Re: plagiarism
Dear colleagues, Two more pennies/euro cents on plagiarism. I am at the beginning of my career and have up to now published four papers in peer-reviewed journals. For each of these papers, I have made a list of the colleagues I quoted the work from (based on the list of cited references) and have sent them a pdf of the final paper by e-mail. I think this practice prevents me from plagiarism, since I know that the quoted scientists will read the paper and look carefully for reference to their work. I have had positive feedback on this practice and I guess it is a good opportunity to advertise my work and build a network. Any thoughts about it? Cheers, Christophe. # Christophe Coudun, PhD Centre for Terrestrial Carbon Dynamics (CTCD) Forest Research, Alice Holt Lodge Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LH United Kingdom tel. +44 (0)1420 526289 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://ctcd.nerc.ac.uk + The Forestry Commission's computer systems may be monitored and communications carried out on them recorded, to secure the effective operation of the system and for other lawful purposes. + The original of this email was scanned for viruses by the Government Secure Intranet (GSi) virus scanning service supplied exclusively by Cable Wireless in partnership with MessageLabs. On leaving the GSi this email was certified virus-free
Re: Plagiarism, citation requirements, and conferences...
This is another very important issue. I have reviewers tell me that I could not cite papers because they were not peer reviewed. So, to properly attribute the ideas and the data, I am supposed to give the citation in the text, but giving the full citation in text every time I cite something is a huge waste of space (not to mention breaking up thoughts and sentences). So much of my information is from non-peer reviewed sources (park reports, conference proceedings). In fact, I usually need to cite the same grey literature sources repeatedly. I asked my adviser about what I should do about this. He had the same frustrations with this policy. As a way around it, he suggested publishing first in a journal without this policy and citing my paper in later publications. The problem with this is that I still cannot give credit where credit is due. Those reading my later papers will assume all citations of my earlier paper are referring to my own work and ideas. I think some journals have changed their policies, possibly recognizing the importance of recognizing data and ideas from non-peer reviewed sources. About five years ago Conservation Biology insisted on peer reviewed only. Looking at their literature cited sections now, I can see that policy has changed. CL Jonathan Greenberg wrote: William Silvert's story inspired me to ask a modified question on this topic -- some journals require that citations ONLY include peer-reviewed articles. I have heard horror stories (not me, fortunately) about researchers who have presented preliminary results at conferences, only to have these results appear (uncited) in an article by a person who attended this conference, who was simply faster getting the manuscript out the door. These ideas make me (early in my career) nervous when I present the more exciting, newer science I'm doing at conferences. Do journals that require only peer reviewed literature to appear in the article bibliographies need to rethink this approach? Personally, I think its ridiculous to restrict what an author feels is citable material, and I think that new authors need to be honest about where they heard ideas if they aren't their own -- conference proceedings, even the talks themselves, need to be cited. --j -- ~~ Cara Lin Bridgman P.O. Box 013 Phone: 886-4-2632-5484 Longjing Sinjhuang Taichung 434 Taiwanhttp://web.thu.edu.tw/caralinb/www/ ~~
Re: plagiarism
Try these two handouts from the University of Toronto College Writing Workshop, one of the best of the writing and grammar sites on the web that I use for my classes: http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/plagsep.html http://www.utoronto.ca/ucwriting/paraphrase.html Diane Henshel On 10/4/06, David Whitacre [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have always been a bit unclear on when paraphrasing verges on = plagiarism. When one is citing a paper (freely giving credit for the = idea being expressed) and paraphrasing so as to avoid plagiarism and = avoid the need for quotes (which seem lame when over-used), it is = sometimes tempting to stay fairly close to the original wording because = it is difficult to say the thing any better. How much must one change = the wording to avoid plagiarism? If one uses ANY PORTION of a comment = identically to the original statement, must quotes be used? Certainly, = if an entire sentence is duplicated, quotes would be mandatory. But what = about where a portion of a sentence is the same, with other portions = modified? Or should one always strive for a radically different sentence = construction to convey the same idea, still of course citing the source = of the idea? -- Diane Henshel Indiana University 1315 E 10th #340 Bloomington, IN 47405 812 855-4556 P 812 855-7802 F [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: plagiarism
