Expert: Patricia Ireland-Williams - 9/3/2008

Question
My son was asked to define the word energy.  He looked it up on Dictionary.com and wrote the definitions.  When he turned this in to his Science teacher he was given an F and told in front of the class that this was plagiarism.  Would using a definition from the dictionary be considered plagiarism?

Answer
I certainly do not think that defining a word by using a dictionary source is not plagiarism, especially if the source has been identified.  For a specific definition of what plagiarism is, go to www.Plagiarism.org.  

If this happened to my child, I would talk to the teacher and discuss this with him.  I would specifically ask why he humiliated my son in front of the class and accused him of plagiarism.  I would also ask if the teacher specifically told the students to define the word in his own words.  If he did not make this crystal clear, he is being unreasonable.

You might also ask the teacher to review the definiton of plagiarism by reviewing Plagiarism.org.

Best wishes on getting this resolved.

Patricia