Ryan located three excellent sources for his persuasive speech. He copied long sections from each source word for word, strung them together with a few transitions, and mentioned the sources of his information in passing. Which of the following statements best describes Ryan's situation?

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Ryan Tompkins located three excellent sources for his persuasive speech. He copied long sections from each source word for word, strung them together with a few transitions, and mentioned the sources of his information in passing. Which of the following statements best describes Ryan's situation?

a) Ryan is ethical because he did research for his speech.

b) Ryan is guilty of global plagiarism.

c) Ryan is guilty of patchwork plagiarism.

d) Ryan is ethical because he mentioned the sources of his information.

e) Ryan is guilty of incremental plagiarism.

Answer:

The best option is letter C) Ryan is guilty of patchwork plagiarism.

Explanation:

When someone copies large portions of two or more sources and presents the result as their own work, we have a case of patchwork plagiarism. Even though Ryan mentioned the sources of his information in passing, he did not make an effort to express himself with his own words and ideas. Ryan did not add anything of value. All he did was copy long sections from each source and connect them, very much like we do with pieces of cloth when doing patchwork. Instead of using the sources to corroborate and support his ideas, Ryan used them as if they were his own ideas.