I'm mainly interested in moving from student plagiarism back to plagiarism in submitted manuscripts. Are there any data on plagiarism frequencies in publications or manuscripts submitted for publication? Or is plagiarism such a dirty secret that no one wants to talk about it? I've found several examples of already published plagiarism (peer review and conference proceedings; including two paragraphs and a table from my thesis) and in one class, my teacher pointed out another case, calling it 'sleazy'. As far as my own students go, I generally spot plagiarism because their English is so bad that the one or two intelligible sentences had to have been copied. I have nowhere near read enough to spot plagiarism through my own knowledge of the literature. Most of my students are writing in and citing literature from areas much removed from my own. I do see it as my job to teach them that plagiarism is absolutely NOT ok. Frankly, if they've gotten as far as graduate school and do not know plagiarism is a sin, then they had better learn in my class. In fact, I promise them on the first day of class that if they plagiarize (and I define this, give examples, and assign homework), they will fail the class. This also means I have to meet with their adviser to explain why they failed. Failing my class, however, does not keep them from getting their degree. My problem has been that quite a few colleagues do not agree with my policy. In fact, I had to quit teaching in one department, because the professors could not accept that almost all their students were failing my class because of plagiarism (so this department obviously had more trouble with the idea of failing than the idea of plagiarism). If the advisers do not believe plagiarism is wrong, then why should the students pay any attention? The most frequent excuse is language; English is a second (or third) language for students and advisers. The second excuse is related to language, i.e. they 'want the paper to be perfect.' CL ~~ Cara Lin Bridgman P.O. Box 013 Phone: 886-4-2632-5484 Longjing Sinjhuang Taichung 434 Taiwanhttp://web.thu.edu.tw/caralinb/www/ ~~
Re: Plagiarism and ESA policy
Robert et al; The comments below pertain only to scholarly publication and NOT classroom/student plagiarism: How does one distinguish between plagiarism and contemporaneous development of similar ideas? Leibniz and Newton both developed calculus during the same period and recent evidence suggests that Archimedes developed the idea a few hundred years previously. Who gets credit and who is plagiarizing? Similarly, Alfred Wallace sent a manuscript to Darwin containing virtually the identical concept of Chuck's natural selection. What if he had sent the manuscript for publication, would Darwin have a case for plagiarism even though the two had never met? How do we know that so called plagiarists are not simply independently arriving at the same concept? David Bryant Ipswich, MA On Oct 4, 2006, at 6:33 AM, Robert K. Peet wrote: The Ecological Society of America's Code of Ethics (http://www.esa.org/aboutesa/governance/codeofethics.php) clearly addresses plagerism Ecologists will not plagiarize in verbal or written communication, but will give full and proper credit to the works and ideas of others, and make every effort to avoid misrepresentation. ... When using ideas or results of others in manuscripts submitted for publication, researchers will give full attribution of sources. If the ideas or results have not been published, they may not be used without permission of the original researcher. Illustrations or tables from other publications or manuscripts may be used only with permission of the copyright owner. During the period I served as Editor in Chief for _Ecology_ and _Ecological Monographs_ the issue of plagiarism would come up from time to time. I worked with the ESA Professional Ethics Committee (at that time chaired by Kerry Woods) to develop a policy and adjudication procedure. That policy, reproduced below, is available on the ESA publications website (http://esapubs.org/esapubs/conditions.htm#Eth). Adherence to the ESA Code of Ethics Authors should adhere to the ESA Code of Ethics; it deals with authorship, plagiarism, fraud, unauthorized use of data, copyrights, errors, confidentiality, intellectual property, attribution, willful delay of publication, and conflicts of interest, as well as other matters that are not specific to the publication process. The following general principles will be adhered to in dealing with situations where an author's ethics are in question. --- Manuscripts submitted to ESA journals are confidential. We will not normally reveal whether an author has submitted a manuscript to us or what a particular manuscript might contain, unless the authors ask that we do so. To do otherwise would be to compromise the ability of an author to obtain proper credit for his or her discoveries. --- In the event that a private individual reports to us concerns about the ethics of a particular author, we will take