Teachers across the country are preparing to talk to students about plagiarism by referencing Melania Trump's speech at last week's Republican National Convention. The Trump campaign says that Melania admires Michelle Obama, and mentioned some of her favorite lines from the First Lady's 2008 speech to one of her speechwriting assistants. Somehow, that entire passage made it into Melania Trump's speech.
We discuss a range of issues related to the plagiarism: how to detect it, how to avoid it, and why it matters. And we discuss the importance of crafting great speeches in the modern age. Our guests:
- Curt Smith, presidential speech writer, author, and senior lecturer in English at the University of Rochester
- Evvy Fanning, high school English teacher