Teachers, perhaps especially at universities, will be wearyingly familiar with the type of plagiarism that Rachel Reeves has been accused of, and the non-excuses that have followed so far (Rachel Reeves admits mistakes after being accused of plagiarism in new book, 26 October). The central issue is the passing off of someone else’s writing as one’s own. This isn’t simply a matter of adequate referencing of sources. A proper attribution of substantially copied passages requires quotation marks, or similar. Of course, the more that a piece of work comprises such material, even thus attributed, the less value it has in terms of authorship. But that’s the point.
John Bone
York
• I was always told if you copied directly from another written source it was plagiarism. Copying from several sources was research.
Brian Binns
Loughborough, Leicestershire
• When pasting material from Wikipedia, do it in a garish colour. Then, when editing, put in a reference or revise the text carefully.
Peter Brooker
West Wickham, Kent
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