note of such concerns and watch for any manuscript by that author that might represent questionable ethical practices. --- If ESA has reason to doubt the ethical practices of an author of a manuscript, either because of concern raised by an editor, or because of information obtained from some other source, the Editor-in-Chief will process the manuscript in accordance with normal practice, but will simultaneously refer the matter to the ESA Professional Ethics Committee for review. The Committee will conduct whatever investigation it feels appropriate, taking care not to inadvertently damage the reputation of any of the parties concerned. The Editor-in-Chief will received the advice of the Committee and decide a course of action in consultation with the Executive Director of the Society. == Robert K. Peet, Professor Chair Phone: 919-962-6942 Curriculum in Ecology, CB#3275Fax:919-962-6930 University of North Carolina Cell: 919-368-4971 Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3275 USA Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.unc.edu/depts/ecology/ http://www.bio.unc.edu/faculty/peet/ ==
Re: Plagiarism and ESA policy
There are many cases of scientists independently arriving at the same idea, but normally plagiarism means that one has directly copied from anothers work, as evidenced by similar or identical wording. Theft of ideas is harder to prove. Sometimes someone is sitting on an idea, then finds out that someone else is about to publish, so he rushes into print. That is a harder issue to address. Since some of the posters on this topic write from an editorial perspective, I would add that the worst case of (attempted) theft of ideas occurred back in the 1970s when I submitted a paper to the American Naturalist. After waiting for a decision for about a year and receiving no reply to numerous letters I went to their office and spoke to the editor in person. He informed me that he had sent the ms. to a member of their editorial board, who replied that he had a student working on the same problem and asked that he hold up the ms. until the student had a chance to publish. Wow! (The paper was of course withdrawn and very quickly accepted by Math. Biosci.) Bill Silvert - Original Message - From: David Bryant [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 4:54 PM Subject: Re: Plagiarism and ESA policy Robert et al; The comments below pertain only to scholarly publication and NOT classroom/student plagiarism: How does one distinguish between plagiarism and contemporaneous development of similar ideas? Leibniz and Newton both developed calculus during the same period and recent evidence suggests that Archimedes developed the idea a few hundred years previously. Who gets credit and who is plagiarizing? Similarly, Alfred Wallace sent a manuscript to Darwin containing virtually the identical concept of Chuck's natural selection. What if he had sent the manuscript for publication, would Darwin have a case for plagiarism even though the two had never met? How do we know that so called plagiarists are not simply independently arriving at the same concept? David Bryant Ipswich, MA
Re: Plagiarism and ESA policy
Bill, Yes I'm aware of the semantic distinction but was providing innocent examples that may have ostensibly been seen as scurrilous. In the example you cite I would have been hard pressed not to issue a formal complaint regarding the ethics of both the editor and the board member, with the vow never to submit to the journal on the future. David Bryant On Oct 4, 2006, at 12:36 PM, William Silvert wrote: There are many cases of scientists independently arriving at the same idea, but normally plagiarism means that one has directly copied from anothers work, as evidenced by similar or identical wording. Theft of ideas is harder to prove. Sometimes someone is sitting on an idea, then finds out that someone else is about to publish, so he rushes into print. That is a harder issue to address. Since some of the posters on this topic write from an editorial perspective, I would add that the worst case of (attempted) theft of ideas occurred back in the 1970s when I submitted a paper to the American Naturalist. After waiting for a decision for about a year and receiving no reply to numerous letters I went to their office and spoke to the editor in person. He informed me that he had sent the ms. to a member of their editorial board, who replied that he had a student working on the same problem and asked that he hold up the ms. until the student had a chance to publish. Wow! (The paper was of course withdrawn and very quickly accepted by Math. Biosci.) Bill Silvert - Original Message - From: David Bryant [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 4:54 PM Subject: Re: Plagiarism and ESA policy Robert et al; The comments below pertain only to scholarly publication and NOT classroom/student plagiarism: How does one distinguish between plagiarism and contemporaneous development of similar ideas? Leibniz and Newton both developed calculus during the same period and recent evidence suggests that Archimedes developed the idea a few hundred years previously. Who gets credit and who is plagiarizing? Similarly, Alfred Wallace sent a manuscript to Darwin containing virtually the identical concept of Chuck's natural selection. What if he had sent the manuscript for publication, would Darwin have a case for plagiarism even though the two had never met? How do we know that so called plagiarists are not simply independently arriving at the same concept? David Bryant Ipswich, MA
