Transcript What is plagiarism? - DIT Dublin Institute of Technology

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What is plagiarism?
Dr Perry Share
Institute of Technology Sligo
NFETLHE 25 April 2014
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Overview of presentation
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What is plagiarism?
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The cultural context
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Plagiarism and writing practices
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Institutional responses and assessment
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Discussion
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Plagiarism is . . .
What
do you think?
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Plagiarism is . . .
passing
off someone else’s work,
whether intentionally or
unintentionally, as your own for your
own benefit (Carroll 2002, p. 9)
an
act of fraud. It involves both
stealing someone else's work and
lying about it afterward (Turnitin)
(www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism)
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Plagiarism is . . .
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Cheating (a very serious issue)
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A crime (linguistic origins ‘kidnap’, ‘plunder’; ‘fraud’; ‘theft’)
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An infringement of Intellectual Property Rights [IPR] (C16)
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A moral outrage (‘dirty’, ‘lazy’, ‘corruption’, ‘betrayal’)
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Universal? (Donald MacCabe)
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Not new
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A global issue (international education)
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Plagiarism is . . .
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Part of popular culture (Share 2005; 2010)
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Instrumental in many contexts (ditto)
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Indicative of ‘dumbing down’, decline of ‘standards’
(numerous)
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A question of ethics (Briggs 2003)
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A linguistic approach to text production (Pecorari 2010)
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A ‘fuzzy concept’ (Pecorari 2010, p. 35)
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A problem? For whom? (and also an opportunity!)
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Plagiarism is . . .
According to lecturers:
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copying of one student’s work by another
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copying web-based material
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absent or inadequate referencing of sources
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resubmitting work presented elsewhere, either by the
student or another
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learning material from another source by heart, and then
presenting it in an exam
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Plagiarism is . . .
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unauthorised input from third parties in student work
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reproducing large amounts (‘chunks’) of material from
textbooks
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unauthorised student collaboration (‘collusion’)
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unauthorised use of respondent’s work by colleagues/other
academics
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use of existing templates or formats
(IoT lecturers reported in Share 2005, pp. 27-28)
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The cultural context
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The ‘culture of the copy’ (Schwarz 1996) – culture is (largely)
(re-)constituted through the repeat of representations
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Contemporary (digital) culture: ‘The realignment of
[existing] elements in transformative recombination’
(Livingstone-Webber 1999, p. 265)
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Fashion, media and music industries
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Institutional and professional communication: The re-use and
repurposing of documents
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The Internet, social media, hyperlinking, filesharing
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Intertextuality and student writing
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Pecorari (2010) – unusual in that it focuses in detail on
students’ (re-)use of academic sources
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17 students – 9 MA and 8 PhD (NNSEs) (link with language
skills)
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All exhibited degrees of ‘plagiarism’ (unattributed
attribution) of sources (7-95%)
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Pecorari compared text/sources; interviewed students (MA)
and supervisors (MA)
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A linguistic phenomenon
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‘Plagiarism is … fundamentally a specific kind of language in
use, a linguistic phenomenon’
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Also an issue of power
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Textual plagiarism:
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Prototypical plagiarism
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Patchwriting
challenges issues of cultural (institutional) difference (MLK)
‘plagiarism’ is always contextual
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How writers learn to write
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The purpose of the text
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(Major) disciplinary differences
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Reporting verbs: suggest, note, assert . . .
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The subtlety of metatextual conventions (‘chunking’)
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Transparency and occlusion of the relationship between the
source material and the student material
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Key issues for novice writers
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Identity of the source: does the reader understand which
sources materially influenced the new text?
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Content: does the reader receive an accurate impression of
what the source text said?
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Language: does the reader understand whether the
language comes from the source (eg quotations or
paraphrase)
(Pecorari 2008, p. 59)
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Addressing the challenges
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Lack of an ‘apprentice’ model for academic writing
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Transparency versus occlusion (notes, points out, asserts) (…)
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The discipline-specific traditions are not overtly passed on in
the relevant learning community
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Purpose of writing – a key narrative element:
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A clear sense of purpose for a new text motivates fundamental textual
changes. In the absence of that motivation, there is no reason why
language which was good enough once should not be good enough a
second time (Pecorari 2010, p. 95)
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Lack of resources (time, content vs process)
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The stakes are high!
