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.
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?
Rob
Quoting Natasha Artemeva <[log in to unmask]>:
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Plagiarism discussed in the NCTE Newsletter
> Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 18:23:20 -0600
> From: Jo-Anne Andre <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> References: <[log in to unmask]>
> <[log in to unmask]> <[log in to unmask]>
> <[log in to unmask]> <[log in to unmask]>
> <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>
> Hi Natasha,
>
> I wouldn't object to sharing our correspondence.
>
> I do think plagiarism is a fascinating subject, but sometimes our
> discussions fail to reflect the complexities of particular cases. Much
> of the discussions seem to suggest that if we as instructors do
> everything right, plagiarism wouldn't be a problem. But that's not
> true. This fall, I had a student in my academic writing class who
> plagiarised despite the fact that the assignment was inquiry-based (and
> thus, presumably meaningful to the student), the assignment was
> process-based (with a preliminary proposal required before the final
> paper), and the class included explict instruction not only on how to
> properly document sources but on how sources form part of a larger
> academic conversation, on how citations help to build ethos and
> arguments, and so forth.The class is one that students tend to like,
> and I love teaching it. I'm not sure what I could have or would have
> done differently. And in this case, the student in question was in no
> danger of failing the class. Given the context, I was very upset to
> encounter a case of plagiarism. In my view, the case reflected a lack
> of academic integrity on the part of the student. As you can tell, I'm
> still upset about it.
>
> Gotta run,
> Jo-Anne Andre
>
>
>
> Natasha Artemeva wrote:
>
>> Hi Jo-Anne,
>>
>> Indeed, and I think it's a mistake.
>> What would you say if I posted our correspondence on the listserve?
>>
>> Natasha
>>
>> Jo-Anne Andre wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Natasha,
>>>
>>> I agree with your point entirely. However, it seems to me that
>>> sometimes in our discussions on the CASLL list, the two kinds of
>>> plagiarism (inadvertent plagiarism vs calculated cheating) get
>>> conflated in our discussions.
>>>
>>> Jo-Anne
>>>
>>>
>>> Natasha Artemeva wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Jo-Anne,
>>>>
>>>> I don't think academic integrity and plagiarism are one and the
>>>> same. I think the case that Rob described causes a real concern,
>>>> but as long as we as teachers direct students to writing about
>>>> things that matter to them and facilitate their learning of
>>>> academic genres, there is no big deal if they use a quote without
>>>> a proper APA attribution. Just my personal opinion.
>>>>
>>>> Of course, when a student submits somebody else's work as her own
>>>> or does what my students did (copies whole sections verbatim
>>>> from the teacher's article), it's a different matter.
>>>>
>>>> Natasha
>>>>
>>>> Jo-Anne Andre wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Just to be a devil's advocate, what if you had asked, "Why are
>>>>> we so obsessed with academic integrity?"
>>>>>
>>>>> Jo-Anne Andre
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Natasha Artemeva wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I was reading a modern Russian novel the other day, and in the
>>>>>> foreword the editor was saying that in this novel a reader
>>>>>> would find hidden
>>>>>> quotes from various famous Russian authors whose names were
>>>>>> then listed. I am sure any of us can provide multiple examples
>>>>>> of "borrowing" from other authors in literature, music, film,
>>>>>> even in academic papers. Why are we so obsessed with student
>>>>>> plagiarism?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Natasha
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Natasha Artemeva, Ph. D.
> 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/slals/faculty/artemeva.htm
>
>
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