¶ … copying of a few isolated sentences in this case constitute plagiarism?
Technically, yes. Plagiarism is "the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit" (On being a scientist, 2009: 15). The key word in this definition is 'appropriate.' Using a direct quote without enclosing the words in quotation marks and identifying the author constitutes plagiarism. Even if the original author is cited as a reference, if words are used directly and not identified as a direct quote, plagiarism has still taken place. It would not have been plagiarism if Professor Lee had paraphrased the original paper, cited the source, and then included the paper in his reference list.
It should be noted that this is not the most egregious example of academic plagiarism: because an academic's ideas and words are considered his or her livelihood, the most unconscionable form of plagiarism is when an academic 'steals' words or ideas from another academic, uses them, and claims them as his own to profit from them, either to get a grant, get recognition in an academic journal, or to otherwise bolster his or her reputation. In this instance, the words Lee stole were not in reference to original ideas. However, they still go against the basic, core ethical principles of good academic conduct. Were a student to cite words not his own in a research paper without proper quotes and citation, Lee would no doubt fail the student or at minimum deduct points from the student's grade. He should hold himself to the same standard. He should have enclosed the 'lifted' words in quotation marks, cited the original source, and then included the original source in a reference at the end of the paper.
Q2. By citing the journal paper, has Lee given proper credit to the other author?
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