Letters to the Editor

Do not overreact

To the Editor:

As a senior history major writing my thesis, I have come to learn just how vast an undertaking writing an 80-100 page paper can be.

There have been times when I have not been sure what I should quote or what I can paraphrase and footnote. There have also been times when I hurriedly jotted something down and then later realized I was deciphering the Rosetta Stone.

Doris Kearns Goodwin's books are much longer and much more complex than my thesis, and I understand where she is coming from.

Goodwin made a mistake by not quoting one of her sources in her The Fitzgeralds and The Kennedys, and she has apologized for it. She has agreed to amend the error in the book's next printing.

With this single exception, throughout her long and prolific career she has never been accused of plagiarism. Doris Kearns Goodwin is no serial plagiarizer.

A woman as accomplished as Goodwin surely understands the rules of academic integrity and how to document sources. But people make mistakes, and I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

If someone later questions her other books, I will change my mind. But for now, I admire her for her brilliance at bringing historical figures to life.

Ben Koch

College '02

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