} Historical background to the notion of authorship, and ownership of text within European and U.S. contexts.
} Premodern, modern, and postmodern understandings of text, and authorship: the dominant modernist paradigm filled with tension and ambiguities.
} Confusion around plagiarism leading to difficulties and hypocrisies in how textual borrowing is understood.
Finally, discussion on some general implications for understanding text, ownership, and learningConclusion:
} “Although of course we still need to leave a space open to criticize unacceptable borrowing practices, unilateral accusations of plagiarism are inadequate and arrogant.”
} It is important to understand the cultural and historical specificity of notions of ownership and authorship and to explore the implications of these concepts’ being increasingly promoted as international norms.
} Plagiarism also needs to be particularized in other ways: In terms of the particular cultural and educational context in which it is being discussed—what are the relationships to text, knowledge, and learning in a particular cultural context?
} “All language learning is to some extent a process of borrowing others’ words and we need to be flexible, not dogmatic, about where we draw boundaries between acceptable or unacceptable textual borrowings” (Pennycook 227)
