What Rob says here makes perfect sense to me:
> What probably bothers me more than plagiarism is the plethora
> of "Custom Essay" mills. Most of my students who have
> trouble are somewhere in the grey zone of "plagiphrasing" --
> they haven't really learned to handle sources, or they lack
> the linguistic savvy to really handle the complexity of the
> material they're trying to work with. In these cases, I try
> to capitalize on the teaching moment and work with the
> student to understand what the meaning of source use is, and
> what thoughtful interrogation of sources entails. The
> actual plagiarism cases are fairly rare.
But (always a "but," eh?) I want to widen this question a bit:
> However, we have a huge problem in Toronto with the
> availability of writers for hire. I've never caught one of
> these, but I've sure been suspicious on a number of occasions
> when students produce work that seems far above any
> previously demonstrated ability. Anybody have a solution to
> that problem?
No, but I'd like to suggest it's not a new problem, and often
isn't seen as a problem at all. Remember the good old days when
the CEO "dictated" a memo to "the girl" and she was the one who
actually produced a coherent, persuasive, literate text that
he'd never have been able to get close to if he'd been let loose
at a keyboard?
My "solution," such as it is, is this: more on-site, immediate,
used-and-discarded writing (anybody know the term "inkshed"?);
more extremely specific, purpose- and occasion-driven writing of
explanations, reports, persuasions; more immediate and unique
writing occasions . . . and _way_ fewer formal essays, even when
accompanied by outlines, research notes, drafts, etc. And even
fewer occasions than that on which writing is evaluated and the
value "counted" toward a "mark."
-- Russ
St. Thomas University
http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/
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