Paula et al.,
I am continually stunned by having to explain plagiarism
to a graduate student. We just had a shake up in one of
our depts where 6 grad student got caught plagiarizing.
Since our writing center is in the college of education,
I have a chance to talk to a lot of teachers, and I'm
exposed to their own practices and values, and what
they're passing on to the next generation of teachers.
Re: our being high on the food chain to have to deal with
this--I agree. As far as I can figure out, the reality in
US primary and secondary grades is that the teachers teach
to the standardized tests, the scores from which then
become the assessment for the teachers getting re-hired.
Here it's been especially bad since the No Child Left
Behind Act defined accountability.
Teachers don't emphasize creativity and original thought
in primary and secondary grades--they emphasize being able
to write an essay that will get a good score on a
standardized test in 45 minutes--outline, first draft has
to count, no re-writes. They teach templates and
boilerplates. And in English 101 at this university, a
"research" paper means quoting extensively from something
the student found on the internet without any real thought
for critical argument.
By the time they reach graduate school, these students
have had a career of being able to get away with throwing
other people's (some expert's) ideas at a paper, writing
it once (no revisions), with very little effort spent on
original thought. Some of them come to me perplexed at a
prof's demand for your "own ideas." They say, "no one's
ever told me I get to have my own ideas." And this is
grad school!
So I agree--it should start a lot earlier. But until we
start emphasizing writing about original thoughts and not
just how well you can paraphrase (at least in high school
and undergrad), I think we're going to continue having
students who don't know what plagiarism is.
Rebel
Graduate Student Writing Studio
College of Education
University of New Mexico
On Mon, 10 May 2010 11:13:51 +0300
Paula Haapanen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hello!
>
>
>
> My thanks as well for all of the comments. They will
>certainly help me
> further explain this phenomenon to my students.
>
>
>
> Just to wax nostalgic for a moment, I remember being
>taught not to steal
> other people's ideas back in elementary school (and that
>was 35-30
> years ago). Now I know we're talking about a variety of
>things here
> (expressing things as they do in one's professional
>community,
> boilerplate phrases, cognitive appropriacy of tasks) and
>I think these
> are all valid things in academic writing at the higher
>education level.
> However, it boggles the mind as to why are we dealing
>with the basic
> concept of plagiarism at the university level.
>
>
>
> Now I know my rant is not going to solve anything (but
>it feels good to
> rant) and the reality is such that we Academic Writing
>teachers (aka
> police) are the last line of defence against this sort
>of thing but, as
> a relatively new teacher of Academic Writing, I just
>feel that we're a
> bit high on the food chain for this.
>
>
>
> I realize that different cultures deal with plagiarism
>in different ways
> (I'm Canadian and I teach students from many different
>countries) but I
> would have hoped that academic integrity is globally
>held in somewhat
> higher esteem than it appears to be. What happened? Why
>aren't teachers
> in earlier levels of education saying anything about
>this? Or are they?
> And if so, what are they saying? This directly concerns
>point 3 of Mary
> Ellen's summed up points below. Why isn't "the sense of
>how to clearly
> mark off your own ideas and others' and when... strong
>in many sciences
> now"? (Kerans, 2010) J
>
>
>
> ...end of rant.
>
>
>
> Happy spring!
>
> --Paula
>
>
>
> **************************************
> Paula Haapanen
> Coordinating Lecturer - English
> Language Centre
> Lappeenranta University of Technology
>
> PO Box 20
> 53851 Lappeenranta
>Finland
>
> Phone: + 358 (0)5 621 2213 (direct)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>From: European Association for the Teaching of Academic
>Writing -
> discussions [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>M. Ellen Kerans
> Sent: 7. toukokuuta 2010 14:06
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Do SS learn to plagiarize in our classes?
>
>
>
> Thank you for this because you emphasize some points
>I've tried to bring
> to instruction (now from an outsider's vantage in the
>world of author's
> editing - i.e., pre-acceptance editing - and journal
>copyediting -
> though I still teach a bit). May I summarize your points
>that I consider
> to be very important to remember when planning
>instruction or orienting
> (advanced) students? In this, I'm attempting to state
>the "problems" and
> imply the solutions for instructors or mentors from the
>journal editors'
> point of view as I understand it.
>
>
>
> 1. Long noun phrases are common and can be considered to
>have
> status as terms in many fields. (Yes, they could be
>shortened after
> they've first been established in a text, but they need
>to appear in
> their entirety somewhere; otherwise reading is made
>difficult.) This is
> why the "six-word string" criterion of some plagiarism
>detection
> software won't be very useful. It's also why all
>electronic detection
> outputs should be interpreted by a human being who is
>familiar with the
> literature in the field, before plagiarism is assumed.
> 2. Certain longish predicate phrases or clauses,
>especially in the
> methods and results sections, should also be given the
>status of
> "boilerplate phrases" equivalent to the sort John
>pointed out yesterday
> as useful metalinguistic phrases for linking ideas.
