Penn State English Professor speaks “In Defense of Plagiarism”

Dr. Nicholas Joukovsky is currently a Professor of English at Penn State University. He received his A.B. from Princeton, then went on to receive his M.A from Berkeley and Doctoral in Philosophy at Oxford University. In 2001, he published the literary collection Letters of Thomas Love Peacock. His literary expertise lies in 19th century Romantic and Victorian literature, particularly Thomas Love Peacock and the Shelly circle. He is also Chair of the Academic Committee for the College of the Liberal Arts, which is appropriate given the title of his speech, “In Defense of Plagiarism.” His speech will attack the fundamentalist, societal notions that ALL plagiarism is wrong, underscoring some of its literary merits with academic communities. He wanted to emphasize that he will not be defending all forms of plagiarism

Dr. Joukovsky answered questions on plagiarism as it stands today, the Honor Code and its effectiveness at watch-guarding plagiarism, basic ethics, and literary tradition.