Re: Plagiarism: A Student's Perspective
Mark, Your post reads so well I am tempted to consider plagiarism! :) Thank you for a very thoughtful perspective. I was saddened to read that this behavior is on the rise, but I agree with you: we can't throw out the baby with the bathwater. By the way, do I need a citation for that proverb? David Thomson -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Markael Luterra Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 7:07 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Plagiarism: A Student's Perspective I have always been somewhat frightened by the zero-tolerance policy of academic institutions toward plagiarism. This is, in part, because I feel it would be very easy to accidentally commit plagiarism by simply forgetting to insert a citation. In my view, there are at least five types of plagiarism, and all require different responses. 1. Cheating. Entire papers or large sections are copied and presented as original work. This is most likely to occur in a university context and should deserve a harsh response. 2. Malicious plagiarism. Citations are intentionally omitted in order to make others' work appear to be original. This can occur in professional journals and in schools and deserves punishment, although unfortunately it can be difficult to separate this from the next category. 3. Negligent plagiarism. Citations are omitted with no intention of plagiarizing. This can occur simply by accident (some spelling errors slip into journals) or can be more subtle. Scientists are constantly reading journal articles, and our thought processes are inevitably influenced by our reading, perhaps in ways that we don't always recognize. It is therefore entirely possible to write a non-original idea while personally believing that the idea is yours. This type of plagiarism should be minimized, but in my opinion should not be punished unless it occurs often enough to demonstrate sloppy practices. 4. Word-choice plagiarism. Writers who are new to English or new to scientific writing styles are tempted to copy sentences word-for-word from articles, changing minor details to make the meaning correct. While this is clearly plagiarism by definition, it is not a stealing of concepts, ideas, or results per se, and it may represent a positive step toward learning the mechanics of scientific writing. 5. Misattribution. I personally know several students who find it easier to write first and cite later. Inevitably, this leads to some ideas attributed to the wrong authors and a few omitted citations. This is certainly sloppy behavior, but not outright malicious and so in my opinion not deserving of a harsh punishment unless it continues after several warnings. Zero-tolerance makes sense for actions which are always intentional (i.e. a minor cannot accidentally consume alcohol), but not for plagiarism, which may result from accidental omission or an incomplete knowledge of citation procedures. School is about teaching the best practices and minimizing mistakes, not about punishing those who make mistakes. Unless large-scale cheating has occurred or plagiarism has occurred numerous times, I feel that failure or expulsion as a consequence of plagiarism is not justified. Mark Luterra Carleton College Northfield, MN
Re: plagiarism
Alan, I am sorry to hear that some of your manuscripts were plagiarized. I also feel that these instances will only increase in occurrence in the coming years, based upon the ease with which scientists, students, etc. can find and transfer this information, the extreme bulk of information out there and the inability to read all of it, and the move towards non-peer-reviewed journals (see Science in the News from just yesterday http://www.americanscientist.org/template/NewsletterDirect). Recently, the engineering department at Ohio University found that a number of students had plagiarized a fair amount of text (constituting a full investigation, faculty reprimands, and potential revoking of awarded degrees, if my memory serves me correctly) and I don't imagine that this is the only school where the problem exists. All the best, joe Joseph David Conroy, M.S. Doctoral Candidate Department of EEOB The Ohio State University Department Address Office Address 300 Aronoff Laboratory 1250A Museum of Biological Diversity 318 W. 12th Avenue 1315 Kinnear Road Columbus, Ohio 43210Columbus, Ohio 43212 Office: (614) 292-5230 Mobile: (614) 537-2449 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~eeob/limnologylab/joeconroy/joeconroy_titlepage.htm Let the experiment be made. - Benjamin Franklin There is something fascinating about science. One gets such a wholesale return of conjecture out of a trifling