What I'm finding is that, rather than explaining things in their own words, 
students are stringing together phrases lifted directly from articles. It makes 
me very angry that students think I'm dumb enough to know when they do or don't 
know what they are talking about. This is an upper-level course. I realize I 
asked for it by requiring a brief paper (5-7 pages, 3 refs from primary 
sources, etc.). It is my deeply-held belief that I should not lower my 
standards by having them do things that don't require writing. I have them 
write short papers throughout the course that involve critical thinking and 
reasoning, and are not APA-style activities, but I think they should be able to 
complete this brief assignment without plagiarizing.

Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. 
Professor of Psychology
Chair, Department of Psychology 
St. Ambrose University 
518 West Locust Street 
Davenport, Iowa 52803 

Phone: 563-333-6482 
e-mail: [email protected] 
web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm 

The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with anyone 
without permission of the sender.



-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sun 5/10/2009 1:57 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
Subject: Re: [tips] Reality check
 
I think it boils down to how many different ways can you paraphrase that 
sentence? I suspect if it's a limited report without a larger context from 
which to paraphrase, that you might see a lot of similar sounding attempts at 
paraphrase.

Annette

Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110
619-260-4006
[email protected]


---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 13:17:19 -0500
>From: "DeVolder Carol L" <[email protected]>  
>Subject: [tips] Reality check  
>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <[email protected]>
>
>OK, I need a quick show of hands--plagiarism or not?
>
>Here is the sentence from the paper:
>
>   When hearing loss exists, the main cause is damage or complete destruction 
> of sensory hair cells.
>
>
>Here is the sentence from the article:
>
>   The principle cause of hearing loss is damage to or complete destruction of 
> sensory hair cells.
>
>
>I am encountering this so often, I'm starting to question my own judgment.
>
>
>Thanks,
>Carol
>
>
>Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. 
>Professor of Psychology
>Chair, Department of Psychology 
>St. Ambrose University 
>518 West Locust Street 
>Davenport, Iowa 52803 
>
>Phone: 563-333-6482 
>e-mail: [email protected] 
>web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm 
>
>The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with 
>anyone without permission of the sender.
>
>---
>To make changes to your subscription contact:
>
>Bill Southerly ([email protected])
>________________
>winmail.dat (4k bytes)

---
To make changes to your subscription contact:

Bill Southerly ([email protected])


---
To make changes to your subscription contact:

Bill Southerly ([email protected])

<<winmail.dat>>

Reply via email to