'Cite Them Right' New Edition Aims to Help Students Avoid Plagiarism

After extensive consultation with users of the previous editions, the new revised and expanded edition of 'Cite them right' ( http://www.citethemright.co.uk/ ), the renowned guide to referencing and avoiding plagiarism written by Richard Pears and Graham Shields, will be available in bookshops from September 5, 2008.

Plagiarism is a major concern in education and publishing, with frequent reports of students and writers copying information from the internet and passing it off as their own work. Poor time management, cultural differences, low information literacy skills, pressure to publish or get the best grades for money invested in educational fees are all cited as reasons why students (and some academics, journalists and authors) have resorted to plagiarism. Detection technology is widely used in educational institutions to catch those who inadvertently, or willingly, take shortcuts.

There is another way: education. 'Cite them right: the essential referencing guide', provides advice on key areas of academic writing and avoiding plagiarism, including paraphrasing, secondary referencing and the use of quotations. It gives clear examples of how to provide correct references to every source of information, from books, journals and the internet to legal sources, text messages, vodcasts and works of art.

Concentrating as before on Harvard style referencing, new sections summarise alternative referencing styles published by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Modern Language Association (MLA), the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) and the Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA). Sample passages of text and reference lists demonstrate how students and writers can incorporate information sources in their writing without resorting to plagiarism and instead demonstrate their mastery of key writing skills.

Graham Shields, co-author of 'Cite them right', stresses: "A lot of the debate about plagiarism concentrates on detection and sanctions. We believe that education and the development of lifelong writing skills are more effective means to prevent plagiarism."

Richard Pears, co-author of 'Cite them right', notes: "We have received many positive comments and support for the previous editions from tutors, librarians and students. We were keen to involve them in making this new edition even more user-friendly."

'Cite them right: the essential referencing guide' (ISBN 9780955121616) is available from http://www.citethemright.co.uk/.

Protect Yourself from Identity Fraud

You may have laughed at the commercials on television where an actor's voice that is obviously different from the actor's body talks about making all kinds of purchases through stolen credit card information. But identity fraud is nothing to joke about, especially considering that the total value of identity fraud in the United States was $56.6 billion in 2006, according to a June 2006 survey from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer information group.

Additionally, a May 2006 report entitled "The Demographics of ID Fraud" published by Javelin Strategy & Research asserts that Hispanics and African Americans have a 56 percent higher chance of becoming victims of identity fraud than other consumers. The report also found that identity fraud perpetrated on Hispanic and African American victims takes longer to detect.

It used to be that identity thieves would have to rummage through garbage and steal information from items like discarded receipts and credit statements, or eavesdrop on a potential victim making a transaction. Our technological era has created more possibilities for thieves. Some hack into computer databases that carry extensive personal information. Others use email to disguise themselves as trustworthy companies, gain a victim's trust, and acquire a victim's sensitive information, a technique known as "phishing."

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) home page on identity theft at www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt01.htm gives some signs that you may be a victim of identity fraud, including unusual credit card purchases on your statements and unexplained credit denials. If this has happened, you should immediately close the tampered account and file a police report. The FTC also gives consumers tips to deter thieves and contact information if you have been victimized. Some rules to remember:

* Shred any documents with personal information before you throw them in the trash.

* Don't give your Social Security number unless it is absolutely necessary.

* Don't click on links in unsolicited "spam" emails.

* Keep all your personal information in a secure, hidden place.

* Don't give out personal information by telephone, mail or internet unless you know the other party well.

"How to Copyright Songs" Service

ProveMyCopyright allows artists to copyright protect all their songs, lyrics and music in a single account at one low price.

How to copyright songs?

The online copyright registry for musicians, http://www.provemycopyright.com/, today launched the latest improvement to the service which allows artists to copyright songs, copyright song lyrics, copyright music and much more.

The new service for both existing and new customers worldwide is an increase in their account size from 1Gb to 5Gb, but with no extra cost.

Douglas Baxter, Account Specialist at www.provemycopyright.com said: "ProveMyCopyright allows musicians to register the copyright to songs, by allowing them to upload them to a special account where they are fingerprinted and timestamped. This gives independent third party proof that the creator holds the copyright."

"We recognize the importance of allowing artists to show a trail of demos etc that prove they were the original creators and that is why we have always offered large accounts so artists can upload as many songs as they wish to register for copyright without having to worry about increasing costs."

"Now we have taken this to the next level by giving 5Gb accounts where artists can instantly register copyright on literally 1000's of songs at the one low price."

The team at ProveMyCopyright.com also include free storage of all your copyright-able files for 10 years after the lifetime of your account which means that your files will be safely backed-up in case you every had a crash on your home computer.

The ProveMyCopyright service is available world wide and more information on how to copyright songs can be found at http://www.provemycopyright.com/

Author Solutions Fined $50,000

The Business Software Alliance (BSA), the voice of the world's commercial software industry, has reached a settlement with Author Solutions of Bloomington, IN. Author Solutions paid BSA $50,000 for having unlicensed copies of Adobe, Microsoft, and Symantec software installed on its computers. As part of the settlement agreement, the company agreed to delete all unlicensed copies of software installed on its computers, acquire any licenses necessary to become compliant and commit to implementing stronger software license management practices.

