In those cases I was alerted to plagiarism by the sudden appearance, in a paper that is otherwise a morass of grammatical errors, of a series of flawless sentences with complicated structures. The correct use of a semicolon is a big red flag for me. As is the use—and often misuse—of specialized jargon or technical language that I’ve not discussed with them in class. Then I type those sentences into Google, and they all wind up being smoking-gun cases of plagiarism. My favorite case this semester was plagiarism within plagiarism. When I informed this student that I suspected her paper was plagiarized, she said to me, “I got my paper from one of the students who was in your class last semester. How was I to know that she had plagiarized?” Which indicated to me, along with a number of the other email responses I got from students, that many of them don’t even know what plagiarism is.I'm also saddened by the instructor's observation that "the correct use of a semicolon" is an indicator that a college student might not have written it...
From an interview of a philosophy instructor in New York, posted at The New Inquiry, via The Dish.
Addendum: I liked this comment from reader .\\axxx re his experience with high-school science students:
"When the phrase "A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter." occurred in multiple papers, and I pointed out that it was just a copy-paste from Wikipedia, one student got quite angry, saying they hadn't copy-pasted, they had printed it out then typed it in again!"
The semi-colon bit is sad but true. I was often alerted to plagiarism by the correct use of grammatical conventions such as semi-colons, colons, dashes, and parentheses. Now that I'm teaching middle school, I understand that there is virtually no instruction about what plagiarism is. I have often heard teachers encourage students to copy things down verbatim that they found on-line, as well as copy entire sections of a paper from a pre-written example that was to be turned in as their own work. Since teachers don't have the resources (nor do they always have the education) to properly instruct on how plagiarism happens and how to prevent it (especially in our world of ever increasing technology used for research), I feel this is something that will get worse and worse. I truly feel for everyone teaching composition at the college level, because some of this won't be addressed until that time. I wish it wasn't that way.
ReplyDelete"I'm also saddened by the instructor's observation that "the correct use of a semicolon" is an indicator that a college student might not have written it..."
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what I was thinking as I read that statement.
As a training high-school science teacher I was amazed that 15-16 year olds weren't already aware of what plagiarism was.
ReplyDeleteWhen the phrase "A white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter." occurred in multiple papers, and I pointed out that it was just a copy-paste from wikipedia, one student got quite angry, saying they hadn't copy-pasted, they had printed it out then typed it in again!
excellent, .\\axxx (can I call you .\\ ?)
ReplyDeleteI've added your observation to the post.
I think the point was that the plagiarism was highlighted by the correct use of the semicolon "in a paper that is otherwise a morass of grammatical errors," not for its own sake.
ReplyDeleteMy high school students are often shocked when I catch them plagiarizing. I tell them that when they can barely string together two sentences normally and all of a sudden the sound like John Steinbeck in the midst of a paper, something's fishy.
ReplyDeleteLuckily I work at a school that puts a premium on writing and I'm able to take the time to explain exactly what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
I once had a 15-year-old high school student submit a paper where, about three sentences in, the line went something like, "After researching this topic for 22 years, these conclusions are..." I stopped right then, Googled the sentence, printed off the academic paper he copied, called his parents, his coach, and the principal. If you're not bright enough to read the paper you're plagiarizing, I will have zero sympathy for you.
ReplyDeleteI knew a few kids to cheated when I was in college. It sounds like cheating is more prevalent now. But at that time I couldn't understand how anyone could have so little respect for their own intellectual abilities that they would do it. How can you admit to yourself that you are so stupid you have to cheat?
ReplyDeleteI think this must be symptomatic of something wrong with society at a deeper level.
I usually got good grades but the grade I was most proud of was a C - because I pulled it up from a D by doing well second half of the final exam. The teacher was a real stickler and many students dropped the class. Most of the remainder of the students were all high achivers which made it even harder for me since it was a subject I had difficulty with. For me that C is a testament to the value of struggling to the last minute.
The practice of cutting and pasting from the internet is something I can't comprehend. All you have to do is use quote marks. There must be something really faulty with high school education these if student's don't understand that they need to make it clear when they use a reference.
Maybe it is just that us older people aren't in don't understand modern methods of communication. Students might do better if assignments could be done by texting from cell phones or through twitter.
I agree that plagiarism is a serious problem. I'm a recent college grad and while I personally have never copied/bought a paper, I know a few who have. Some of these people are those you would never suspect - they feel incredible pressure from their parents and teachers and even from society to get the highest grades possible. In today's world, if you don't get an 'A', you're failing. A 'B' is alright and a 'C' is pretty much on par with an 'F' in everyone's mind. Students feel incredible pressure these days to pull off these grades when sometimes it's just not feasible. In fact, I applied for a job yesterday (as a bank teller) that stated in the application they wouldn't consider candidates with a GPA lower than 3.5. That's an A- at best. The expectations of parents and the country in general need to change to allow students to make more mistakes - taking a class isn't about getting an A - its about truly learning all the subject matter. Perhaps that means you get a C on a test because you didn't understand.The important thing is that you go back and look at the questions you missed so you can learn those sections for the next test. Not that you get an A on every test. A person with a 4.0 indicates to me a few things:
ReplyDelete1- that they have not learned how to fail gracefully, or at all.
2 - that they already knew everything about the classes they took so they either took classes that were too easy or not challenging enough.
When I was in college in the 60s, I remember plagiarism as being something done by rich preppies who wanted to spend time in their clubs; the rest of us soldiered on with a goal of completing the degree, not achieving any benchmark GPA.
ReplyDeleteTwo of my most memorable courses were ones where I got low Cs. The first occurred when I arrived at college thinking highly of myself and insisting that I be permitted to take an upper-level English lit course my freshman year. Within weeks it was obvious my knowledge base and my compositional skills may have been great for high school but were mediocre for college. I was happy to escape with a C and a better understanding of my limitations (three years later I graduated cum laude as an English major).
Even more memorable was my first micro course in grad school when I decided that learning which bacteria were motile and which grew on which media was irrelevant to my future needs, and barely escaped the course with a C-. Eight years later I was writing bacteriology-based papers for peer-reviewed science journals and I still didn't know which bacteria needed which media (but I could look it up when needed).
I think it's a bit sad to see how higher education has changed for my young nieces and nephews, but I suppose they will survive in their world as I did in mine.
I was a wanna be novelist tossed out of university BECAUSE I cared more about the subject matter than the grades. (my obsession with Alexander Pope derailed my work in other classes.) To survive I started writing essays for money for 'dumb' students. It was a way to continue my studies and pay my rent. I didn't get a degree but I helped about forty idiots get theirs. I made deliberate grammatical and minor spelling errors and I guaranteed a B grade.
ReplyDelete