ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses the problem of stolen words and ideas and collective responsibility to prevent thefts. He do so primarily from his perspective as the editor of a history journal because, over the last few years, plagiarism has been his most direct encounter with the ethical problems that seem to be plaguing our discipline. After more than twenty years in the classroom, the author had, of course, dealt with numerous instances of student plagiarism. The easiest form of plagiarism to identify and condemn is the direct pilfering of words. Plagiarism includes the limited borrowing, without attribution, of another person's distinctive and significant research findings, hypotheses, theories, rhetorical strategies, or interpretations, or an extended borrowing even with attribution. The American Historical Association "Statement on Plagiarism" was the primary professional response to the case, but, as Mallon observes in his damning critique of our discipline.
