Martin Luther King Jr. - His Life and Influence on Society

Plagiarism can be defined as passing off the ideas or writings of another as one's own work. While it is important that people study the ideas of the past so we can continue to progress forward, an innovator must give credit to the source of their inspiration. Often times, if no comment is made, observers will assume the innovator created the ideas he uses by himself.

The borrowing of ideas can be seen as far back as the early days of exploration in which explorers brought back ideas and customs from other lands for use in their own country. This lead to technological advances because the best ideas were shared all over the world. This theory continues today as people take the work and ideas of others and convert them into something they can use to continue the advancement of society. Through the sharing of ideas, progress is made faster than if one person attempted to do the entire job himself.

However, the borrowing of ideas becomes a problem when credit is not given to the creator. Plagiarism led to the need for copyright laws and patents. College students can be expelled from school for including plagiarism in their papers. Inventors may find themselves involved in lawsuits when they try to market an idea for profit that does not belong to them. It is often easier for one to steal an idea from someone else and pass it off as their own rather than doing the work on their own. In writing, citing sources is a good way to prevent plagiarism, but when speaking it is important to tell the audience where the ideas originated. Borrowing crosses the line to plagiarism when a main idea is stolen without giving credit for it.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was remarkably open about the sources of his inspiration. In speeches, he compared his work to that of the creators of the ideas he used. He respected the men who thought up the ideas that he believed were good enough to put to use himself. King wanted everyone to know that Gandhi's idea of nonviolence and Thoreau's idea of Civil Disobedience were the basis of his work.