Scenarios
Scenario 1) Elizabeth, a busy reporter for the New York Times, needs to get a story submitted ASAP. She
checked the Internet for resources (her usual practice) and found an article almost exactly on her topic. She
cleaned up the opening paragraph and submitted it for publication. Has Elizabeth committed plagiarism?
Scenario 2) Rob had arranged a medley of songs for a special performance. He needed transition music
to go between them. He played dierent chord arrangements on his guitar for a while, then settled on one
that seemed familiar. It was just right for the setting, so he used it. Later that week, he heard the same
chord sequence in an older pop song. Has Rob committed plagiarism?