PlagiarismA writer has only two things to sell: his words and his ideas. If you steal from either one, it's as bad as stealing any other peddler's stock. Unlike other peddlers, however, the writer gives you permission to use his stock as you wish, as long as you clarify that the item originally belonged to him. Original material, from Henry I. Christ, Hamlet with Reader's Guide, Amsco School Publication, New York, 1970, p. 321.The room is an eternal challenge, a lock with many keys, none of which ever fits perfectly. Each interpretation presents only part of the possibilities. Each new version opens up new perspectives, without limiting subsequent experiments. Each generation comes and watches and studies the play, but never finds all the answers. Below are three student attempts to use Henry Christ's material. Student Version A (plagiarized): The play Hamlet is like a lock with many keys, none of them fit perfectly but each of them gives some of the possibilities. Each new interpretation opens new possibilities but without stopping new interpretations. New readers study the play but never find all the answers. Student A's version reorganized some of Christ's ideas and replaced some words with others, but this writing can in no way be called the student's own writing. He stole all of Christ's ideas and some of his words.Student Version B (plagiarized):Henry Christ points out that the play is like a lock with many keys. Each key presents only part of the possibilities. Each new version opens up new perspectives, without stopping new interpretations. Each generation studies the play, but never finds all the relevant answers (Christ, 321). This student included a quote at the end and an introduction at the beginning, but the absence of quotation marks anywhere indicates to the reader that only the ideas were taken from Christ. This is not true: some words were also taken from Christ.Student version C (not plagiarized):