MSI Press Blog

  Authors, especially first-time authors of non-fiction books, must and should rely on available, already published information. The question is how to handle the use of it in your own work. Yes, of course, there are guides on how to cite something (APA Manual, Chicago Manual of Style, etc.), but what you can cite is something else. How do you avoid violating copyright law and finding yourself in a big unhealthy pile of muck and perhaps even having to take your book off the shelf? Here are some basic guidelines. 1. Lyrics & Poetry Even a single line of song lyrics or poetry is usually protected. Publishers almost always require permission and payment for reproduction. Safer route: paraphrase the sentiment or describe the effect instead of quoting. 2. Books & Prose Short quotations (a few lines) may fall under fair use , especially for commentary, criticism, or scholarship. Extended excerpts (e.g., 100+ lines) almost always require permission . Rule of thumb: i...

  Fluency isn’t always a ladder—it can be a treadmill. For many language learners operating at Level 3 (Professional Proficiency), the ability to navigate meaning through paraphrase becomes both a blessing and a barricade. Especially for multilinguals with strong cognitive agility, paraphrastic comprehension allows us to move fluidly through meaning even when we miss precise lexical cues. But at some point, that agility starts to mask the need for refinement—keeping us from reaching Level 4 (Near-Native Proficiency), where nuance, idiomatic precision, and socio-cultural context take center stage. 🎭 When “Good Enough” Gets You into Trouble I once made that mistake in Borjomi, Georgia, during a conference on innovations in pre-college education, i.e. what would be the equivalent of US elementary and high schools. The moderator of our panel on innovations in language testing knew me well both professionally and personally and in introducing me asked me to share "how many [unfamil...