The Fuzzy Notion of Plagiarism
As a future teacher, I'm going to have to identify writing styles and catch plagiarism if it manifests itself in a student's work. If a sentence or paragraph in a student's essay does not fit in with the tone and style of the student's usual work, it's time to raise an eyebrow and get to the bottom of it.
I have the most trouble with what to do when I have identified and caught the plagiarism. My first response would be that the student intentionally stole someone else's work. With further thought and an explanation from the student, I could talk myself out of this fairly quickly (maybe the student didn't know how to cite, maybe cultural issues come into play, etc.).
What should I do next? Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the students did not complete the work that was assigned. Should they be forced to do the assignment again? Should they get a zero on the assignment? Should they fail the class? Should they be expelled from the school? These are questions that I'm sure can only be answered on a case by case basis.
Another thing to take into account is the severity of the plagiarism. This implies that there are different degrees of plagiarism. For instance, if a student steals a sentence, should he/she be punished the same as someone that stole an entire paragraph or a whole essay? It's still a matter of making young people accountable for their work. They need to know that the only way for them to learn is to explore the ideas on their own. If the student works hard and makes a valiant effort to succeed in the class, I don't know any teacher that wouldn't reward that kind of behavior with a good grade in the class. Students shouldn't feel like they have to steal from a scholar to i nvestigate issues that arise in the classroom.
These were the questions that came in my head while we were reading through the websites last Thursday for class. If any future teachers in the class have some ideas about this, thoughts that you had during the assignment, or answers to my questions, comment on my wall. I'd love to hear your ideas.
I have the most trouble with what to do when I have identified and caught the plagiarism. My first response would be that the student intentionally stole someone else's work. With further thought and an explanation from the student, I could talk myself out of this fairly quickly (maybe the student didn't know how to cite, maybe cultural issues come into play, etc.).
What should I do next? Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the students did not complete the work that was assigned. Should they be forced to do the assignment again? Should they get a zero on the assignment? Should they fail the class? Should they be expelled from the school? These are questions that I'm sure can only be answered on a case by case basis.
Another thing to take into account is the severity of the plagiarism. This implies that there are different degrees of plagiarism. For instance, if a student steals a sentence, should he/she be punished the same as someone that stole an entire paragraph or a whole essay? It's still a matter of making young people accountable for their work. They need to know that the only way for them to learn is to explore the ideas on their own. If the student works hard and makes a valiant effort to succeed in the class, I don't know any teacher that wouldn't reward that kind of behavior with a good grade in the class. Students shouldn't feel like they have to steal from a scholar to i nvestigate issues that arise in the classroom.
These were the questions that came in my head while we were reading through the websites last Thursday for class. If any future teachers in the class have some ideas about this, thoughts that you had during the assignment, or answers to my questions, comment on my wall. I'd love to hear your ideas.
posted by Moe at
1:31 PM
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