CommLab – legal issues, appropriation, plagiarism

What are the distinctions between appropriation and plagiarism? Is it only that plagiarism means one claims work as their own?

Plagiarism:

Noun

• S: (n) plagiarism (a piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work)
• S: (n) plagiarism, plagiarization, plagiarisation, piracy (the act of plagiarizing; taking someone’s words or ideas as if they were your own)

Appropriation:

Noun

• S: (n) appropriation (money set aside (as by a legislature) for a specific purpose)
• S: (n) annexation, appropriation (incorporation by joining or uniting)
• S: (n) appropriation (a deliberate act of acquisition of something, often without the permission of the owner) “the necessary funds were obtained by the government’s appropriation of the company’s operating unit”; “a person’s appropriation of property belonging to another is dishonest”

Part of the definition that makes it unclear to me is claiming a “piece of writing” as your own.  But a complete piece encompasses many smaller pieces. …

I got accused of plagiarism when I was in eighth grade.  I wrote a story that resembled another story, about a town whose water becomes contaminated, and many people of the town begin to get sick.  It was a very poignant moment in my life –