investment of fact. - Mark Twain Torture statistics long enough and they will confess to anything. - Gregg Easterbrook At 07:46 AM 10/3/2006, Alan Wilson wrote: Dear All, I recently reviewed a manuscript that plagiarized from at least two of my papers. Based on my findings, the editor quickly rejected the manuscript and discouraged the authors from submitting it elsewhere. After sharing the experience with my colleagues, I was surprised at the disparity in their reactions. Some were disgusted by the plagiarism (as I was), while others would have been flattered if their text had been copied. Although I am happy to know that the manuscript was rejected, I am not totally convinced that the punishment (i.e., rejected manuscript) fit the crime given that the manuscript may have been rejected anyway - regardless of the plagiarism. My questions to the group have to do with how you feel about plagiarism and plagiarists. (1) Is this a common phenomenon? (2) How should plagiarists be handled? Thanks for your feedback. Alan Alan E. Wilson CILER - University of Michigan 2205 Commonwealth Blvd. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] office: 734-741-2293; cell: 770-722-9075; fax: 509-356-5349 website: http://ciler.snre.umich.edu/research/profiles/wilson/wilsonprofile.html Content-Type: text/plain; name=CANIT-VOTING-LINKS-79711777-15854ae1260e.txt Content-Disposition: inline; filename=CANIT-VOTING-LINKS-79711777-15854ae1260e.txt Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MIME-tools 5.420 (Entity 5.420) -- BEGIN-ANTISPAM-VOTING-LINKS -- Teach CanIt if this mail (ID 79711777) is spam: Spam:https://antispam.osu.edu/b.php?c=si=79711777m=15854ae1260e Not spam:https://antispam.osu.edu/b.php?c=ni=79711777m=15854ae1260e Forget vote: https://antispam.osu.edu/b.php?c=fi=79711777m=15854ae1260e -- END-ANTISPAM-VOTING-LINKS
Re: plagiarism
Alan, Plagiarism has many forms, some quite subtle. It is incumbent upon us to teach our students, particularly graduate students, about the forms of academic dishonesty and how to recognize and avoid treacherous ground. I include below a snippet from a handout on academic dishonesty that I use in a graduate seminar that focuses on professional skills. Geoff --- ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Assorted sordid things that ought not to be done or even considered! There are many acts - both of commission and omission - that constitute ill deeds in the academe. Of particular concern for graduate students are the misdeeds of Fabrication Falsification and Plagiarism. Falsification involves altering data or information. Fabrication is more creative in that it involves invention or counterfeiting of data or information. Both of these activities are cardinal sins in science because the development of scientific knowledge depends upon the reliability of results and the trustworthiness of conclusions. Pseudo-data mislead. Spin misinforms. Authentic negative results are more valuable and more informative than false positive results. The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary tells us that plagiary derives from the Latin words for kidnapper (plagiarius) and kidnapping (plagium), which in turn come from the Greek word plagios that Liddell and Scott's An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon relates to mean slanting, oblique, not straightforward, crooked, treacherous. In English, the term plagiarist was first used to describe a literary thief: one who steals the words and phrases of another without attribution. From our grammar school days, we are all familiar with the customary precautions against plagiarism: Don't copy out of that encyclopedia! and Include your sources in the bibliography! The rules are different in graduate school and in the scientific community at large. For those that deal in the realm of concepts, hypotheses, and speculations, the plagiarism of ideas is an ever-present risk. What is original versus what is reinvented or rediscovered? It is critical that you work through the relevant extant literature in preparation for grappling with your own data. The literature provides the accumulated experience of many bright minds: it can illuminate the path to your work. Be careful to acknowledge those that assist you, whether their assistance derives from written material or verbal exchanges. Finally, don't underestimate the ability of professors to identify plagiaristic passages. More than likely, they know the literature better than you! |||//*\\||| Geoffrey M. Henebry, Ph.D., C.S.E. Professor of Biology and Geography Senior Research Scientist Geographic Information Science Center of Excellence (GIScCE) Wecota Hall, Box 506B South Dakota State University Brookings, SD 57007-3510 voice: 605-688-5351 (-5227 FAX) email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://globalmonitoring.sdstate.edu -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alan Wilson Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 6:46 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: [ECOLOG-L] plagiarism Dear All, I recently reviewed a manuscript that plagiarized from at least two of my papers. Based