April 3

‘Originality, Imitation and Plagiarism’

The fire and brimstone approach to preventing plagiarism has failed to promote either understanding of ideas of academic integrity or its practice, according to many essays in a new collection, Originality, Imitation, and Plagiarism: Teaching Writing in the Digital Age. The book, just published by the University of Michigan Press, features essays on how these issues play out in different disciplines and a mix of philosophical and practical approaches to analyzing the state of student writing.

The book’s co-editors are Caroline Eisner, academic dean at Landmark College, and Martha Vicinus, director of the Sweetland Writing Center and the Eliza M. Mosher Professor of English and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. Vicinus responded to e-mail questions about the themes of the new book.

Q: Plagiarism by students obviously isn’t new. What’s changed (and what’s not changed) in the Internet era?

A: Plagiarism certainly isn’t new — when I was an undergraduate in the early ’60s our dorm had a filing cabinet of old papers, and as an English major I was frequently asked to write papers. What’s changed is how easy it is now to buy a paper or to have one made-to-order from an on-line company. But equally, it’s easy to check these papers via Google. We’re really in a world of information overload these days, and we all need to learn how to be selective — that’s an especially hard task for students who might have difficulty evaluating sources. When rushed, they can be tempted grab a piece of writing quickly off the Web and hand it in.

Q: Your book talks in several places about the judgmental way that many academics talk about theses issues. What concerns you? How would you advise people to talk about this?

A: We’ve all become more aware of how common plagiarism can be because of several high profile cases, as well as simple mistakes, such as politicians using someone else’s eloquent phrases to pad out a speech. I’m most concerned about the simplistic way student writing has been labeled as either “original” or “plagiarized,” and with the consequent belief that there’s a simple solution. Many students do take short-cuts, especially in classes that seem irrelevant to their main interests, but they can also misquote and misattribute sources as they try to master new and complex ideas.

To enter into teaching with the idea of “catching” students and punishing them seems utterly counter-productive and truly destructive of a learning environment, yet all too often this is how the media frames the question of student writing and research.

When I talk with students and parents about plagiarism, I try to move the discussion away from the admonition “don’t do it or you will suffer dire penalties” to a discussion about the process of learning, why imitation is often a necessary first step to learning a new discipline (think of the first lab report you prepared), and that thoughtful engagement with material leads to thoughtful papers.

When I talk with colleagues, we discuss how to construct thoughtful assignments that will engage students and that will be difficult to pull off the Web. For example, no one wants to read another paper that invites plagiarism, such as “Discuss the character of Gatsby in The Great Gatsby.” Engaging with the character of Gatsby through the main themes of the course seems to me to be a far more interesting and challenging assignment. Moreover, if faculty include in-class peer reviewing of the rough drafts of papers and then submitting these drafts with the final papers, they both avoid last-minute work and the temptation to plagiarize. In addition, they model how most of us write important papers: we start with a rough draft, share it with a trusted friend, and then revise it fully before submission.

Q: How do these issues differ among disciplines?

A: They clearly do. As one of our contributors, Gilbert Omenn, points out, theft of ideas rather than words is far more serious in the sciences. Ironically, the policy of anonymous reviewing may make it easier for a senior reviewer to steal some of the best ideas from, say, an NIH proposal written by a junior researcher. Many years ago I was involved in the case of an MFA student who had used several phrases from another student’s poem; in this case, a dozen words seemed to constitute plagiarism. Law school students are taught to use their own words when discussing legal cases and writing up briefs, but once they graduate and join a law firm, they turn to past precedents and use the wording from previous cases. These distinctions can be very confusing to students. I think we need to be much more explicit about the context and audience for whom we are writing; this will help students who often think that their only audience is their professor.

Q: What is your take on services colleges or professors use to detect plagiarism?

A: The best-known plagiarism detection service, Turnitin.com, is actually a phrase detection service. That is, its program detects sets of words written in the same way, rather than the actual theft of information, research, ideas and phrasing. Students who forget to close quotes when quoting, for example, would be caught, but is this an accurate interpretation of their work?

Journalists, perhaps dismayed at numerous recent examples of plagiarism committed under time pressures, have highlighted these detection services as a solution to all problems, as if the goal of teaching was to catch students. Good teaching depends upon mutual trust and shared work, not the adversarial notion that students’ writing is guilty till proven innocent. All too many people are fooled by the quick technological fix.

Q: What is your advice to colleges that want to educate students about academic integrity, while not scaring people away from broad Web searches for information?

A: I think we should not assume that students know how to use the Web. Most students were warned against it in high school. One of my colleagues in Sweetland has his first-year students spend time evaluating different types of sites (commercial, educational, government run) in an area of interest (eg, nursing, dentistry, town planning). He’s found that they find it very difficult to distinguish among the sites and often confuse those that are selling a product with those that are providing information to the public. This short exercise leads naturally into a discussion of how to use Web information, and how to supplement its sources with library sources. Fortunately our librarians also offer an excellent introductory tour of the library that includes hands-on advice about how to access and evaluate different sources of information.

