2. Who is it?
Her name is Kaavya Viswanathan , she was
born in Chennai, India and was an exceptional
writer in high school. She won many awards
and then wrote a book called "How Opal Mehta
Got Kissed, Got WIld, Got life" . it later got
signed by Katherine Cohens with the Ivywise
company.
3. What Happened ?
Kaavya Plagiarized
sections of her
novel with one of
her favorite
authors Megan
McCafferty's book
"Sloppy Firsts" and
"Second Helpings"
4. Where did it happen ?
It happened at Harvard law school in the town
Jamaica Plain,MA,a neighborhood in Boston.
5. How did it happen?
After Kaavya received $500,000 for her novel
"How Opal Mehta Got kissed,Got Wild, and
Got a Life" a month after it was published by
Little,Brown and Co.close to a month Kaavya
was accused of plagiarizing after the Harvard
Crimson newspaper found many passages in
her novel that were similar to two of Megan
McCafferty's books"Sloppy Firsts"and"Second
Helpings" all of the novels in the bookstores
were taken off the racks and sent back.
6. When did it happen?
Kaavya was accused in 2006 after her parents
died in a single-engine plane crash in Ohio
7. Why did it happen ?
● Viswanathan's book had many similar
passages to other books such as "Sloppy
Firsts"
● There was even a point where she copied
14 words directly from the book
● Viswanathan had her book accused by
readers as plagiarism after it reached 37th
on the Bestseller List.
8. Conclusion
● Kaavya claims that any similarities between
the two books was not done on purpose.
Even if they were just a coincidence, it is
still considered plagiarism. There will
always be a way to catch people who copy
other's work.
9. Work Cited
● Zhou, David. "Student’s Novel Faces Plagiarism
Controversy." Harvard Crimson. (2006): n. page. Web. 31
Aug.2012.<http://www.thecrimson.
com/article/2006/4/23/students-novel-faces-plagiarism-
controversy-beditors/>.
● Smith, Dinitia. "A Second Ripple in Plagiarism Scandal ."
New York Times. (2006): n. page. Web. 31 Aug. 2012. <http:
//www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/books/02auth.html>.