>(There are just so
> many ways to express statistical results, for example,
>and to deviate is
> to change the meaning or display your lack of knowledge
>of a technique
> and how it's talked about in that community.)
>Furthermore, certain
> multicenter studies will have whole paragraphs that are
>boilerplates -
> to tie a vast body of research together. A human
>interpreter of
> plagiarism detection software outputs needs to know
>this.
> 3. "Words unacknowledged" = plagiarism is a fair way to
>put it, OK.
> However, many of us are dealing with authors who are
>learning from
> mentors who themselves don't know much about citing
>(acknowledgment
> protocols) and when to put quotes around exact wording.
>There are few
> examples to follow in the sciences-for both good and bad
>reasons. (Note
> how often applied linguists even put quotes around
>two-to-four word
> phrases to express that a turn of phrase belongs to the
>cited author,
> possibly because research on the ground is thin as you
>say. Quotes
> around short segments seldom appear in the sciences, and
>when they do,
> they're often so-called scare quotes suggesting
>disagreement or lack of
> evidence. Lack of quotes is appropriate if the scientist
>is using the
> type of phrasing mentioned in points 1 and 2 above. On
>other occasions -
> the expression of points of view or interpretation or
>when clause-length
> explanations are incorporated, it probably would be
>necessary to
> acknowledge that phrasing is exact and just putting a
>cite at the end of
> a sentence is insufficient.) A problem is that where
>lines are drawn
> isn't being well handed down in many settings nowadays.
>The sense of how
> to clearly mark off your own ideas and others' and when
>phrasing matters
> isn't strong in many sciences now.
> 4. I think you're so very right that tasks that are
>often not
> really within the cognitive abilities of undergraduates
>are being set
> these days in university classes (and not just EAP
>courses). Fixing this
> alone would solve many problems. What's needed are tasks
>requiring
> "bridge genres" - ways students can practice and
>gradually build up a
> sense of how to use the language to participate in their
>field.
> 5. I also think it's right to warn instructors off
>overemphasizing
> paraphrasing activities as the best response to
>avoidance of plagiarism
> on the student level (you say "EAP teachers get hung up
>on the words
> rather than ideas or findings") . Plagiarism disappears
>from the
> classroom (in my experience) when the task set is
>cognitively
> appropriate and when a student writer focuses on the
>idea he or she
> wishes to explain - to an appropriately imagined reader,
>such as a smart
> younger cousin who's also interested in the field. Soon,
>natural marking
> of "my idea" vs "their ideas/facts" emerges from the
>student's words and
> citing begins to make sense to them. (In engineering, by
>the way, I find
> the tasks set by Michael Alley and the groups he works
>with to be the
> type of bridge task I'm talking about.)
>
>
>
> The only contributions I'd like to add:
>
>
>
> 1) I think that some of the repetition I think you're
>seeing in your
> Google searches is a result of the fact that
>"compilation theses" (Am:
> dissertations) are increasingly common. In case anyone's
>not familiar
> with this practice, essentially the doctoral student
>must publish the
> articles first, before "writing" (compiling) the
>thesis/dissertation.
> Then, the thesis itself is a compilation of those
>articles - in their
> exact forms - plus an introductory chapter summarizing
>the history and
> subsequent events in the field, plus the usual
>acknowledgements. This
> certainly isn't plagiarism. It's "complilation".
>
> 2) The hope that ("The Journal obviously doesn't
>think this is
> plagiarism") may be optimistic because reviewers do not
>detect
> plagiarism. This is the ostensible reason why journal
>editors are now
> becoming more indignant about both duplicate publication
>and plagiarism
> (hence the CrossCheck publisher's project). The
>community still views
> this as a transgression, however. Sometimes editors go
>on the rampage.
> Sometimes they get the tone of their reactions wrong.
>(See last year's
> fiasco reported in Nature, 30 July 2009, Abbot), so
>young authors who
> see their mentors have been copy-pasting for years may
>be rudely
> undercut at some point. COPE has a flowchart with a
>protocol for editors
> to follow, but few editors are members of COPE!
>
>
>
>
>
>Finally: "boilerplate" comes from the practice of
>newspaper printers
> using heavy (boilerplate) steel to set certain parts of
>a newspaper that
> would have to be reprinted often - like mastheads. (Just
>thought someone
> might find that tidbit interesting.)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Mary Ellen Kerans
>
> Translation & Editing - Writing & Education
>
> Barcelona, Spain
>
> Tel/Fax: 34 934 080997
>
> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> or
>
> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>
> ________________________________
>
>From: European Association for the Teaching of Academic
>Writing -
> discussions [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>Alexander, Olwyn
> Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 10:09 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: FW: Do SS learn to plagiarize in our classes?
