Trump employee apologises for plagiarising Michelle Obama speech
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The reading
An employee of the Trump Organisation has admitted plagiarism in helping to write Melania Trump's speech at the Republican National Convention. Mrs Trump was speaking at the convention to support her husband Donald becoming the Republican nominee in the race to be President of the USA in November. She made a speech about how great she thought her husband was. Unfortunately, many journalists recognised several lines from the speech. They were identical to lines in a speech given by Michelle Obama in 2008 about her husband Barack. Newspapers have been full of stories in recent days about how Donald Trump's organisation allowed Mrs Trump to make a speech that was plagiarised.
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Plagiarism is copying the work of other people without saying you are copying it. Students are taught from a very young age not to copy because it is stealing. Students who copy the work of others usually receive an F-grade for their work. Schools often expel students for plagiarism. Dr Alex Goodall, a university examination expert, said: "Melania's speech offers us a graphic example of plagiarism in action, from the highest levels of American politics." Writing expert Dr Declan Kavanagh said that because of the plagiarism, people will not trust or believe her words. Donald Trump said the story was "good news" because the speech, "got more publicity than any [speech] in the history of politics".
Sources:
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36850215
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2016/07/19/teachers-melania-trump-would-have-gotten-an-f-or-even-expelled-if-shed-turned-in-her-speech-for-a-class/
- http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/melania-trump-convention-speech.html?_r=0