I think we faculty are sometimes so enamored with our subject matter that we forget the importance of teaching the process of learning. A year after our course students may have forgotten many of the facts and ideas we have presented, but they won’t forget the skills they have learned in writing a research paper or in gathering and evaluating different sources, or revising a paper that seemed finished. The hard work of thinking through a written project will stick with them — and give them the kind of skills we want for educated citizens.

— Scott Jaschik

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Comments

Let get real, please

A single phrase is one thing. What about entire, complete passages?

http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/i...;task=view&id=1724&Itemid=29

Or an “honor code?”

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/...llege-plagiarism-with-plagiarism/?hp

Being understanding is one thing. Unwillingness to do the hard work of upholding minimal standards is another and unworthy of public support.

Employers are tired of having to re-test “college graduates” and discovering basic skills (e.g., grammar, math) seriously lacking. Usually with a “it’s not my fault, man” attitude.

Unapologetically For Performance, at 6:00 am EDT on April 3, 2008

I came, I saw, I plagiarized

Professor Vicinus declares: “For example, no one wants to read another paper that invites plagiarism...". Indeed; but are there in fact class assignments which extend the invitation to plagiarize? Having students fan out across well-trod literary terrain can hardly be read as an invitation to arrogate another’s work — can it?

Abbott Katz, at 7:05 am EDT on April 3, 2008

CORREX: Let’s get real, please

For previous: Let’s, stead Let.

UFP, at 7:05 am EDT on April 3, 2008

Plagiarism and Deception

Three points:

1. Historically, plagiarism is not tolerated in academe, especially in the writing disciplines. The academic idea is to protect the sanctity of language, through which we “profess.” The journalistic idea is to ensure the trust of our audience. (Well, that last one is difficult to defend these days, but that’s another topic.)

2. Not all cases of plagiarism merits suspension or severe sanction and some truly do stand as “teaching moments,” as in the case of a student failing to understand proper citation. That’s open to debate and an aspect of academic freedom, allowing the professor to put in the syllabus the consequences of word theft.

3. And then there is deception on the scale of selecting, copying and pasting someone else’s writing assignment; passing off that as your own writing even though you did none; and then going to Judiciaries with the new media excuse: “I didn’t know this was wrong.” (Note: In the pre-digital era before Google, the excuse was “It’s coincidence.")

Michael Bugeja, Professor at Iowa State University, at 7:55 am EDT on April 3, 2008

The definition of plagiarism and its application

A big problem is that there is no definition of plagiarism adopted that explains the essence of plagiarism and is legally sound. Some years ago I proposed this definition: “Plagiarism is a falsification of the fact of authorship". It is straightforward and legally sound. However, my experience, as well as many other cases, show, that academia is reluctant to adopt any definition that would not allow arbitrary judgements. Some definitions and judgements say that it is not a plagiarism when there is a “consent” of the original author; others say that there is “unintentional plagiarism". Some have invented the term “self-plagiarism". Others say that there is only omission of proper reference by the uneducated author, etc., etc.

The only question that needs to be answered is this: Was the authorship stated correctly? And that is related to all items for which authorship can be claimed.

It is the next question what kind of punishment for plagiarism should be given; it depends, mainly, on what kind of item was plagiarised. Martha Vicinus said: “As one of our contributors, Gilbert Omenn, points out, theft of ideas rather than words is far more serious in the sciences.” The most serious plagiarism of all is plagiarising the research of the graduate students by their supervisors; this is a criminal plagiarism. And it is here where the academia is most reluctant to apply the law.

Michael Pyshnov, at 10:25 am EDT on April 3, 2008

The issue should be “education”

I think the strength of the suggestions here lies in the intent to educate. Students arrive at universities having learned nothing about research in their secondary school experiences and having been taught “less-than-nothing” about on-line research (except that “the internet is bad"). Somehow, over the course of a summer when they are 18-years-old we seem to expect them to transform into perfect users of the vast world of available materials.

I am as against “theft” as anyone, but students need help discovering how to quote, what to quote, when to quote — when it is appropriate to pull in the ideas of others and when it is essential that ideas be (somehow) original.

Threats do a poor job of teaching this. Turnitin does nothing. Better assignments, appropriate expectations, an understanding of where students are in this process, and a deliberate effort to help guide, will, I suspect, help.

The debate here on IHE about Wikipedia illustrates this. If your assignment is one which could be completed by copying from Wikipedia (or Britannica) you are asking for plagiarism. If your assignment is geared to teaching the best practices of research and writing, plagiarism will likely not be a problem.

