Saturday, May 29, 2004

Plagiarism?  It's The Teacher's Fault, Obviously A few years back, one of my students got caught plagiarizing.  Sadly, that wasn't unusual.  I would normally catch ten or so students a year turning in research papers with work that wasn't their own and they'd normally just admit they cheated and move on with their lives without offering up some lame excuse. This particular student was different, though.  Most plagiarists would copy a few sentences here and there, or maybe a paragraph.  This young lady cut and pasted pretty much her whole paper off the internet in one big chunk.  I estimated that at least 95% of the paper was taken word-for-word from one source I found online.  All she'd done was add a few sentences, make-up new citations to match the "research" she'd done, and then handed it in. It was by far the worst case of plagiarism I'd ever seen.  Also the easiest to prove.  All I had to do was print out the essay she'd copied from off the net and then show both papers side-by-side.  They were nearly identical. But you know what?  It wasn't her fault.  Nope, according to her, it was mine.  See, out of the kindness of my heart, I'd proofread her paper about a week before she turned in the final version.  Since I didn't catch at that point that she was plagiarizing, then it was my fault for allowing her to turn in the final forged research paper.  She was not to blame.  All the blame must be on me, the teacher, for not catching it the first time around. I couldn't believe she had the nerve to say that.  I still can't believe it. Well, apparently she's not the only student walking around blameless.  Last week a student in Great Britain named Michael Gunn sued his university because they didn't catch him plagiarizing until his senior year.  Once they caught him, they moved to cancel his grades.  But since they didn't catch Gunn back when he was a freshman, and because he was "allowed" to cheat, it's just not fair for him to get caught right before he was to graduate.  Michael Gunn admits he plagiarized.  He admits he downloaded papers off the internet and turned it in as his own work.  But he "never dreamt it was a problem" and the university should have made that more clear to him.  The consequences for plagiarizing were in the student handbook, but that wasn't good enough.  Michael claims his specific actions should have been caught early and he should have been personally warned. I'd like to take this opportunity right now to warn him he's a complete ass.  While I'm at it, I'd like to warn Michael that if he ever has children, they'll likely be asses, too.  How do I know this?  Because his father is on the record as saying he's appalled at how his son was informed he's a cheater.  Not appalled that his son is a cheater, but merely in how he was notified as such.  His mother wants to know where the fairness is for her son and how he's been treated.  Both parents are worried that their son won't be able to find a decent job now that this has come out.  Boo.  Freakin'.  Hoo. Ok, here's what The University of Kent should do.  Let him graduate. Make his asshead parents happy and let him walk across that stage.  And when he does, hand Michael a photocopy of a diploma with someone else's name whited-out and his name crudely drawn in.  Oh, and provide him with a couple of bogus references to put on his job applications.  Fair's fair. Related links: Plagiarist student set to sue university No degree for student who copied from the internet 2:52:02 PM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.