on my findings, the editor quickly rejected the manuscript and discouraged the authors from submitting it elsewhere. After sharing the experience with my colleagues, I was surprised at the disparity in their reactions. Some were disgusted by the plagiarism (as I was), while others would have been flattered if their text had been copied. Although I am happy to know that the manuscript was rejected, I am not totally convinced that the punishment (i.e., rejected manuscript) fit the crime given that the manuscript may have been rejected anyway - regardless of the plagiarism. My questions to the group have to do with how you feel about plagiarism and plagiarists. (1) Is this a common phenomenon? (2) How should plagiarists be handled? Thanks for your feedback. Alan Alan E. Wilson CILER - University of Michigan 2205 Commonwealth Blvd. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] office: 734-741-2293; cell: 770-722-9075; fax: 509-356-5349 website: http://ciler.snre.umich.edu/research/profiles/wilson/wilsonprofile.html
Re: plagiarism
Unfortunately there are many forms of academic dishonesty, some of which are of epidemic proportion. Plagiarism is bad, but I think the practice of ripping vital pages out of books on reserve is worse. As for the comment that the internet faclitates plagiarism, it also facilitates finding it - just search for a suspicious phrase. I used to teach physics and we routinely set up lab experiments in which it was impossible to get the right (i.e., textbook) answer. Honest students learned that some experimental procedures are biassed. Others got caught, and unfortunately this often included the majority of students. Bill Silvert - Original Message - From: Henebry, Geoffrey [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 4:42 PM Subject: Re: plagiarism ACADEMIC DISHONESTY: Assorted sordid things that ought not to be done or even considered! There are many acts - both of commission and omission - that constitute ill deeds in the academe. Of particular concern for graduate students are the misdeeds of Fabrication Falsification and Plagiarism...
Re: plagiarism
Sent that last message too fast. http://www.wam.umd.edu/~toh/research/ http://library.sau.edu/bestinfo/Faculty/plagiarism.htm Call weekdays, evenings and weekends. Leave your phone number/best time = to return your call and/or your e-mail address if we are on another line = or away from our phones.=20 Sincerely, J. Michael Nolan, Director =20 Rainforest and Reef 501 (c)(3) non-profit *= *** Outstanding-Affordable Field Courses in Rainforest Marine Ecology Spanish Immersion offered in Mexico, Costa Rica,=20 Nicaragua, Panama, Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru Web: http://iwanttolearnspanish.org (being updated for 07) United States: Rainforest and Reef 501 (c)(3) non-profit P.O. Box 141543 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49514-1543 USA Phone: 1.616.604.0546=20 Toll Free: 1.877.255.3721 Skype Phone: mikenolan1 Live Chat and Phone MS Live Messenger: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Live Chat AOL: buddythemacaw E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.rainforestandreef.org=20 Latin America: P.O. Box 850-1150 San Jos=E9, Costa Rica, Central America Att: Juan Pablo Bello C. Program Director, Latin America Phone: 011.506.290.8883/011.506.822.8222 (Cell)/Fax: 011.506.290.8883 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Europe: Att: Marion Stephan Frankfurt, Germany Phone: 011.49.172.448.3899 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *= ***
Re: plagiarism
Here at Hofstra students are expelled automatically upon conviction of their second case of plagiarism. conviction can occur even in the absence of proof of plagiarism--it is defined in the student code as even the appearance of plagiarism. thus, a student repeatedly seen looking at their neighbor's paper during a test can be considered to be plagiarizing even if they claim they were just stretching their neck or whatever. We use the Turnitin.com service a lot, our students expect it. we run workshops in our intro bio courses on what plagiarism is and is not, our students are often surprised to learn how much they do is actually plagiarism. the ones we mostly catch now are those they were too negligent to check their turnitin reports before submitting their papers for grading. Dr. Russell Burke Department of Biology 114 Hofstra University Hempstead, NY 11549 voice: (516) 463-5521 fax: 516-463-5112 http://www.people.hofstra.edu/faculty/russell_l_burke/ Andy Dyer [EMAIL PROTECTED] 10/3/2006 11:44 AM I am currently pursuing an undergraduate case where I will advocate that the student in question be expelled for the 4th documented occurrence of plagiarism. We cannot, in good conscience, allow students that cheat to graduate from our departments. I consider plagiarism to be intellectual dishonesty of the worst kind. It is premeditated cheating: planned and intentional. What could be worse than plagiarism at the next level? Now, I understand that there can be mistakes. I helped publish a MS thesis a few years back that had direct uncredited quotes, but