Biden vs. Goodwin

This paper seeks to discuss the events that led to plagiarism by Bidden and Goodwin. It also seeks to compare the two cases.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is related to copyright. Plagiarism is not legal and thus is an offence. However, it not enforced by courts but by academic authorities. It occurs when a person’s work is reproduced by an unauthorized person.

Senator Joseph Goodwin faced plagiarism allegations and was forced to withdraw from a presidential nomination in the year 1988. However, he fought and tried to salvage his campaigns but acknowledged the plagiarism as a mistake of his youthful years. In another instance, Joseph Bidden was accused of the same offence. In this case, he allegedly plagiarized Neil Kinnock’s speeches and added them to his speeches during his campaigns. Joseph Biden sidelined these charges and attributed that the charges were simply too much about nothing. It was later revealed that Biden had actually used Kinnock’s speeches on several occasions. Biden not only lost his credibility in the presidential nominations but was also forced to leave the Presidential Race.

Doris Goodwin was an American price winning historian and biographer. In the year 2002, one of the books by Goodwin ‘’The Fitzgerald’s and the Kennedy’s’’ was reported as plagiarized. The book contained numerous sentences and phrases from three common books namely: “Her Life and Times”, “The Lost Prince” and “Time to Remember”. The greatest mistake Goodwin had committed is a citation mistake. These allegations not only affected her reputation but also forced her to leave the position she held at that time.

The difference between Biden and Goodwin was that Biden was accused of direct plagiarism while Goodwin was accused of indirect plagiarism. Both Goodwin and Biden had to step aside from the positions they held at the time and their reputation suffered greatly.

Conclusion

This paper has outlined, discussed and explained plagiarism cases that Joseph Biden and Doris Goodwin were accused