I looked at these passages and Id agree with Dan Gordon that the brevity of the passages and the lack of any substantive content to the passages makes this trivial.
Rufo also claims there are data tables in her appendix that are taken from her advisor's work. This demonstrateshow Rufo is in over his head. Its quite likely that as a doc student she worked on the same data set, or perhaps helped compile it or possibky compiled most of it. Sharing sata sets is common in social sciences (and digital humanities work). Usually its indicates by identifying co-authors, and that of course is not impossible in a dissertation. Rufo concedes that she did attribute the data to the original source. So in that case its just not plagiarism.
However I agree that the refusal to address the issue is disappointing. We can expect more from the putative highest ranking academic in the country than just "crisis communications."
As someone who began my academic career with an article on Hannah Crafts’s ‘borrowing’ from Charles Dickens I agree that the why and the explanation are needed now.
I spent 45 years as a newspaper journalist (admittedly, I was a sports writer) and I have always been interested in writing and how writers tell their stories. After reading your story, I have some (admittedly) generalized thoughts.
1. It would appear that those who write academic papers perhaps needed to take a few writing courses.
2. The issue you site in your opening paragraph is interesting, but seems easily solved. To simply copy/paste a few paragraphs IS plagiarism. If those paragraphs are information/fact based, I see no problem in handling it like this: As Sally Smith pointed out regarding (blah, blah, blah), "yada, yada, yada." If quote marks/direct quotations are considered taboo in academic works, then I think that academic works and how they're assessed needs reassessment.
3. Regardless the topic and the information being dispensed, writing that is dry and boring isn't the way to go. The writing doesn't need to be a Seinfeld script, but if the author is interested in keeping his readers' interest, the words need a flow. And I disagree that quotations/quotes impeded flow.
4. I was taught that each paragraph should be limited to one thought/idea/opinion. In newspapers, the rule of thumb was that paragraphs should range from 35 to 50 words. There is an aesthetic aspect. Particularly in this digital/internet age, a paragraph that fills one screen is a huge blob of words.
To that end, Mr. Hall: Your interesting and informative paragraph contained 277 words. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE consider increasing your use of the "enter" key and breaking up some Your story was 1,090 words and contained just eight paragraphs. This is just my opinion, but longer paragraphs don't equate to better writing.
This is absolutely fascinating. You’ve risen above party differences and given your own scholarly assessment. I had arrived at a different place based on my reading of some of the passages, where I thought the repetition of language was trivial. But you have made me reconsider. I’m gonna share this widely.
I looked at these passages and Id agree with Dan Gordon that the brevity of the passages and the lack of any substantive content to the passages makes this trivial.
Rufo also claims there are data tables in her appendix that are taken from her advisor's work. This demonstrateshow Rufo is in over his head. Its quite likely that as a doc student she worked on the same data set, or perhaps helped compile it or possibky compiled most of it. Sharing sata sets is common in social sciences (and digital humanities work). Usually its indicates by identifying co-authors, and that of course is not impossible in a dissertation. Rufo concedes that she did attribute the data to the original source. So in that case its just not plagiarism.
However I agree that the refusal to address the issue is disappointing. We can expect more from the putative highest ranking academic in the country than just "crisis communications."
As someone who began my academic career with an article on Hannah Crafts’s ‘borrowing’ from Charles Dickens I agree that the why and the explanation are needed now.
Sir:
I spent 45 years as a newspaper journalist (admittedly, I was a sports writer) and I have always been interested in writing and how writers tell their stories. After reading your story, I have some (admittedly) generalized thoughts.
1. It would appear that those who write academic papers perhaps needed to take a few writing courses.
2. The issue you site in your opening paragraph is interesting, but seems easily solved. To simply copy/paste a few paragraphs IS plagiarism. If those paragraphs are information/fact based, I see no problem in handling it like this: As Sally Smith pointed out regarding (blah, blah, blah), "yada, yada, yada." If quote marks/direct quotations are considered taboo in academic works, then I think that academic works and how they're assessed needs reassessment.
3. Regardless the topic and the information being dispensed, writing that is dry and boring isn't the way to go. The writing doesn't need to be a Seinfeld script, but if the author is interested in keeping his readers' interest, the words need a flow. And I disagree that quotations/quotes impeded flow.
4. I was taught that each paragraph should be limited to one thought/idea/opinion. In newspapers, the rule of thumb was that paragraphs should range from 35 to 50 words. There is an aesthetic aspect. Particularly in this digital/internet age, a paragraph that fills one screen is a huge blob of words.
To that end, Mr. Hall: Your interesting and informative paragraph contained 277 words. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE consider increasing your use of the "enter" key and breaking up some Your story was 1,090 words and contained just eight paragraphs. This is just my opinion, but longer paragraphs don't equate to better writing.
Best regards.
Thanks for your comment and perspective.
Always good. Many thanks for the clear and, I’m sure, too familiar analysis.
This is absolutely fascinating. You’ve risen above party differences and given your own scholarly assessment. I had arrived at a different place based on my reading of some of the passages, where I thought the repetition of language was trivial. But you have made me reconsider. I’m gonna share this widely.
Thanks so much, Dan.