:::
避免抄襲的七大方法之七：剽竊想法亦不可取
【學術專欄】
真正的學者不會竊取他人的想法，不過研究過程中，有時可能無意間侵占了其他研究者的想法或表達方式。本系列「避免抄襲的七大方法」提供訣竅，幫助你避免不小心冒用他人的心血結晶。每則訣竅將刊登在 TPS 專頁。
A true scholar is not a thief. Yet stealing another researcher’s ideas or method of expressing them sometimes happens inadvertently in the course of research. How to avoid accidentally passing off someone else’s work as your own is the subject of this series, “7 Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism.” Each of the tips will be presented on the TPS Fan page before being compiled with the others as a series.
Tip # 7 – Do not steal ideas either.
方法七：剽竊想法亦不可取
The most common plagiarism is the verbatim copying of another person’s writings or recordings without crediting the original author. However, there is another dimension of plagiaristic practice that is even more fundamental: stealing a person’s ideas. This is a grayer area of theft because ideas exist as concepts, dreams, theories, and postulations. If recorded at all, they are skeletal. Nonetheless, they have been conceived by someone else and the conception should be honored.
最常見的剽竊是一字不差的照抄別人的文章或記錄，而且沒有註明原作者的名字。然而，還有一種剽竊涉及更根本的層次，就是竊取他人的想法。竊取想法屬於剽竊的灰色地帶，因為想法是一種概念、夢想、理論或假設，即使真有紀錄，也只略具雛形。然而，想法是他人構思出來的，應該尊重別人的思考結晶。
As in so many other cases, idea-stealing often is an accidental result of sloppy or casual research practices. It often happens when note-taking has mingled source material with some personal observations and sparked an epiphany. The problem is, the epiphany really is an axiomatic rendering of someone else’s formulations. The other person thought of it; you merely absorbed it into your thought process after reading his writings, and failed to attribute it to him in your notes.
許多情況下，剽竊想法通常是因為研究草率馬虎，不經意造成的結果，多半是作筆記時，混雜了資料來源和個人觀察，因此有了體悟。問題是，這種體悟不過是拾人牙慧。別人有了想法，你不過是讀了他的文章，把他的想法到納入自己的思維中，又忘了在筆記裡註明想法的起頭。
This happens easiest when a writer is dispositionally inclined to round corners. In other words, lazy and unconscionable writers will rationalize the similarity of their ideas and a predecessor’s. For such writers, there are no tips that will save them. For the great body of true academic researchers, however, it is enough to know that an idea is sacrosanct, and that honesty and accurate note-taking can preserve professional integrity as well as honor the work of others.
若寫作的人傾向得過且過，特別容易發生這種情況。換言之，懶惰的研究者若發現自己的想法和前人相同，會昧著良心將這點合理化。對這樣的人來說，什麼避免剽竊的方法都沒有用。不過，對大多數真正的學術研究者來說，想法是神聖不可侵犯的；做筆記時精密確實，能避免專業誠信毀於一旦，也能尊重他人的思考結晶。
A true scholar is not a thief. Yet stealing another researcher’s ideas or method of expressing them sometimes happens inadvertently in the course of research. How to avoid accidentally passing off someone else’s work as your own is the subject of this series, “7 Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism.” Each of the tips will be presented on the TPS Fan page before being compiled with the others as a series.
Tip # 7 – Do not steal ideas either.
方法七：剽竊想法亦不可取
The most common plagiarism is the verbatim copying of another person’s writings or recordings without crediting the original author. However, there is another dimension of plagiaristic practice that is even more fundamental: stealing a person’s ideas. This is a grayer area of theft because ideas exist as concepts, dreams, theories, and postulations. If recorded at all, they are skeletal. Nonetheless, they have been conceived by someone else and the conception should be honored.
最常見的剽竊是一字不差的照抄別人的文章或記錄，而且沒有註明原作者的名字。然而，還有一種剽竊涉及更根本的層次，就是竊取他人的想法。竊取想法屬於剽竊的灰色地帶，因為想法是一種概念、夢想、理論或假設，即使真有紀錄，也只略具雛形。然而，想法是他人構思出來的，應該尊重別人的思考結晶。
As in so many other cases, idea-stealing often is an accidental result of sloppy or casual research practices. It often happens when note-taking has mingled source material with some personal observations and sparked an epiphany. The problem is, the epiphany really is an axiomatic rendering of someone else’s formulations. The other person thought of it; you merely absorbed it into your thought process after reading his writings, and failed to attribute it to him in your notes.
許多情況下，剽竊想法通常是因為研究草率馬虎，不經意造成的結果，多半是作筆記時，混雜了資料來源和個人觀察，因此有了體悟。問題是，這種體悟不過是拾人牙慧。別人有了想法，你不過是讀了他的文章，把他的想法到納入自己的思維中，又忘了在筆記裡註明想法的起頭。
This happens easiest when a writer is dispositionally inclined to round corners. In other words, lazy and unconscionable writers will rationalize the similarity of their ideas and a predecessor’s. For such writers, there are no tips that will save them. For the great body of true academic researchers, however, it is enough to know that an idea is sacrosanct, and that honesty and accurate note-taking can preserve professional integrity as well as honor the work of others.
若寫作的人傾向得過且過，特別容易發生這種情況。換言之，懶惰的研究者若發現自己的想法和前人相同，會昧著良心將這點合理化。對這樣的人來說，什麼避免剽竊的方法都沒有用。不過，對大多數真正的學術研究者來說，想法是神聖不可侵犯的；做筆記時精密確實，能避免專業誠信毀於一旦，也能尊重他人的思考結晶。