Ira Socol, Michigan State University, at 10:25 am EDT on April 3, 2008

Great article, important topic!

May I suggest that the widely-publicized issues surrounding peer to peer technologies and copyright infringement intersect with the academic concerns regarding plagiarism? Much ground can be gained by thinking and teaching about the relationship of these two issues rather than as separate divisions within higher education.

Professor Vicinus rightly invokes education about the “web.” A meaningful approach to this topic would include an understanding of how law, technology, social norms and the marketplace not merely of ideas but of information, knowledge and culture operate on an international scale.

For every class we admit to college for whom we fail to address these issues comprehensively the more we fall behind in providing for our students the kind of education that they both need and deserve to operate as good global citizens.

Tracy Mitrano, Director of Computer Policy and Law Programs at Cornell University, at 10:30 am EDT on April 3, 2008

Excuse me — reading required

“If your assignment is geared to teaching the best practices of research and writing, plagiarism will likely not be a problem.”

Writing a student honor code or a strategic planning guide for a state capital’s school district is “geared” for plagiarism?

Please. Quit apologizing and making excuses.

There is a real problem here, one that undermines quality of life, mutual trust, and rule of law. The sooner it is faced, the sooner it will be solved.

UFP, at 11:15 am EDT on April 3, 2008

The Bigger Picture

Perhaps PhD “professors” should actually start teaching in the classroom and demonstrate how proper research should be done. Practice what you preach stop theorizing on causes and affects of plagiarism —- or writing the next paper about it.

Time pressure!!! From a non-PhD, that is no excuse. In the real world you prioritize the quality of your work to the extent you want to be successful let alone ethical. If students leave a University not understanding this fundamental life strategy, someone in the Higher Education classroom is not doing their job.

Higher education should not be about paying tuition in order to tap into an alumni network for contacts after graduation. With integrity teach that what you know and how you present it as important long run table stakes over who you know or are connected to by alumnus fiat.

Just about every corrupt situation that has been publicized from Enron to Governor Spitzer to the sub prime mortgage mess comes back to someone with a degree from “higher education.” Interesting enough, a majority of people involved in the corruption are Ivy League alums.

Higher Education is not placing integrity and honest dealings as a core element of curriculum, campus culture or alumnus culture.

Higher Education ... this country reaps what you sow ... think about it.

Dave, at 11:15 am EDT on April 3, 2008

Yes, there are

Abbott Katz asked, “but are there in fact class assignments which extend the invitation to plagiarize?”

Yes, there are. Inject even a small amount of the kind of originality you expect of students into the creation of your lesson, and your students will have far fewer opportunities to plagiarize.

M, Instructor at an Illinois community college, at 11:25 am EDT on April 3, 2008

what, teaching?

A good article/interview, and an interesting sounding book. It focuses upon teaching and not punishing as an approach to an issue.

To those commentators who see only weakness, look again. Nowhere in the interview is plagiarism defended or ignored.

I would suggst, too, that certain social trends add to the problem, making a teaching approach even more crucial. Students bring with them the idea that they are simply consuming an education. The statistics indicate that these same students bring with them a declining literacy rate and ability. These students come from an economic world in which whatever works to accumulate wealth (however defined)is good. And we ’sell’ education as a ticket to a job, something outside of the education itself. these assumptions must be addressed by teaching, not punishing students who bring with them what they have been taught elsewhere.

Theron, at 11:25 am EDT on April 3, 2008

Trust and verify

I tell my first-year students that it will be easy for them to cheat on me because I trust them, but that if they violate that trust, even if I never know it, it will affect their relationship with me, their fellow-students, and themselves. If I see blocks of well-written text in a paper that’s poorly written otherwise, especially if they don’t quite fit, I’ll google some of the phrases. That’s all I’m willing to do to catch plagiarism. I agree that good writing is partly imitation, but that’s not the same as cutting and pasting, with minor alterations. How about an assignment to read a particular essay and then to write an original essay on a different subject in the same style?

Damon Hickey, Director of Libraries at The College of Wooster, at 11:25 am EDT on April 3, 2008

Plagiarism as a cultural problem

There is no mention in this discussion of cultural differences regarding what we call plagiarism. For example, the Chinese consider copying, not as a disreputable or dishonest activity, but as the traditional way for the individual to learn and gain mastery of a field. In China, as a recent report says, “imitation and memorization of styles and phrases are supposed to transform students into better writers. The goal is that this in-depth appreciation of the best forms from the past will also help the best students become creative. The goal of this imitation is to excel through standing on the shoulders of the giants of old, building on their work… For Chinese students, the attitude toward learning and writing papers becomes ‘memorize and remix’.” This attitude affects not just students but the professors themselves. As noted in the same report, “most Chinese universities have not developed regulations against plagiarism and those that do rarely enforce the rules. The government-owned China Daily determined that at least 60 percent of academics practice plagiarism as a matter of course….Plagiarism is encouraged by a system that pays professors based on the number, rather than quality, of the articles they publish.” One must recognize, then, that students from other cultures may have quite different attitudes about copying, and teachers must be aware of these differences.