Author Solutions is a company providing self-publishing services to authors and which has developed publishing services platforms that enable publishers, retailers, communities and printers to become publishers. The company has worked with 50,000 authors and approximately 80,000 titles. The company has offices in Indiana and an international branch in the UK.

"Even though these infringements occurred in one of our companies prior to our ownership, we cooperated with the BSA to get this matter resolved and are committed to making sure the appropriate licensed software is used in all Author Solutions companies," said Kevin Weiss, President and CEO of Author Solutions.

"BSA's settlement with Author Solutions illustrates that even a well-managed, reputable company needs to be fully attentive to software licensing requirements," said Neil MacBride, BSA's Vice President of Anti-Piracy and General Counsel. "It's necessary for businesses to purchase licenses for all software installed on their computers. They need to pay as careful attention to their software management as they do to other aspects of their business. The lesson can sometimes be a hard one: it's cheaper to purchase legal software and invest in software management than get caught by the BSA."

BSA was alerted to the unlicensed software use by a confidential report made to BSA's hotline, 1-888 NO PIRACY. Each year, BSA receives nearly 3,000 reports of software piracy to its website, www.nopiracy.com, and hotline. The majority of BSA's leads come from current or former employees who had information relating to the unlicensed software activity.

Know it / Report it / Reward it
Under BSA's "Know it, Report it, Reward it" program, individuals who provide qualified reports of software piracy are eligible to receive up to $1 million in a cash reward. Despite BSA's national Rewards Program offering this cash reward for qualifying reports of software piracy, fewer than half of the sources opt for the reward. Informal studies conducted by BSA suggest that a key driver for reporting software piracy is the motivation simply to "do the right thing."

"When I contacted BSA, I was simply looking to do the right thing," said an individual who previously reported software piracy to the BSA via the Web reporting form. "I'm just glad there's a resource for people to turn to in order to report software piracy."

In a report released in July which focused on piracy in eight states across the U.S., it was found that software piracy cost software vendors an estimated $4.2 billion, which is higher than the national figure for all other countries in the world except China. Lost revenues to software distributors and service providers were an additional $11.4 billion, for a total tech industry loss of more than $15 billion. Software piracy also has ripple effects in local communities. The lost revenues to the wider group of software distributors and service providers ($11.4 billion) would have been enough to hire 54,000 high tech industry workers, while the lost state and local tax revenues ($1.7 billion) would have been enough to build 100 middle schools or 10,800 affordable housing units, or hire nearly 25,000 experienced police officers. *

"The United States may have the lowest PC software piracy rate in the world, but still, one out of every five pieces of software put into service is unlicensed," said MacBride. "Not only is this a problem for the software industry, but piracy also creates major legal and security risks for the companies involved. The saddest aspect is that the lost revenues to tech companies and local governments could be supporting thousands of good jobs and much-needed social services in our communities," he said.

Under US copyright laws, software piracy can result in fines of up to $150,000 for each software title copied. In addition, the government can criminally prosecute for copyright infringement. If convicted, violators can be fined up to $250,000 or given a jail term of up to five years, or both. These are not just idle threats. Federal judges are increasingly showing little tolerance for the theft of intellectual property, handing down large damage awards against software pirates. This past March, Maurice A. Robberson, and his brother Thomas K. Robberson, were sentenced to federal prison for managing several for-profit websites and selling more than $6 million in pirated computer software. Both were sentenced to a collective 66 months in prison and given an additional three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution.

BSA works with businesses to help ensure that their company isn't at risk for financial, technical, and legal risks associated with illegal software. In addition to resources provided on www.bsa.org, BSA is working with the Small Business Administration to help small businesses develop smart strategies to manage their software. Through the partnership, BSA will educate up to 100,000 small businesses on software licenses, copyright laws, tips on how to purchase safe and legal software online, and how to develop a Software Asset Management program.

Businesses trying to determine whether their organizations are using unlicensed software can download the free software audit tools at www.bsaaudit.com.

Jury Awards Mattel $100 Million in Copyright Infringement Case

Today in federal court, a jury unanimously awarded Mattel $100 million damages from MGA Entertainment and its CEO, Isaac Larian, for copyright infringement and other claims related to Mattel's rightful ownership of Bratz-related works.

The jury awarded $90 million for MGA's and Larian's wrongs against Mattel and $10 million for copyright infringement against MGA and Larian. The Court will make the final determination regarding the total of damages that MGA and Larian will pay to Mattel. Additionally, the jury found that MGA fraudulently concealed the basis for Mattel's claims of intentional interference with contract and Mattel's claims of conversion.

"Mattel has pursued this case first and foremost as a matter of principle," said Robert A. Eckert, chairman and chief executive officer of Mattel, Inc. "We have an obligation to defend ourselves against competitors who choose to engage in fraudulent activities against us. We're pleased that the jury agreed with Mattel that what MGA did was wrong and that damages were awarded."

