Plagiarism

[wolven7]

VNV Nation - [Chosen]--- It can safely be said that these have been two of the most infuriating weeks of my life. Especially In my life as a professional instructor. In addition to having little or no time to do the things I need to do, while grading this batch of papers, I've found two separate instances of whole-cloth, copy/pasting plagiarism.

This means that, on Tuesday, my class and I are going to have a Very Long Talk about Plagiarism. (Gary Numan - [Prophecy]). And this will be in place of their test review.

I was very lucky, in high school and undergrad. (The Birthday Massacre - [Happy Birthday]). I had two instructors who instilled in me the understanding that intellectual rigour, integrity, and self-empowerment go hand in hand. That there is nothing as powerful, in the academic and argumentative sphere, as being able to craft an argument, back it up, and make your work both open to interpretation and unassailable. Doctors Lorraine Wilson and Jonathan Herman taught me everything I know about intellectual pride and integrity, but it wasn't until this week that I fully understood.

In undergrad, invariably, in every class, Dr Herman would have to stop class and make a speech about plagiarism and academic honesty. (KMFDM - [Ikons]). You see, Jon said, whenever an instructor discovers plagiarism, it completely alters the dynamic of interaction within the class. The instructor and the students no longer have innate trust between them, and the instructor views each new paper with suspicion. This is, no shit, 100% true. And it's like you can feel it. Something about a particular turn of phrase, something in the cadence of the writing...

How to Destroy Angels - [The Space in Between]--- I get it now. The dynamic is altered, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to read another one of their papers, without running it through Google... I never wanted that.

So, on Tuesday, in place of at leasst part of their test review, there will be me, giving one of Dr Herman's speeches.

Dead Can Dance - [Labour of Love (radio)]--- I will, of course, give him proper attribution.

Comments

[opalblack.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear it.

At Griffith we were all advised to run our original work through plagiarism checkers before handing it in, since it would be run through before reading or marking anyway, and it would save us a lot of grief if we'd messed up an attribution or a quote that would get picked up, because the university would follow up every positive, and it could end up on our academic records even if it was just improper formatting.

Funnily enough, there was very little plagiarism at my uni.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, there was very little plagiarism at my uni.

That's the kind of thing I like to hear. :)

[nausved.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of this professor's cheating speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbzJTTDO9f4

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

Its called "betrayal"

In many instances, when trust has been violated, it can't be regained. Even when it can, it takes a long time and committment from both parties. You're a teacher and they are students; you don't have that kind of time, commitment or energy. Expel the plagiarizers or flunk them and THEN talk to the class about plagiarism. There's NO POINT to keeping a student who does that. NONE, and they won't learn a thing if you do.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

No. My personal rule is that Every Class Gets One. One opportunity to treat this situation as an Honest Fuck-Up. ONE chance to learn that this is unacceptable, and to improve. The papers at hand get failing grades, we discuss why, and what it means, and we move on.

If it happens Again? The student is failed and removed from the class. If the department decides to bring full charges, fine.

I will be their one crucible opportunity. Refine themselves or perish.

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

your class, your call, of course. I'm just thinking, this is college, not high school. Its funny, just most times I'm the person most likely to give a second chance and accept things might be an honest mistake but something about learning and knowledge... I dunno. Maybe its my years struggling to stick with college has made me a bit bitter. maybe I'm just tired of seeing spoiled kids thinking school is NBD. Maybe its after dealing with my two kids who have honest-to-god intellectual issues yet they work HARD to learn things. I dunno... maybe its just late and I'm being curmudgeonly :)

Probably a good thing you ARE the teacher and not me... I never had much patience for teaching more than one person at a time....

[not-hothead-yet.livejournal.com]

oh but mostly my first answer was about the emotions you are feeling; its typical after being betrayed on any level for any reason. You can intellectualize it all you like but you're going to feel a bit wary and suspicious and perhaps a bit disoriented for a while so long as you keep having to deal with the betrayer(s). I totally understand where you're coming from (this is a school, not a marriage or a familial thing) but the emotions are pretty much the same.

[wolven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we don't disagree on that: It's definitely a betrayal. A transgression of trust. Hopefully it won't happen, again...