The Wall Street Journal
August 15, 2006

Student Plagiarism Stirs Controversy at Ohio University
by Robert Tomsho

“To earn his master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Ohio University, Vipul Ranatunga aimed to make improvements to a computer-aided design system developed by other researchers…..”

The article goes on to say that Mr. Ranatunga described this other system in detail, identifying by name the researcher who developed it. Mr. Ranatunga didn’t use quotation marks or footnotes in his description, but took about seven pages directly, word-for-word, from this other researcher.

Mr. Ranatunga admits he copied the material but says he didn’t think he was breaking the law since he named this other researcher in his text and bibliography.