Letters to the Editor
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"Is it OK to get help on a paper?
Help from another person on a paper does not necessarily become plagiarism. If the help consists of criticisms of the words and ideas of your paper, rather than substitutions for those words and ideas, it is acceptable. At the point that you insert someone else's ideas or words into your paper without acknowledging the source of those ideas, plagiarism begins. If you use someone else's ideas or words, say so in your paper.
"Is it OK for a friend, parent, or relative to write all or part of a paper for me?
Regardless of the motivation of the "helper," if you hand in work that has been done in part or whole by another without specifically indicating what help was given, you have committed plagiarism."
-from Phillips Academy handbook
Granted, it's not an Academy for Political Speechwriters, but it comes closest to what happened in the Patrick/Obama speech.
Continue your poo-flinging without me, boys. I'm going to bed.

