Thanks Ian. ta
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Iain Hood" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: Dyslexia and Plagiarism


> Hi Bryan
>
> This subject was being debated a couple of years back on the Plagiarism
> JISCmail. I have copied in a strand below; I hope people find it
> informative. The thread is probably best read chronologically (Fiona's
> message, then George's, then mine).
>
> Cheers
>
> Iain
>
> Iain Hood
> Senior Student Adviser
> Student Support Services
> Anglia Ruskin University
> East Road
> Cambridge
> CB1 1PT
>
> 0845 196 2316
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
> George, I would also have applauded your approach. I have supported 
> hundreds
> of dyslexic students in their handling of assuring assertion integrity 
> over
> the years. Had I been dealing with the student Fiona mentions I would have
> immediately seized the opportunity to challenge the student's concepts of
> provenance and probity in the statement he or she had made (had he or she
> read this in a book, or conducted a research survey, or a straw poll 
> amongst
> dyslexic friends, or was he or she, as we have to suspect, freely
> extrapolating from his or her own experience?) I would have then moved on 
> to
> encouraging the student to analyse the nature of self-serving interest
> within every assertion.
>
> As I say, I have dealt with many dyslexic students. Their attitudes to
> plagiarism tend to match that of the general population of students (with
> all the variety that this implies). A few (very few) have made statements
> like Fiona and George note. A few (more than the former, I'd say on 
> balance)
> are intent, 'because' of their dyslexia, on being more careful and 
> rigorous
> in their academic practice than 'other' students.
>
> Sorry about the outbreak of scare marks there.
>
> Two final points, if you'll forgive me: 'assuring assertion integrity' is 
> my
> preferred take on 'avoiding plagiarism'. And last, I am concerned about 
> the
> implications of the belief that Fiona ascribes to colleagues about the end
> result of students seeing a dyslexia supporter. One comment on this: my
> perspective is the opposite. I have warned students that they appear to be
> colluding, and their feedback has been indicative of what they feel to be
> pressure from lecturers to use certain buzz phrases and structures to 
> ensure
> good grades. Such are the paradoxes of intruction, I guess.
>
> HTH.
>
> Iain
>
> Iain Hood
> Senior Student Adviser, Learning Support
> Student Support Services
> APU
> East Road
> Cambridge
> CB1 1PT
>
> 01223 363271 ex 2316
> [log in to unmask]
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "George MacDonald Ross" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2005 7:03 PM
> Subject: Re: Dyslexic students
>
>
>> I recently had a dyslexic student who complained to me that I was
>> discriminating against him by expecting him to support any claims with a
>> reference, on the grounds that he couldn't keep track of his sources in
>> his head. I told him that he should be more meticulous about referencing
>> his sources on paper, and to use his notes when preparing his written
>> work. To make absolutely sure, I had an extensive interview with the
>> University's main expert on dyslexia, and he fully supported my stance.
>>
>> The good news is that, although I gave this student a fail mark for his
>> first piece of work, he is now performing to 2.1 standard, and I await
>> with interest to see how he does in his final assessment.
>>
>> I know it's unfashionable to give students fail marks for coursework,
>> but I think it's essential to be really tough on poor referencing from
>> the word go. It can be done without damaging their self-confidence (I
>> tell them it's like falling off your bike when learning to ride - it
>> says nothing about future performance), and I've had students go from a
>> fail in their first piece of work to stratospherically high marks for
>> their last piece.
>>
>> BTW, using Turnitin, out of 420 pages of written work I have marked this
>> year, I have detected one short paragraph and one sentence paraphrased
>> from a web source, and two pairs of students who worked together
>> sufficiently closely for a few identical phrases to show through (the
>> essays themselves were substantially different from each other). This is
>> rather different from the recent Australian result, and it shows that
>> using the right methods of teaching and assessment can largely
>> circumvent the problem of plagiarism. However, I wouldn't have had this
>> evidence if it weren't for using Turnitin, though of course it doesn't
>> of itself show that my students aren't plagiarising from hard-copy
>> sources.
>>
>> George.
>>
>> **************************************************
>> George MacDonald Ross
>> Director
>> Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies
>> The Higher Education Academy
>> School of Philosophy, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT
>> +44-(0)113-343-3283
>> [log in to unmask]
>> http://prs.heacademy.ac.uk
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Plagiarism [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Fiona
>> Duggan
>> Sent: 14 March 2005 16:44
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Dyslexic students
>>
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> At a recent workshop for new lecturers someone mentioned that they had
>> been told by a dyslexic student that it was impossible for dyslexic
>> students not to plagiarise. Naturally this caused some lively debate
>> with the other participants. The consensus from the workshop was that
>> whilst those present acknowledged that dyslexic students would have
>> particular problems in relation to note-taking that may well cause them
>> problems with distinguishing between their own and others work, this was
>> not sufficient to warrant the assertion made by the student. Talking to
>> others since the workshop it has been suggested that where groups of
>> students receive support from the same dyslexia support tutor, they may
>> end up using similar phrasing that might lead to a suspicion of
>> collusion.
>>
>> Has anyone experienced such problems with dyslexic students that might
>> bear out the student's statement?
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Fiona
>>
>>
>> Dr Fiona Duggan
>> Plagiarism Advisory Service
>> Northumbria Learning
>> Room 210  Technopole
>> Kings Manor Business Park
>> Newcastle upon Tyne
>> NE1 6PA
>>
>> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>> Tel:     0191 243 7410
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bryan Jones" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 11:12 AM
> Subject: Re: Dyslexia and Plagiarism
>
>
>> There's quite lot on plagiarism and International Students.  There are
>> cultural differences in respect of what we term plagiarism but other
>> cultures just consider being courteous to the expertise of the original
>> author.  Language issues and difficulties also an issue, similar to a
>> dyslexic student in many ways.  Addressing the issue comes down, as is
>> often the case, to good teaching practices. Students need to be told /
>> taught what constitutes plagiarism and how to avoid it.  Mature students
>> who have been out of education for many years would also need to know as
>> well.
>>
>> Bryan Jones,
>> Manager, Disability Support Services
>> & North London Regional Access Centre,
>> Middlesex University
>> Tel: 020 8411 5366
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of A Velarde
>> Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 9:50 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Dyslexia and Plagiarism
>>
>>
>> Dear Colleagues. I am recently be asked to comment about a case of what
>> appears to be  unintended  aplagiarism committed by a dyslexic student.
>> Would you know of any study about the above subject in HE? Would you, in
>>
>> your professional expierience, consider that dyslexic people are at more
>>
>> risk of plagiarims because of dyslexia than non disabled people? Best
>> regards, Andy Velarde
>>
>