"Rand Paul's Plagiarism Problem" (The Colbert Report, October 29, 2013) is available on Comedy Central's website: http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/yxqllm/rand-paul-s-plagiarism-problem

NOTE: The portion shown at LOEX runs from 0:55-3:23

Possible Activities: 

• Define plagiarism
• Research Rand Paul – who is he, and why is he important?
• Research Rachel Maddow – who is she, and is she known for having any biases?

Possible Activities: 

• Think-Pair-Share on how Colbert’s demonstration of plagiarism influenced your thinking about plagiarism
• Debate: Show Rand Paul’s rebuttal (Fusion TV clip) and take a position on his argument
• Research: Have students determine Wikipedia’s policy on re-using text from Wikipedia. Should that policy have any impact on the accusation of plagiarism?
• Brainstorming: Work in small groups to brainstorm ways Paul could have used the content from Wikipedia and avoided accusations of plagiarism

Notes from all groups at the session: 

• Get the joke: define the reason for showing the clip; prime the students to look for the reason of the clip
• Relating to own experience
• Have them tell us who the individuals are
• Background / context for Gattaca
• Context governor's race candidates
• Eugenics defined
• Context Colbert Report
• Frame depending on culture, region
• Display/share campus plagiarism policy
• Define plagiarism
• Ask students to define plagiarism
• Ask students "have you been accused of plagiarism"?
• Inappropriate use of sources: should a politician use movies as a source
• Establish baseline: Gattica, definition of plagiarism, the actual issue, Wikipedia, key players

Notes from all groups at the session: 

• Define plagiarism
• Visit the wikipedia entry
• Source the issues / key things