>
>
>
>Forwarded from a colleague who is not on the list but
>interested in the
> discussion.
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
>From: Jenifer Spencer
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 06 May 2010 20:49
> To: Alexander, Olwyn
> Subject: Re: Do SS learn to plagiarize in our classes?
>Jenifer's Rant
>
>
>
> Hi
>
> My understanding is that it is plagiarism if you steal
>someone else's
> ideas or words unacknowledged.That is regardless if you
>used their exact
> words (which is easier to spot and prove) or your own
>words but it
> really is their original idea or especially their
>experimental results,
> which is the worst form of academic plagiarism. EAP
>teachers get hung up
> on the words rather than ideas or findings, because they
>cannot see the
> trees for the words! They think that seeing the same
>words means
> plagiarism. Actually, it can just mean that is what is
>being studied or
> discussed in a discourse community. Consider this e.g.
>from a PhD in
> Petroleum engineering:
>
> Besson (1990) developed an improved semi-analytical
>correlation for the
> geometrical skin factor of a fully penetrating deviated
>well in an
> isotropic formation.
>
> Google advanced search gives lots of results for phrases
>almost
> identical to this 20-word NP - many of them from the
>same Journal and
> set of conferences. I googled other longish phrases from
>the PhD at
> random and each time this threw up many other articles
>with the same
> phrases.This is because this is what this group of
>engineers is studying
> and therefore what they talk about in their
>communications. The Journal
> obviously doesn't think this is plagiarism- in fact I
>would imagine they
> would refuse to publish anything that didn't have a high
>proportion of
> appropriate, predictable 'set noun-phrases' like these,
>as it might
> indicate that the author was not in fact an authentic
>member of this
> discourse community. These phrases often have a good
>many more than 6
> words in common. Perhaps it says more about the paucity
>of ideas or
> research in political 'science' that six words in common
>would indicate
> plagiarism!!!
>
> I think that the real confusion is engendered by he fact
>that essays set
> in EAP courses are often on subjects that students know
>little about and
> that they can contribute few ideas of their own to. This
>encourages
> students, in desperationu to add quotes from the
>internet about topics
> they only half understand- because they are outside that
>discourse
> community. What is needed is for EAP teachers and
>subject lecturers to
> get the students inside the discourse community as
>quickly as possible.
> Actually, the PhD quoted above (and I have reason to
>suppose it is
> considered a good one in the peer group, as the author
>has already been
> published) and all those other sources I found in the
>Google search,
> could be considered as 'patchwork writing': they have
>hardly a single
> 'original' phrase between all of them: as well as the
>repetitive
> technical phrases, the writers stick rigidly to
>formulaic academic
> phrases and collocations taught in general EGAP courses-
>they are
> exactly like all the depised 'models' of
>'boiler-plating- probably
> because that is how you make boilers!
>
> However, it is clear that these writers are having a
>vibrant debate and
> exchange of ideas. Here is a field that is moving on so
>rapidly that the
> participants are willingly 'standing on each other's
>shoulders' to
> facilitate this rapid development.They use this
>restricted code of
> communication for speed and ease of communication (and
>probably to
> acknowledge the reality that a very large number of
>these authors and
> readers are NNS, who don't need any language challenges
>beyond the
> conceptual and mathematical difficulty their field
>already poses).
>
> Perhaps more originality of language might be found in
>fields where
> research is thinner on the ground. It would be
>interesting to find a
> field where there is little progress being made and see
>if that is where
> the fancy 'original' language is to be found??
>
> If you put a socking-big acknowledged quote from another
>writer, it
> might be considered rather a weak thing to do but it is
>certainly not
> plagiarism- it is done in all academic books (including
>our own) and I
> think the writers quoted are usually pleased to see
>their work given
> such high exposure: it's a way of saying- look, you
>should really listen
> to what X says about this, or sometimes a way of
>representing the writer
> fairly if we are about to challenge their ideas.
>
> So, I think student plagiarism (as distinct from the
>serious type of
> research stealing in professional academia) is more
>about being outside
> the discourse community, and they will need those
> boiler plates to make
> the boilers- they just need the opportunity to have
>something meaningful
> to say about something they know enough about to an
>audience they are
> aware of.
>
>Feel free to share this with your discussion group, if
>you think it has
> any useful points.
>
> All the best]
>
> Jenifer
>
> Materials Writer,
> teacher training, editing, proofreading and
>collaborative writing
>
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> tel. +44(0) 1313333747
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> Heriot-Watt University is a Scottish charity registered
>under charity
> number SC000278.
>
Bring to the act of writing all of your craft, care,
devotion, lack of humbug, and honesty of sentiment. And
then write without looking over your shoulder for the
literary police. Write as if your life depended on saying
what you felt as clearly as you could, while never losing
sight of the phenomenon to be described.
Norman Mailer, The Spooky Art
