Thanks for a very good source, Russ. I agree with the article you've
mentioned in your message. I have numerous objections against
"plagiarism hunting" on campuses. My first objection is very well
explained in the article:
> I'm troubled by this co-option of student writing on human subject
> grounds. Most universities have protocols for getting permission to
> study humans, whether medically, chemically, or socially (i.e.
> interviewing, surveying, ethnographies and so on). Under these
> protocols, researchers must submit plans for how they will collect and
> use student works, and must work out permission to do so. As a teacher
> and textbook author -- and now as someone who works for a publisher --
> I would never use students work in a book, at a conference, or in any
> professional capacity without students' written permission, which
> permission must be freely given and not co-erced as a condition of the
> course.
>
> With Turnitin.com, students' work is captured and held without their
> permission. This goes against the grain of most writing pedagogy,
> which premises that students are 'authors' and 'authorities' and
> owners of their own work (coincidentally, the assumption used to
> establish copyright). It also goes against the grain of one's right to
> their intellectual property that Turnitin.com, in its pursuit of
> plagiarists, seeks to uphold. So using Turnitin.com presents students
> with a double standard.
>
We all are familiar with recent Tri-Council policies on research
involving humans. Recently, I've heard that now instructors are not
allowed to use student work for teaching even if the students have given
permission for their work to be used for teaching purposes. Such
services as Turnitin.com make me wonder why researchers and teachers
seem to be required to uphold such high standards while none of these
standards is applied to Turnitin.com. That's one of the problems I have
with the service.
My other objection is that I am worried by the trend of turning academia
into a policing service, which is more interested in catching cheaters
than in teaching students how to become educated and ethical human
beings. My view is that my responsibility as a teacher is to help
students acquire knowledge, learn how to learn, and develop strategies
that would help them become whatever they want to become. My role as a
writing teacher is to put students in such contexts that would make it
natural for them to work with sources and incorporate these sources into
their writing, when needed. In this case, I know that I can show/explain
to my students why other people's words and ideas always are used in
one's own writing, why and when it's appropriate to acknowledge them and
when it may not be appropriate, and how to do it properly (and what
"properly" means).
In no way do I see my role as a police woman (Russ, you've already heard
this one). If my students understand that stealing (that is, in my
understanding, copying somebody's words or using somebody's ideas
without referring to their original author when appropriate and when it
is possible to locate the original author) is unethical, they won't do
it on purpose. Those who understand and still do it -- as we all know,
they are doomed professionally, so they'll be punished more seriously
than any university can punish them, and I can hardly do anything about
them (if they want to cheat, they'll find a clever way to do it anyway).
Those who don't understand and copy because of the lack of understanding
should be taught better rather than punished; that is, essentially, I
see such cheating as my problem. I see my business as education, not
policing.
On top of all that, proper referencing of sources is a complex subject
and is worth a serious academic investigation (for example, see recent
claims that Bakhtin plagiarized from Ernst Cassirer). If academics -- we
ourselves -- can't figure it out, how can we punish students for not
being able to do it "properly"?
Natasha
Russ Hunt wrote:
> There's also a pretty good site about this whole issue that Nick
> Carbone (who also spoke at that conference) has put up for Bedford-St.
> Martin's, called "Turnitin.com, a Pedagogic Placebo for Plagiarism."
> It's here:
>
> http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/techtiparchive/ttip060501.htm
>
> I recommend it.
>
> -- Russ
--
Natasha Artemeva
Assistant Professor
School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies
Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1S 5B6
Tel.+1 (613) 520-2600 ext.7452
Fax +1 (613) 520-6641
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
http://www.carleton.ca/~nartemev/index.html
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