It's interesting to watch the kafuffle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama around allegations that Obama lifted lines from Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick during a speech he (Obama) delivered.

It's interesting mostly because I have been in the unenviable position of busting a few college students for plagiarism--or failing to display academic integrity.

Here's the speech I give at the beginning of each semester:

"There are three types of plagiarism with which I will concern myself.   The first is relatively benign, as it is a case where it's clear to me that you heard a line in a movie or read it somewhere and have come to assimilate the material as your own.  I'll tell you to fix it (mostly because it's likely to be trite).

The second instance will result from a failure to cite the source.   I'll read material and see that you have failed to give proper credit, and I will reflect that in the grade.  (My experience that this comes from pulling material off the Web and then failing to attribute after it's been pasted into the document.  I counsel never pasting material into a document draft.)

The third shade of plagiarism will send you off to the Dean of Students.  I usually pick up on it when I'm reading along and there is a dramatic shift in style and voice.   A student who has struggled mightily and then writes like Graham Greene sends me off to the search engines to match the content.   In this case, the intent is clear - to pass off someone's material as your own.   I have no sympathy for that."

Based on what I know of the Obama speech, the assignment would have been marked down.  But we'd have kept it between student and instructor.