Three months ago I found out that someone had plagiarized some of my work. I had shared some of my findings with this person, and had even provided a couple of my sources of my work. I have my correspondence with this person saved so I have proof of our communications. This person posted this information with one of the sources as if they had done all the research. This person screwed up some of the information so although it hurt to be plagiarized, it also felt good that he didn't cite me as a source as a couple of the mistakes were big. He didn't even realize that the information he was providing was different than the information in the source. He didn't understand the source and tweaked my comments to him just enough so that he may claim they were his statements, yet the tweaks showed that he didn't understand the source. This plagiarism was on my research on Toribio Hernandez Arellano.

Last night I found out that it had happened again. This time a different plagiarist copied and pasted the information that I had posted here on nuestroranchos .com on geni .com and posted it as if he had done all of the research on Toribio Hernandez Arellano. They had cut and pasted many paragraphs without changing a word. This hurt as I had spent years and hard work researching this material. I find this plagiarism is extremely disrespectful.

Plagiarism can be avoided just by giving credit and citing the source.

I was going to write a long letter on plagiarism but the wounds are fresh and the emotions that I am feeling are very strong, I think maybe it is best to start off this discussion with the definition of plagiarism according to http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism

"WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?

Many people think of plagiarism as copying another's work or borrowing someone else's original ideas. But terms like "copying" and "borrowing" can disguise the seriousness of the offense:

ACCORDING TO THE MERRIAM-WEBSTER ONLINE DICTIONARY, TO "PLAGIARIZE" MEANS

to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
to use (another's production) without crediting the source
to commit literary theft
to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.

BUT CAN WORDS AND IDEAS REALLY BE STOLEN?

According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property and is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file).

ALL OF THE FOLLOWING ARE CONSIDERED PLAGIARISM:

turning in someone else's work as your own
copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)
Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source is usually enough to prevent plagiarism. See our section on citation for more information on how to cite sources properly."

I repeat, the source for this definition is: http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism
Rick A. Ricci