I believe the student had written the quotes into a note book from papers on the subject and then later failed to recognize that the notes did not represent his/her own writing. Sloppy, but excusable, and I caught it in time. And I became more careful after that. Bottom line, if it's intentional, it's serious and should not be tolerated. Andy Andrew R. Dyer Assoc. Professor of Ecology Dept. of Biology Geology University of South Carolina Aiken 471 University Parkway Aiken, SC 29801 Vox 803-641-3443 Fax 803-641-3251 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alan Wilson Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 7:46 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: plagiarism Dear All, I recently reviewed a manuscript that plagiarized from at least two of my papers. Based on my findings, the editor quickly rejected the manuscript and discouraged the authors from submitting it elsewhere. After sharing the experience with my colleagues, I was surprised at the disparity in their reactions. Some were disgusted by the plagiarism (as I was), while others would have been flattered if their text had been copied. Although I am happy to know that the manuscript was rejected, I am not totally convinced that the punishment (i.e., rejected manuscript) fit the crime given that the manuscript may have been rejected anyway - regardless of the plagiarism. My questions to the group have to do with how you feel about plagiarism and plagiarists. (1) Is this a common phenomenon? (2) How should plagiarists be handled? Thanks for your feedback. Alan Alan E. Wilson CILER - University of Michigan 2205 Commonwealth Blvd. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] office: 734-741-2293; cell: 770-722-9075; fax: 509-356-5349 website: http://ciler.snre.umich.edu/research/profiles/wilson/wilsonprofile.html
Re: plagiarism
If that is the student's fourth documented occurrence of plagiarism, you can rest assured that there was a whole lot more that was undocumented. I have no doubt that many students borrow so extensively from the internet and published works that they may not even be aware that it is plagiarism. Plargiarism is unacceptable and students should be taught that it is unacceptable, each case in which the act is allowed to go unpunished merely reinforces its acceptable nature. Roman Jesien, Science Coordinator Maryland Coastal Bays Program 9919 Stephen Decatur Highway - Suite 4 Ocean City, Maryland 21842 410-213-2297 phone 410-213-2574 fax [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.mdcoastalbays.org -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Andy Dyer Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 11:45 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: plagiarism I am currently pursuing an undergraduate case where I will advocate that the student in question be expelled for the 4th documented occurrence of plagiarism. We cannot, in good conscience, allow students that cheat to graduate from our departments. I consider plagiarism to be intellectual dishonesty of the worst kind. It is premeditated cheating: planned and intentional. What could be worse than plagiarism at the next level? Now, I understand that there can be mistakes. I helped publish a MS thesis a few years back that had direct uncredited quotes, but I believe the student had written the quotes into a note book from papers on the subject and then later failed to recognize that the notes did not represent his/her own writing. Sloppy, but excusable, and I caught it in time. And I became more careful after that. Bottom line, if it's intentional, it's serious and should not be tolerated. Andy Andrew R. Dyer Assoc. Professor of Ecology Dept. of Biology Geology University of South Carolina Aiken 471 University Parkway Aiken, SC 29801 Vox 803-641-3443 Fax 803-641-3251 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alan Wilson Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 7:46 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: plagiarism Dear All, I recently reviewed a manuscript that plagiarized from at least two of my papers. Based on my findings, the editor quickly rejected the manuscript and discouraged the authors from submitting it elsewhere. After sharing the experience with my colleagues, I was surprised at the disparity in their reactions. Some were disgusted by the plagiarism (as I was), while others would have been flattered if their text had been copied. Although I am happy to know that the manuscript was rejected, I am not totally convinced that the punishment (i.e., rejected manuscript) fit the crime given that the manuscript may have been rejected anyway - regardless of the plagiarism. My questions to the group have to do with how you feel about plagiarism and plagiarists. (1) Is this a common phenomenon? (2) How should plagiarists be handled? Thanks for your feedback. Alan Alan E. Wilson CILER - University of Michigan 2205 Commonwealth Blvd. Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] office: 734-741-2293; cell: 770-722-9075; fax: 509-356-5349 website: http://ciler.snre.umich.edu/research/profiles/wilson/wilsonprofile.html
