Web Dropin 4: The Punishment for Plagiarism – You Decide

Ashley S. Moss-Pham

Introduction Back in the day when students still hand-wrote or typed their term papers, plagiarism wasn’t such a huge temptation or problem. But with the advent of computers and especially the World Wide Web, parts of term papers are there for the cutting-and-pasting, and whole term papers of varying degrees of “goodness” are there for the taking (for a $price$, of course). Not surprisingly, internet-related plagiarism is on the rise across college and high school campuses. After reading and/or listening to the information at the websites below, take a position on the following statement: Plagiarism should be severely penalized at the high school level. Penalties should not only include loss of credit for the assignment, but should also include identification of the student as a plagiarist on his/her high school transcripts.

Reading Visit the websites listed below and either read or, in the case of the NPR broadcasts, listen to the information about plagiarism discussed there. As you process this information, be thinking about the statement above and how you might respond to it in light of the information you are learning.

Websites Cut and Paste Plagiarism – NPR Story. February 14, 2006.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5205929

This story originally aired on National Public Radio’s show Talk of the Nation. Guests interviewed on the general topic of plagiarism include Donald McCabe, Rutgers University professor and founding president of Duke University’s Center for Academic Integrity; John Barrie, CEO and founder of Turnitin.com, a popular software program for detecting plagiarism in student papers; and Michael Williams, director of graduate studies and professor of visual communications at Ohio University. This discussion gives the listener a good overview of the increasing problem of plagiarism in a technological age, as well as remedies that some schools and instructors are adopting to curb it.

Internet and College Cheating -- NPR Story. May 21, 2002.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1143717

This story originally aired on National Public Radio’s call-in talk show Talk of the Nation in May, 2002. In it, the host, John Ydstie, visits the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in the wake of that university’s scandal involving widespread cheating. The host also visits the University of Maryland at College Park to talk to students and faculty about the precipitous rise in plagiarism among students in recent years. The role of the Internet in this increase in cheating is examined, along with what some professors are doing about it.

Four Reasons to be Happy about Internet Plagiarism

http://www.stu.ca/%7Ehunt/4reasons.htm

In this radical challenge to the notion that plagiarism is a problem to be conquered or at least addressed as a moral issue with students, Russell Hunt of St. Thomas University argues that internet plagiarism is a logical response to the sterile writing exercises that many instructors give to their students and to the overemphasis on grades and certification that characterize most institutions of higher learning. This is a very thought-provoking critique of education as we know it that could be used as one argument against the punitive approach to student plagiarism.

Center for Academic Integrity – Fundamental Values Document

http://academicintegrity.org/fundamental.asp

Founded by Rutgers University professor of management and global business, and affiliated with the Kenan Ethics Program at Duke University, the Center for Academic Integrity is dedicated to encouraging our nation’s colleges and universities to make academic integrity a number one priority. The Center defines academic integrity in broad terms as the “commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. [For] from these values flow principles of behavior that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action.” At this website, you will be able to download and print out the 13 page document that is the Center’s mission statement/ manifesto on the fundamental values of academic integrity.

Center for Academic Integrity – Related Quotes

http://academicintegrity.org/quotes.asp#2

This part of the website contains inspiring and thought-provoking quotes from some of history’s most influential intellectuals, philosophers, moralists, and public figures. The lists/webpages of quotes are organized according to the Center’s five fundamental values of academic integrity: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility.

Dealing with Plagiarists. Lang, James M. From The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 14, 2002.

http://chronicle.com/jobs/2002/05/2002051401c.htm

This article describes how, after attending a colloquium on plagiarism in which he was determined to argue for his generally lenient approach to cheaters, Lang changed his mind completely. It also discusses where Lang has landed philosophically after putting his stricter plagiarism policies into practice. This article is interesting for instructors since it raises the issue of our role in preventing plagiarism by enforcing the rules when we catch students at it. It is an honest piece that speaks to the ambivalence many of us feel about “harming” our students for academic misconduct.

Activity Now that you have heard a variety of perspectives on plagiarism, write a 2-3 page position paper in which you take a position on the issue of the appropriate penalties for high school plagiarists. You should use the statement above (in bold, in the Introduction) as a springboard for asserting and arguing your own position. Be sure to include detailed and well-supported reasons for whatever position you take on the issue.