Mattel's counsel, John Quinn, added, "After carefully weighing nearly three months of testimony and evidence, the jury arrived at a unanimous and undeniable conclusion that MGA engaged in illegal business practices."

Mattel was represented by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP, a 400-strong lawyer business litigation firm – the largest in the United States devoted solely to business litigation. The litigation team was led by John Quinn, founder and managing partner at the firm, and partners Bill Price and Mike Zeller. The trial of Mattel, Inc. v MGA Entertainment, Inc. began on May 27, 2008, in United States Court of the Central District of California in Riverside, Calif., and was presided by the Honorable Stephen G. Larson, United States District Judge.

Veteran Teacher Shares Experience with Plagiarism Prevention

Bruce Becker, a high school teacher at Lake Washington School District in Redmond, Washington, didn't know it at the time, but a phone call was about to change his life as an English, social studies and humanities teacher of 28 years.

"My son called from college and it was not to ask for money," said Becker. "Instead, he asked me to check out the anti-plagiarism site where he was required to turn in his papers."

Thus began Becker's journey with Turnitin (http://www.turnitin.com/), an originality checking and plagiarism prevention service used by millions of students and thousands of teachers worldwide.

"My epiphany came when my son told me, 'I'm tired of competing against professional writers,'" said Becker. "He was right. No student should have to compete against material that others cut and paste from the Internet and submit as their own."

Becker soon discovered the service is less about playing "gotcha" with students and more about upholding academic honesty, rewarding those who do their own work, and encouraging young writers to find their own voices.

"I made many joyful discoveries -- a culture of implicit trust in my classrooms, students rededicated to their writing, credible high stakes writing assessments, and grading as it should be: stress-free and focused on the writer's thoughts and style," said Becker.

After submitting a student's paper electronically, Turnitin sends Becker an originality report in mere seconds, giving him more time to do what he is supposed to do -- grade papers without being sidetracked by questions of misappropriated prose. In fact, Becker and his colleagues discovered they could grade papers in half the time.

Just as important to them is an integrated suite of instructional tools from Turnitin called WriteCycle(TM) that addresses the process of composition, feedback and grading for writing-intensive assignments. In addition to originality checking, WriteCycle services include Peer Review and Grademark digital grading tools with an integrated GradeBook. The entire WriteCycle solution is a 100 percent paperless classroom solution that Becker and his colleagues enthusiastically embrace.

As for solving the problem of plagiarism, Becker said, "In three years I have never had a student push back about being caught. I called one student to my desk and explained that I'd found plagiarism in his assignment. He asked, 'Where?' I just spun my display around to show the color-coded report. His response was, 'Cool!' It was cool all right: he was busted. Some kids start out thinking they can beat the system, a misconception that disappears as the deterrent effect takes hold."

One unexpected outcome: Becker finds more and more students are coming from junior high school with established Turnitin accounts, habits and expectations. "They like going paperless and Turnitin helps them to make a smooth transition to high school with their electronic writing portfolios intact," he said.

Star Wars Creator Lucasfilm Loses IP Case Against London Affiliate of SimmonsCooper Law Firm

The English High Court may be a long way from East Alton, Ill., but the SimmonsCooper law firm continues to make its mark in the legal industry, most recently winning a high profile intellectual property lawsuit (case #HC06C03813) with its London affiliate, SimmonsCooperAndrew LLP, against Lucasfilm of Star Wars film fame.

Known for contingency-based intellectual property and patent litigation, their website is viewable at http://www.simmonscoopper.com/. In the English High Court case of Lucasfilm v Ainsworth, SimmonsCooperAndrew represented the prop designer who produced the Stormtrooper helmets and armor for the 1977 Star Wars film. Lucasfilm was attempting to prevent Ainsworth from selling replicas of the helmets, but the High Court last week dismissed the majority of Lucasfilm's claims.

"Our firm has a storied history of taking on corporate giants," said Paul Lesko, intellectual property lawyer for SimmonsCooper's U.S. practice. "Because of this ruling, Mr. Ainsworth will be able to rightfully sell his product throughout most of the world. It's not only a victory for him. It's a victory for prop designers throughout the film industry."
"We took on the infamous Death Star and lived to tell about it," said Chris Messina, SimmonsCooper's president of International Litigation. "The goal of our business and intellectual property practices always has been to give entrepreneurs and small businesses a voice to protect their legal rights. To see that success play out on the international stage like this is truly gratifying."

Three years ago, SimmonsCooper decided to expand beyond its well established asbestos litigation practice into intellectual property litigation and business-to-business litigation. Moving away from traditional fee structures, the firm strategically chose to offer legal representation on a contingency basis, affording individuals and smaller businesses the ability to take legal action against companies with deeper pockets. SimmonsCooper then began to form international relationships with other like minded firms, such as SimmonsCooperAndrew, to affectively pursue intellectual property infringement and patent litigation wherever their clients happen to reside.

"As more U.S. businesses expand globally, working with affiliate firms in other countries expands our ability to help those businesses resolve legal disputes regardless of location," Messina said