On the other side of things, though, I find that sometimes, some assignments are not original. I've had read the books and magazines they had copied from and I'd have heard exactly what they're telling me from others before. In fact, some wouldn't bother to go far from his classmate anymore - I'd be reading two assignments, one the exact copy of the other! Oh yes, believe me, this has happened to me. And when confronted, the two simply vehemently pointed at each other!
The important thing, however, is definitely what to do about plagiarism. It is true that we should know why this happens so that we know how to counter it. We have to ask ourselves, for instance, if we are giving too many assignments while not considering the time we give them to work on them. We have to know our students, like are they lazy to work on their own and find it a way out to simply copy somebody else's work.
As from our readings, it is also possible they do it for pleasure or as an answer to the challenge of plagiarizing just for the fun of it. But I'm thinking one of the best things we could do as instructors is to have our students know how not to plagiarize.. teach them how to footnote, how to paraphrase or how to do in other ways give credit where credit is due whenever they have to or want to use for their own, the work of others.
From Ray Engle:
ReplyDeleteSonja,
You have a valid concern about what do we do about plagiarism. As indicated there are hundreds of excuses as to why a student would consider plagiarizing themselves. As an instructor part of our job is to instruct them in the consequences of their potential actions and how to correct them. One possible suggestion or solution may be to offer a 1 or 2 credit program in proper citations, footnoting and time management. As we are getting a full session in the proper methods and training in this topic, it may be helpful to a student as well.
Regardless of what is done by the instructor someone will take a short cut and plagiarize themselves. Whether intentional or not instructors will have to deal with demonstrating how to properly create the citations so as to keep the document clean.
Ray
You're so right, Ray. Apparently, it is not going to be enough that we understand why our students would plagiarize or that we teach them the ways by which not to plagiarize. I guess we also have to let them be aware of the sanctions that would come to them and that we do subject them to these sanctions should they disregard warnings on such theft violations. This way, we can look forward to better scholarly writings from them and award ourselves with a sense of achievement! :)
ReplyDeleteFrom Emily Wengerstman:
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Sonja, that whether student plagiarism is intentional or unintentional we need to address it and provide feedback to students.
So true, Emily!..... after all, feedback is instruction. And when done well and positively, whether such feedback is about work done well or badly, to our students, this is learning. And our teaching gets a smiley! :)
ReplyDeleteFrom Michael Murphy:
ReplyDeleteI have reported plagiarism at other institutions because they were required to expose the students and instructor to it. However, I had one student who did this three times in three consecutive weeks. For the first two times, she received a 0 on both assignments. After the second instance, she was placed on probation. On the third instance, she was supposed to be kicked out of school. Did this happen, no because they were more interested in making money off the student.
From Annette Bosley-Boyce:
ReplyDeleteHi Sonja and Michael,
You both bring up an excellent point about plagiarism consequences.There are some colleges that have a universal policy, and there are other colleges that leave the "punishment" up to the professor. I know at Albertus Magnus College, the decision is left up to the professor, but I actually wish there was a universal policy I could point to in the student handbook. When there's no universal policy, we see students being treated differently for the same action. Some professors will give the student a 0 with no chance to make up the grade, some students will give a student a 0 with a chance to make up the grade, and some professors will give the student a 0 and fail him/her from the course. For those students that are "repeat offenders," I believe the consequences need to be stricter. Instead of giving them another chance, I think they need to fail the course, especially if the plagiarism is blatant..such as copying and pasting an entire paragraph or paper... It's a shame that some colleges, on the administrative side, are unwilling to hold students accountable for plagiarism and dismiss them for repeat offences. At what point should tuition dollars be more important than teaching a student a valuable lesson about ethics?
From Mark Cotrupe:
ReplyDeleteYou know, you make a good point about teaching how to cite. I was thinking about my years as a student, and always struggling with how to cite properly. I think I may have skipped it a few times because it was too complicated. I still think it's too complicated. It doesn't help that different places require different styles of citation. Perhaps it shouldn't be so strict. Really, what if we just taught that someone who has never read any of this material should be able to trace your work back to the original sources, have you cited enough information for them to be able to do that? Maybe as we become more digital, the citations will automatically follow the material.
From Stephanie Payzant:
ReplyDeleteI remember in grad school dreading all the citing of my sources. I was able to find a website that I entered the requested data for the type of source and it spit out the correct format of citation. Phew! You may want to research some of these and provide your favorite to your students so the task doesn't seem so daunting. Here is an example of just such a site.
Awesome share. Stephanie, thanks much!
ReplyDeleteAnd hey, Mark, get a hold of this! :)
From Raymond Engle:
ReplyDeleteMark,
Citing the references are probably one of the most difficult processes a student has to perform. Assisting them with the proper processes and attempting to simplify the process can only be a benefit to everyone involved. Who knows, we may learn something out of the process.
Ray