable from another's original hard work.

How could it be theft, if the student wasn't aware that she even did it?

She is one hell of an internalizer. Some 40 examples of plagerism. Some of them entire paragraphs virtually word for word from other books.

My question is, where were the editors? This should have been caught before publication.

She told the Public, she's got a photographic memory.

No plagiarist I've read about ever admits to plagiarism. It's usually "sloppy note-taking" or some such.

Miller, do you seriously think this author used the other's material unknowingly?

I'm hoping that they kick her ass out of Harvard. What a shameful thing to do. If you read the passages that she lifted from the other author's books, it's obvious that she merely changed a few words or locations but it's clear that she copied.
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Harvard undergraduate Kaavya Viswanathan faces an accusation that numerous passages in her first novel, ''How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life" closely resemble a 2001 novel, ''Sloppy Firsts," by Megan F. McCafferty. Here are a few of the passages in dispute:

Best Friend
Bridget is my age and lives across the street. For the first twelve years of my life, these qualifications were all I needed in a best friend. But that was before Bridget's braces came off and her boyfriend, Burke, got on, and before Hope and I met in our seventh-grade honors class.

''Sloppy Firsts," page. 7
Priscilla was my age and lived two blocks away. For the first fifteen years of my life, those were the only qualifications I needed in a best friend. We had first bonded over our mutual fascination with the abacus in a playgroup for gifted kids. But that was before freshman year, when Priscilla's glasses came off, and the first in a long string of boyfriends got on.

'Opal Mehta," page 48
Personal Space
Marcus then leaned across me to open the passenger-side door. He was invading my personal space, as I had learned in Psych class, and I instinctively sank back into the seat. That just made him move in closer. I was practically one with the leather at this point, and unless I hopped into the backseat, there was nowhere else for me to go.

''Sloppy Firsts," page 213
Sean stood up and stepped toward me, ostensibly to show me the book. He was definitely invading my personal space, as I had learned in a Human Evolution class last summer, and I instinctively backed up till my legs hit the chair I had been sitting in. That just made him move in closer, until the grommets in the leather embossed the backs of my knees, and he finally tilted the book toward me.
You be the judge...

Plus the book concept itself is ever soooo close.


I can understand internalizing. I am doubtful that was what was going on.

It's been pulled, and the movie deal is off...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1764114,00.html#article_continue

I have a feeling her writing days are not over. She will possibly decide to write of her ordeal and have a top seller anyway. Not that I would approve, or bother reading it.

Harvard may review her standing as an Undergraduate, now.

Good!

That could be the fault of the "Book Packaging" people.

Huh.

This is the new way of publishing? Books authored by a committee? Fiction prefabricated and manufactured by a staff?

Has she given the money back, yet?