A brief word on plagiarism

As all of you know, the point of writing an Op-Ed is to impress the reader with your brilliant analysis of a problem of international dimensions.

You state the problem, pose a hypothesis that explains or solves the problem, then you produce evidence (facts) as well as expert opinion that supports your unique views.

But some of you have instead gone to various web sites, pasted the views of others into your papers, and presented them as your own views. This is not writing or analysis.

If you are still not clear on what constitutes plagiarism, you can go here for something I wrote on the topic for a class I taught in Baku in 2004. Remember, I want to know what you think! Really!