Ellen G. White and Her Critics

What Is the Essence of Plagiarism?

After we have considered the legal aspect, and the changing viewpoint of different generations as to how extensively a writer may properly copy from others without acknowledgment, we still have before us the primary question: Morally speaking, what is the essence of the offense called plagiarism? The answer is evident: The attempt of a writer to deceive his readers into thinking that the entire work which bears his name is wholly his own, when in fact some strands of the fabric were drawn, not from his own mental spinning wheel, but from the fabric of some other author’s work. ^* EGWC 410.3

There are two ways by which a writer usually seeks to protect himself against the charge of plagiarism: 1. First and most generally, by using quotation marks, which marks fully protect him, even though he does not cite the source of the quotations. 2. By making some introductory statement that informs the reader at the outset that the author has drawn in part from others. This latter procedure is sometimes followed when the matter drawn from others is a minor amount and is essentially background material, not central to the main theme of the writer. ^* EGWC 411.1

With these facts regarding plagiarism and infringement before us, let us turn to an examination of the two books by Mrs. White that are so uniformly presented as exhibits by those who wish to charge her with flagrant violation of the rules of elementary honesty in literary borrowing. EGWC 411.2