Exploring the Issue of Plagiarism through Kaavya Viswanathan’s Novel Opal Mehta

by Joanna Johnson

Overview

Setting the Stage: Some Questions to Think About

What constitutes plagiarism?
Who owns an idea?
Do you have an ethical obligation to always acknowledge when you use someon else's ideas or words?
Do you have a legal obligation to do so?
Can plagiarism be unintentional?
 
Introduction

Ethical questions are about right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust.  Being able to make ethical choices comes from both understanding the values that are behind moral decisions, and from developing critical thinking skills.  The aim of this module is to develop and encourage the process of critical thinking through consideration of the ethical dimensions within authorship, specifically through the example of alleged plagiarism in Kaavya Viswanathan's novel Opal Mehta.  The topics in this module are specifically related to the issues and ethics involved in questions of ownership of intellectual property rights.