Dear All,
Thank you for your insightful response, Sandra. I agree with all you say and keep using similar arguments when it comes to plagiarism in countries like Switzerland or Germany. Right now I returned from a small conference in Skopje, Macedonia where we discussed plagiarism with a group of colleagues from Romania, Ukraine and Hungary. In these countries things look different and different measures seem necessary. One thing is that spectacular plagiarism cases in these countries like the one from Romania (where the prime minister has been caught plagiarizing but not resigned) happen to turn out differently from the ones in Germany (where the defense minister had to resign). There is no law against plagiarism and a lot of uncertainty of the nature of the offence inherent in plagiarism. Additionally, resources for teaching writing are smaller and traditions of writing are less elaborate than in some of the western European countries. The debate in these countries should touch more basic issues of copyright, plagiarism and intertextuality than in the UK. It seems necessary there to establish a set of values for writing in addition to a better teaching of intertextuality.
Another problem we discussed in Skopje is the mode of handling doctoral dissertations. While in the Anglo-Saxon tradition doctoral students are enrolled in a study program, in most eastern countries (as in many universities in the German-speaking countries), doctoral students are supervised by a single professor without any backing from an institute-based academic culture. Many of the spectacular plagiarism cases are the result of this practice and seem to concern people who are not interested in an academic but rather in a political career. They try getting their degree in the cheapest way possible (or engage the wrong ghost writers). Providing good supervision for thesis writing is the best way preventing plagiarism and separating the spectacular cases of plagiarism from the average struggle of students with quotes and references seems necessary. I all academic contexts I have worked so far, plagiarism was a well-known issue even though exact definitions seem to be of more recent origin.
Otto
Prof. Dr. Otto Kruse
LCC Language Competence Centre
Zurich University of Applied Sciences
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Phone +41 58 934 6172
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: European Association for the Teaching of Academic Writing - discussions [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Im Auftrag von Sandra Sinfield
Gesendet: Montag, 8. Oktober 2012 11:25
An: [log in to unmask]
Betreff: Re: plagiarism policies internationally
Dear All,
As always talk of plagiarism stokes the fire of debate.
One thing I have noticed since being a student in the mid-seventies is the change in *our* academic practices in re the way that we think, act and talk about plagiarism: there is now a moral panic around this issue.
Rather than seeing referencing as an academic practice to which students gradually acclimatise - and teaching it that way; it is taught as a punishable offence from the moment students enter Higher Education.
When I was a student in the seventies you were not even taught how to reference till the second year - and even then you were given leeway to be a bit 'clunky' and imperfect in your practice.
I would welcome a return to seeing referencing as a practice which students gradually understand and practice - and 'plagiarism' kept as the academic offence that it is when it is wittingly undertaken.
And if in doubt, let us 'design out plagiarism' by producing more creative and engaging 'assessments as learning'. So that rather than requiring students to regurgitate information - we set them tasks that get them to reformulate information.
This is not to completely de-throne the essay - but to de-centre it slightly - for example, what about:
* design and run an interactive workshop on an element of the course
* design a teaching or learning resource for a course
* re-design the course itself with new reading list and assignments
* produce a visual essay upon...
* produce different patches for a patchwork text assignment.
For me, another negative outcome of framing plagiarism in this 'criminalised' way is that it confers implicit transgressive status on the student and an implicit policing role on the tutor - and that is not why I came in to education.
Best wishes,
Sandra Sinfield
On 7 October 2012 23:40, Alex Barthel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> hi again,
>
> I am not questioning local knowledge of course, but I would be most
> surprised if a university did not have policies & procedures to handle
> academic misconduct which includes cheating and which, in turn,
> includes plagiarism.
>
> When, around 2006, I contributed to drafting the 'anti-plagiarism'
> policy at the university (in Australia) where I used to work, I did a
> quick search of several dozen universities across the globe in both
> the southern and northern hemispheres and I found that EVERY
> university I looked at had a policy addressing academic
> misconduct/cheating, even though very few (particularly in non-English
> speaking countries) specifically mentioned the word 'plagiarism'.
>
> I also found that at these universities, people were by & large
> unaware that these policies existed...
>
> Apologies for not being more precise, but I no longer have access to
> the data/details I collected before I retired.
>
> cheers
> alex barthel, australia
>
> On 8 October 2012 09:23, <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>> As far as I know there is no formal control (no program or software)
>> to detect plagiarism in papers, thesis or disertations at Argentinian
>> universities.
>> Regards,
>> Susana
>>
>>
>> Dr. Susana B. Tuero
>> Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata Argentina
>
>
>
>
> --
> alex
--
Sandra Sinfield
University Teaching Fellow
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