How far can I go before its considered plagiarism?

[NuclearNed]

Here at work I have a yearly objective to "design a guide or procedure for the development of user manuals." Before anyone says anything, I really haven't procrastinated on this project - its been such a busy year that I just haven't had a chance to get around to it.

Anyway, it occurs to me that there are probably tons of individuals who have already accomplished such a task, so I decided to go Google-ing. Immediately I found a guide I liked, along with others that I thought didn't meet my needs as well.

I pretty much intend to copy and paste the entirety of this guide, with a little editing here and there. At the bottom of the document I'm going to turn in I am going to write a blurb stating "the majority of the content of this document was liberally copied from <source>"

Since I'm giving credit to the source, is that plagiarism?

 

[BobDaMenkey]

I don't believe that is proper credit to the source. And I'm not very certain that your bosses would appricate it either.

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: BobDaMenkey
I don't believe that is proper credit to the source. And I'm not very certain that your bosses would appricate it either.

Is there a proper way to cite the source that would make it ok?

My bosses expect an end product. They don't care whether or not it is the result of my original thought. In fact, I most likely will tell them where the document originated.

 

[alm4rr]

If the other book is so good, why not just use that book?

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: NuclearNed
Here at work I have a yearly objective to "design a guide or procedure for the development of user manuals." Before anyone says anything, I really haven't procrastinated on this project - its been such a busy year that I just haven't had a chance to get around to it.

Anyway, it occurs to me that there are probably tons of individuals who have already accomplished such a task, so I decided to go Google-ing. Immediately I found a guide I liked, along with others that I thought didn't meet my needs as well.

I pretty much intend to copy and paste the entirety of this guide, with a little editing here and there. At the bottom of the document I'm going to turn in I am going to write a blurb stating "the majority of the content of this document was liberally copied from <source>"

Since I'm giving credit to the source, is that plagiarism?

the way to do it would be to buy the rights to it. tell your boss and have them foot the bill. if they haven't given you enough time to actually do the project than buying the content would be a legitimate alternative.

 

[leftyman]

if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it...is it plagarism?

 

[NuclearNed]

Originally posted by: alm4rr
If the other book is so good, why not just use that book?

I think my bosses' intent is to have something onsite so that we can print it out and distribute it. Plus, who knows how long that website will be up? It might be gone next week, and if I create links to it from our company webpage, I'm just asking for trouble.