All,
There is an excellent article in CCC titled, "The Economics of Authorship: Online Papermills, Student Writers, and First-Year Comp." by Kelly Ritter that is a must read regarding this topic of paper mills and plagiarism. It appeared in the 56.4, June 2005 edition (pp 601-631).
What I liked was Ritter's approach to the problem, which was to have students research and write about the paper mills and plagiarism, and about student authorship. Maybe educating students about these issues, deeply, is the answer. Or at least it is an answer...
Cheers,
Regina
----- Original Message ----
From: Russ Hunt <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, May 18, 2007 5:45:31 PM
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Re: Plagiarism discussed in the NCTE Newsletter]]
I think I'm with Natasha, here:
> I don't think using the term "plagiarism" for every occasion
> is going to help. I think it's important to understand what
> is happening in each particular case and why it is happening,
> and then work with it (or work to prevent it if necessary). I
> don't find general advice on "how to avoid plagiarism"
> helpful.
Nor I, for other reasons as well. But I think Natasha's view
that understanding particular cases is crucial is the right one -
- and by particular I mean an understanding of what the
student's real motives and considerations and knowledge, in this
specific instance, are. Without that, I think almost any
response is likely to be more destructive than helpful. And I'm
aware that that's asking for an unreasonable commitment of time
and energy.
So while I agree with Theresa when she says,
> I'm not even sure that plagiarism is a term worth using in
> academia today!
I want to flag this because of its tacit assumptions:
> I agree, Natasha, that people who want to copy will do it for
> whatever reason.
I want to back away from thinking that there's a group of people
who "want to copy." I think that inadvertently moves back toward
that "criminal justice" model, toward treating it as a moral /
ethical / integrity issue, which I'm convinced leads us away
from learning. Theresa also says,
> What I feel is important is that in our classes we open up a
> discourse around issues of copying, imitating, summarizing
> and critical commentary. I don't feel it is necessary to
> bemoan the one or two people who don't appear to have learned
> anything from that discussion. I also prefer to keep that
> discussion positive (i.e. talk about referencing practice)
> rather than negative (i.e. talk about plagiarism, theft,
> etc.)
Absolutely. I think that that conversation is one of the most
important things we can initiate as teachers of written
discourse practice, not because it will help our students "avoid
plagiarism," but because it stands a chance of helping them
understand how discourse -- especially written discourse,
perhaps, and certainly academic discouurse -- really works, and
how to be better practitioners of it. Increasingly, as a teacher
of literate discourse, I see my central and most important job
as helping students learn how to bring other voices into their
own discourse.
-- Russ
St. Thomas University
http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/
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To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
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For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
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