At 10:42 PM 5/18/99 -0400, you wrote:
> I think the key here is intent.
>
> I don't suggest that the student get a good grade on the paper--she clearly
>doesn't deserve one. But there is a great deal of difference between giving
>a student a poor grade on a paper because she has not structured it properly
>and flunking that student for cheating.
I agree that in certain cases intent should be taken into account. In the
past, I used to be more lenient with those students who, in my view, had
plagiarized or engaged in some other dishonest work unintentionally. After
all, and as you point out below, the issue of citations, quoting, etc., can be
handled differently across disciplines. In addition, I realize that not all
instructors, even those within one's field, place the same degree of emphasis
on these matters. Because I think such information is crucial for students to
know, I now put material on plagiarism and correct paraphrasing in my course
outline and my web page.
As I had stated earlier, students in my courses must sign and return to me a
form that comes attached to the course outline. This signed form 'testifies'
that they have read and understood the contents of the course outline, and its
expanded web version. I still get a case or two of students who plagiarize in
their papers. But because of the lengths I go through in my classes to
instruct students on these matters, I usually interpret claims of unintentional
plagiarism as irrelevant. Even with all of the measures that I take to prevent
this type of dishonesty, I admit that I have made one exception in a case of
plagiarism where material had not been sufficiently modified from the original.
As a penalty, I made the student rewrite the paper with an automatic lower
grade for it.
> I honestly believe that the student did not _know_ she was cheating. _Many_
>students turn in papers with quotations handled incorrectly--it isn't
>unreasonable to assume she has done so in other classes and never been
>called to task for it (even some English departments teach that you need
>only cite the authors at the end of the body of the quote--without making it
>clear that it IS a quote--to meet the standards of citations, there are
>English instructors at my own institution who do that!).
I believe that. I actually have some data indicating wide differences among
professors, even within the same discipline, in how they handle paraphrases.
> The major key to me is whether the student intended to plagiarism--and
>there I have to believe that had she intended to do so she would have simply
>left the sources out altogether.
Not necessarily. I've collected some data form students as well and these data
suggest that the reason why students do not modify the original is because they
either do not understand the material or fear that the meaning of the original
will be distorted. Some have even told me privately that they simply feel that
they can get away with it!
I point out that some (many?) sources (e.g., college catalogues, student
handbooks, and personal web pages) which provide guidelines about plagiarism
state that, whether the act is intentional or not, it is generally irrelevant
to the charge.
>Perhaps she DID intend to do so, but a
>serious element of doubt exists, and given that it seems unfair to destroy
>that student's academic record with an accusation of cheating.
My own reading of Annette's case makes me conclude that intent is _less_
relevant. By giving students access to Paul Smith's URL, "Establishing
Authorship", on her web page (I assume that she gave this material as a reading
assignment), she has provided specific guidelines covering issues of quoting
and plagiarism. Her student may not have intentionally plagiarized but she has
acted very irresponsibly by not following instructions.
BTW, I would encourage all to check out Paul's site. It is very comprehensive
and it is the type of information that I wish all students had prior to
enrollment in college, even if they are not psychology majors.
> Her paper should receive a low grade--and it that coupled with her other
>grades in the class causes her to flunk, then she should do so. But if it
>permits her to pass the class that too should be permitted.
I suppose this depends on what penalties Annette has assigned to these kinds of
infractions.
> One factor that has _not_ been mentioned is whether or not the student is a
>Psychology major. If she is, she should certainly know how to cite a paper
>in APA format--but if not, it is very possible that her own discipline uses
>a very different approach (MLA, Turabian, etc.) and she is trying to adapt
>to APA for the class. Should that be the case, it is not only possible but
>actually _likely_ that her error was an honest one, rather than an attempt
>to cheat.
I don't know about Turabian style, but my understanding of MLA is that it is
very similar to APA as to how quotations and paraphrasing should be handled.
If anything, MLA is much more stringent on paraphrasing than APA style.
>> I agree that we should be weary of how administrators will view
> Perhaps. But again this assumes the student is a psychology major, which
>was not stated in the original message, only that she is a graduating
>senior.
I guess this is a matter of opinion. If the student has received specific
guidelines on these matters then the student is responsible to implement these
guidelines. Therefore, to me, it is irrelevant whether the student is a psych.
major or not.
Snip If this particular student did so--and wrote the
>paper in a format with which she is most familiar--she can be faulted for
>not investigating the differences more fully--but she certainly had no clear
>intention of cheating.
Again, we seem to differ on this point. In Annette's case I think intention
does not merit as much weigh as you seem to give. The students were given
information on these matters and, _at best_, the student in question failed to
implement this information. That is irresponsible.
As a side comment, I think most of us would agree that matters of intellectual
ownership, correct attribution, etc., are extremely important in our culture
and in our profession. Unfortunately, I think that many academic institutions
do not do a good job in grounding students in these values. Ideally this
should be done earlier even before students enroll in college. Since this is
not typically done, I really wish faculty would take a more proactive approach
to make students aware of these issues. Hopefully, this discussion represents
a step in that direction.
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
Miguel Roig, Ph.D. Voice: (718) 390-4513
Assoc. Prof. of Psychology Fax: (718) 442-3612
Division of Social Sciences [EMAIL PROTECTED]
St. John's University [EMAIL PROTECTED]
300 Howard Avenue http://rdz.stjohns.edu/~roig or
Staten Island, NY 10301 http://area51.stjohns.edu/~roig
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