Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Ethical question

What would you do if you suspected that a student might turn in a piece of work that was plagiarized?

Let's say you were working with that student on a research paper. The student wanted the first draft to be proofread, and after reading it, you noted that most of the paper was taken word for word from the sources you had accessed earlier.

You advise the student that they need to put information in their own words, and to use proper citation when needed. You even discuss plagiarism and how the paper in its rough draft would be considered to be plagiarized if turned it as it was.

Let's say that you know that student pretty well and suspect that they will not take the time to make the appropriate changes.

What would you do? Would you hope for the best? Would you notify their instructor? Would you notify the Academic Dean? How far would you go?

7 comments:

Chandra said...

I'd give the instructor a head's up and offer to help track down the sources after the paper is submitted so that the two of you can check to see if the student followed your advice. I wouldn't go to the dean yet b/c at this point, the student has not turned in the work.

Be sure to let the instructor know that you told the student that he/she was plagiarizing and that you explained how to fix that problem. That's simply to cover yourself... Students often give the excuse "Well, ___ looked it over and said it was fine."

Emily said...

I agree with Chandra. Since the student hasn't turned it in yet, it's not quite plagiarism.

If you can, provide copies of the resources to the instructor in advance so that the instructor can make the comparisons and determine whether or not the paper is plagiarized, and to what extent.

Keep in touch with the instructor - he/she should report it (there is a new form now, your dean has it) - so that the student is properly penalized.

Kate Bessey said...

Eeek! We now have an "official" form for instances of plagiarism?!

Emily said...

Yes. It's for faculty and deans to utilize. The previous problem is that faculty would penalize students without documenting it... so no one would know if it was the first or second offense. Additionally, students had no way of disputing charges of they were overstated without the documentation.

-E

Beth said...

It's good to know we now have a form to keep track of plagiarism. The faculty and I are going to brainstorm this week about prevention and how to incorporate a discussion in each course that requires research.

Jan said...
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Amy Springer said...

I have notified the instructors in the past. I also told them to contact me or the dean with questions on the Academic Dishonesty Policy.

I have noticed that when I have these conversations with the students, they don't seem fearful, which is a alarming.