Intellectual Property 

Technically, language is held in common; no one person owns language or has the power to hold onto words like possessions. It is when individuals make unique creations with words – generate particularly apt phrases, coin terms, or construct arguments and develop insights – that we can say they have some claim to those particular ideas. They become “intellectual property.” 

Citation is an acknowledgement of these interesting formulations of language and ideas, as well as of the intellectual effort and ability that they represent. The history or “etymology” of the term “plagiarism” relates its use to the act of kidnapping or stealing property, which implicates plagiarism in a debate over what can and cannot be said to be “intellectual property.”

Copyright is another concept closely related to citation and intellectual property. When individuals create unique works, we can say that they have claim to these works and these become “copyright protected”. For more information about copyright, see York’s Copyright @ York.