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last.updated 11.30.08

Authorship & Plagiarism

Purpose

Plagiarism and methods of avoiding it are another set of the issues composition instructors teach (and experience) that have often been oversimplified: if there is any evidence of another writer's text that is presented in a paper without citation the student plagiarized and should be severely punished. But as the readings for today have illustrated, the concept of authorship and intertextuality are complex and often culturally and contextually specific. Although institutions often have straightforward policies about plagiarism, today's lesson will help you to think about how you will respond to these policies and teach students how to negotiate intertextuality in their own writing for the academy and beyond it.

Before Class

• Read WPA-L Discussion on SIUE President [BB]
• Read Zwagerman, "The Scarlet P" [BB]
• Read Bouman, "Raising Questions about Plagiarism" [BB]
• Submit the Pedagogical Close-Up on Friday, December 5, 2006 to the instructor (kdepew@odu.edu) by the end of the day.

End-of-Semester Evaluation

During the first twenty minutes of class, you will be asked to do an End-of-Semester Evaluation.

ODU's Plagiarism Definition

“A student will have committed plagiarism if he or she reproduces someone else’s work without acknowledging its source; or if a source is cited which the student has not cited or used. Examples of plagiarism include: submitting a research paper obtained from a commercial research service, the Internet, or from another student as if it were original work; making simple changes to borrowed materials while leaving the organization, content, or phraseology intact; or copying material from a source, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out quotation marks. Plagiarism also occurs in a group project if one or more of the members of the group does none of the group’s work and participates in none of the group’s activities, but attempts to take credit for the work of the group.”

Discussion–Authorship & Plagiarism

The discussion today will address the following questions:

• What is plagiarism? what is patchwriting? what is boilerplating (and CMS)? Where do you think the boundary should be drawn between fair use and fraud?
• What questions, concerns, or comments do you have about the readings for today?
• These discussions and articles do not explain what to do about plagiarism in the composition classroom, how might you use these readings to inform your practical approach to plagiarism in the composition classroom?
• For those of you who work at ODU, how do these readings converse with the Old Dominion's plagiarism definition? If you sat on an academic institution's committee that addressed issues of plagiarism, how might you respond to a policy like ODU's in light of the readings?

Workshop–Pedagogical Close-Up

After having the opportunity to ask the instructor questions about the Pedagogical Close-Up, you will have the opportunity to work on writing this document.