Sandy Thatcher, at 11:55 am EDT on April 3, 2008

When ‘is,’ ‘is?’

” .. To those commentators who see only weakness, look again. Nowhere in the interview is plagiarism defended or ignored ..”

Well .. the mayor of the 11th-largest city in the USA — a bar-member lawyer — is accused of lying under oath, of cheating, of deceiving. At what point do standards of conduct apply?

And should misconduct lead to problems (e.g., bridges collapse, planes crash, millions of dollars and jobs lost) — is ‘counseling’ the only response?

Prisons are filled with people who claim to have never committed a crime. There does come a point when kindly behavior becomes absurd.

As for ‘buying’ an education — that is due to court rulings (viz. Grigg v. Duke Power) that require college degrees to apply for certain jobs. Legislatively eliminate such court rulings, and college student population would drop by at least 30%. My, my — wouldn’t that be interesting?

UFP, at 2:50 pm EDT on April 3, 2008

I’m with Damon Hickey

I have colleagues in my dept. who are relentless plagiarism-hunters. The time and resources they devote to this makes me wonder. They very much remind me of officers I served with who often had no idea how to do the work we had to do, and compensated for this by becoming spit and polish experts, big on policing shoe shines and creases, belt buckles and buttons.

If a student wants to cheat his way through college and then through life that’s his business. He can have his degree and his life. But he can’t have my time.

He’s not a 19 year-old moral/ethical blank slate for me to rehabilitate through righteous punishment. He is what he is. He shouldn’t be allowed to reshape the system or clog the drains.

E. Moran, at 5:30 pm EDT on April 3, 2008

Amoral?

” .. If a student wants to cheat his way through college and then through life that’s his business. He can have his degree and his life. But he can’t have my time ..”

Well .. what would you do if gave an in-class assignment, then gave hand-in assignment, and there was a huge gap in performance?

I have. Now, I have a choice: not “waste” my time, or uphold standards.

Why should I bother? Why care if it ultimately helps continue the declining performance of U.S. productivity? And, of course, everyone in administration will hate it if you bring them an “issue.”

Well — I decided not to let some schlubs, later in time, screw up your bank account. I turned them in. And yes, they cheated, a total cut-and-paste, despite two printed warnings to do their own original work.

They got off with a warning; they could have gotten an “F.”

Wonder why the public won’t support education? Read the above comments. They aren’t pinheads, they won’t pay for crappy work.

L.L., at 8:10 pm EDT on April 3, 2008

I quibble with Dr. Vicinus’ characterization of turnitin.com. While the software may detect a dropped quote, it merely flags the paper as suspect. It remains (always) the professor’s task to label the episode as being plagiarism or not.

Many colleges use turnitin by encouraging students to submit drafts of their work to turnitin for analysis. This removes much of the ‘gotcha’ aspect. As with all tools, the art is in the usage.

John V, at 8:15 pm EDT on April 3, 2008

Don’t cut yourself!

Be careful not to slice anything on the other edge of that sword!

I don’t hear much discussion about the professors who either photocopy their ways through the rain forest or, more modernly, scan & paste or copy from the web & paste directly into PowerPoint ® without any credit given whatsoever. Often, these are the same lazy teachers who are complaining about scrutinizing student papers on the same old Gatsby assignments year after year.

What happened to practicing what one preaches? Particularly in the face of the changes discussed above, today’s Ritalin-ridden students have no patience for such hypocrisy on our parts.

CLS Teacher, at 9:10 pm EDT on April 3, 2008

Small acorns, mighty oaks?

“Be careful not to slice anything on the other edge of that sword!”

Amusing. Yes, there’s TT faculty deadwood that does that.

Which doesn’t justify cheating, BTW. Think about this.

A lot of executive managers (for-profit and non-profit, Enron to United Way of America) now in orange jump-suits got their gray-bar start with small, nickel-and-dime cheats. Not following the rules, expense accounts, etc.

No one stopped them, or excuses were made, so their cheating grew. By the time they were stopped, millions were negatively impacted.

Funny, now? I doubt it.

L.L., at 6:45 am EDT on April 4, 2008

Help in explaining

There’s a very nice, cheap ($5) little book called Writing With Sources that tells very clearly what is permissable and what is not, shows how to cite and quote properly, and gives students solid advice about sensible ways to use sources to develop and strengthen their own arguments. I think it is by Gordon Harvey.

Sarah Schneewind, at 5:30 pm EDT on April 6, 2008

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