**This blog was originally posted on "Deep Down in the Classroom," a blog maintained by the Montclair State University First Year Writing Program, which can be viewed here.
I don’t know about all of my fellow educators, but I certainly found some plagiarism as this semester wound down. A couple of weeks ago, particularly, an essay came back from Safe Assign with a 70% rate of plagiarism. It was a documented essay that was two pages short of the minimum length requirement with no citations or sources. The essay was almost completely taken from two blog posts. Disheartening does not begin to describe it and meeting with the student to discuss this absolute blatant abuse of the internet as information provider was truly no picnic.
I know that this is a discussion that educators have frequently and I appreciate that many of you are probably tired of discussing it. However, in my absolute desperation, I have been reading articles online that address the issue, and I found one in The Chronicle of Higher Education that, although from September of 2012, addresses plagiarism as something that requires that “the solution should be positive; that is, show students how to act as responsible scholars and writers. The same tone should be reflected in the syllabus. [The author says he has] seen many syllabi in which the penalties for plagiarism are laid out in excruciating detail, with no positive models or behavior mentioned. Surely by now we know that positive motivation trumps the negative variety” (Karon). Of course, many of us find this difficult, as the absolute frustration takes over and we feel like our students will never care about the ethical implications of “borrowing” work from other writers, scholars or random yahoos online who write blog posts and therefore, must be credible.
I guess I am writing for two reasons. First, I would like to hear how all of you have dealt with this over the course of our current academic year. How do you distinguish intentional from accidental? Second, I would love to hear solutions for prevention. Should we not allow any sources that do not come from the University Library? Will it make a difference, when students don’t cite many of these sources anyway? Finally, how do you stick to your guns? I find that when faced with a crying student, I have to steel myself to the tears and really make myself stay strong in order to make sure that the student learns from the experience and grows into a ethical adult and writer in the future.
I know we’re all busy and you probably don’t want to discuss that which upsets us so much, but your insights are invaluable. Plus, it will be nice to get emails that are not grade complaints or appeals for leniency. :)
Here is the link to the article and, in the interest of academic honesty, the MLA citation.
Karon, Jeff. ”A Positive Solution for Plagiarism.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. 18 Sept. 2012. Web. 2 May 2013.
I do lay out the penalties in my syllabus, however, I give them access to Turnitin and tell them to use it as a preventative measure. I have them turn in their work 24 hours before they submit it to me as a minimum and tell them to fix whatever is wrong before they submit the final copy to me. In most case this works, but not in all. In fact not in 8 out 37 cases this semester. They think we are too busy to catch it (at least that is my theory). Two other professors in my department had multiple cases this semester as well. So, I remain as baffled as you are about how to stop it.
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