When I was a midshipman at the Naval Academy in the 1980s, my classmates and I had to memorize the Academy’s honor concept. It has changed over the years due to scandals and periods of thoughtful reflection that followed those upheavals. In it current form, the honor concept includes a passage that says of Midshipmen: “They ensure that work submitted as their own is their own, and that assistance received from any source is authorized and properly documented. ”

That is a more explicit statement about plagiarism and originality than we had to memorize in my day. Nevertheless, we got the point. I thought it was almost common sense. My high school teachers had emphasized the importance of original work and the need to give proper attribution to the work of others.

Like so many things, I have come to learn that respect for the work of others is not common sense. Some unfortunate people who have made it quite far in the workplace will seize upon the work of others if they believe they can get away with it. I encountered someone like this in the course of an interview process. The resulting essay describes the experience.