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The conundrum
 It
is difficult to identify how writers use
their sources, … there is a lack of consensus
in the academic community about what
sorts of intertextuality are acceptable in
practice and that … lack of consensus is
masked by superficial agreement at a more
general level (Pecorari 2010, p. 141)
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Institutional responses
 Pecorari
(2010, pp. 148-150) suggests four key
areas:
 Identifying textual plagiarism
 Distinguishing patchwriting from prototypical
plagiarism
 Providing options for responding pedagogically
to plagiarism
 Having sensible admissions policies (supports)
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Institutional responses
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Glendinning (2013) – part of IPPHEAE project (EU LLP)
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Similar responses to those found in Share 2005:
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Knowledge of issue, and concern amongst all stakeholders
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Perception as a discipline issue, with minority seeing as a
pedagogical one
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Lack of institutional structures, consistency and support
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Lack of local research base to inform policy and practice
Little change in IT Sligo since 2005
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An assessment response
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Derived from Hunt (2002) and others
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Assessment as communication: ‘having something to say is . .
. absolutely indistinguishable from having someone to say it
to, and an authentic reason for saying it’ (Hunt 2002, p. 1)
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Authentic assessment: ‘aligned’ teaching and student
empowerment
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Participatory but driven by standards and PLOs
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Research-based product
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Collaborative
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Student-driven
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Relevant and ‘useful’
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Rigorous
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Recognises intertextuality and repurposing
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Engages with context, genre and audience
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Design-thinking
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Public dissemination
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Research-based products
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SECURE U bullying & cyber-bullying programme
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U CHANGE U guide to withdrawing money from an ATM
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SCAN book for siblings of children on the autistic spectrum
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NATURE’S CLASSROOM outdoor play consultancy service
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Bereavement package for early childcare practitioners
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Support network for people with missing limbs
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Multicultural cookbook for ECCE settings
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Guide to educational opportunities in Sligo
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Video and teaching package on same-sex families
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DIVERSITY DRAGONS cultural diversity curriculum package
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Sources
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Briggs, R. (2003) ‘Shameless! Reconceiving the problem of plagiarism’. Australian Universities Review 46(1) pp. 19-23.
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Buranen, L. & A. Roy (eds) (1999) Perspectives on plagiarism and intellectual property in a postmodern world. Albany: State University of New York Press.
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Carroll, J. (2002) A handbook for deterring plagiarism in higher education. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brookes
University.
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Glendinning, I. (2013) Plagiarism policies for Ireland. Impact of Policies for Plagiarism in Higher Education Across Europe.
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Hunt, R. (2002) ‘Four reasons to be happy about Internet plagiarism’. Teaching Perspectives (St. Thomas University) 5. December. pp. 1-5.
[http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/4reasons.htm.
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Livingstone-Webber, J. (1999) ‘GenX occupies the cultural commons: ethical practices and perceptions of fair use’. In L. Buranen & A. Roy (eds)
Perspectives on plagiarism and intellectual property in a postmodern world. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 263-272.
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Pecorari, D. (2010) Academic writing and plagiarism: A linguistic analysis. London: Continuum.
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Schwarz, H. (1996) The culture of the copy: Striking likenesses, unreasonable facsimiles. New York: Zone.
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Share, P. (2005) Managing intertextuality: meaning, plagiarism and power. MA Thesis, Waterford IT. [www.itsligo.ie/staff/pshare/]
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Share, P. (2010) Plagiarism, intertextuality and the ethical (re-)use of information [Webinar 8 Dec] Institute of Technology Learning Technology Webinar
Series
http://connect.itsligo.ie/p57698843/
http://ippheae.eu/images/results/2013_12_pdf/D2-3-14%20IE%20RT%20IPPHEAE%20CU%20Survey%20IrelandNarrative.pdf
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‘Of plagiarism, little new can be written’
(Schwartz, The culture of the copy, p. 311)
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