Plagiarism Video

[Cornelia Pokrzywa]

I gathered student interviews on the topic of plagiarism and found that many students can easily define the basic concepts, but still have difficulty understanding that definitions can shift depending on context. For example, the definition of common knowledge varies widely between handbooks, electronic resources, and instructors. It's not unusual for a student to be told that common knowledge is anything you "already know" -- without realizing that this writer-oriented definition may leave the reader totally confused about the credibility of information presented. Or, they may learn that common knowledge includes anything they learned in a course lecture or textbook -- not realizing that such a definition would expire at the end of the semester! I really believe we have to get away from teaching definitions dealing with plagiarism as absolutes, and start guiding students to a broader awareness of reader-oriented, context-oriented definitions of authorship.

I am following up the plagiarism video with a second video featuring K-12 students. I've already gathered some interesting footage and will begin editing it soon.

[Lori Ostergaard]

Yes, I agree. But I think we also need to think about writer-oriented definitions of authorship. Who "authored" the brochure we put together for the summer institute? I "stole" chunks of information from other sources, wrote or revised other chunks, re-arranged stuff, helped pick out the design & photos, but did I author it or plagiarize it? Should I lose my job and get thrown out of the university? I didn't cite my sources. & if you know for certain that I did plagiarize that document, just try to prove it since my name is nowhere on the thing anyway. The very genre demands both that the author be erased from the work & that the source citations be absent.

This is fun.

What are the standards for originality, authorship, and citation in our community? Well, they're pretty strict...for most genres...but certainly not for every genre. Should I refuse to use a winning lesson plan I "borrowed" from a friend, who gave me permission to use it, simply because I didn't come up with the idea? Should I put my friend's on it as the author? What if I don't put that lesson on my own website? What if I do? What if I tell my students that a friend in North Carolina "authored" the activity? Is that enough? Too much?

And if I'm writing warnings for a lawn mower company (something along the lines of "don't insert your feet into the moving blades"), should I completely re-write those warnings because the person who originally wrote those clear, concise, and effective warnings left the company? Should I come up with new warnings & delete the original warnings because I didn't author them? Should I cite that person as the original source of those warnings? I know how my teachers feel about this behavior, but how would my boss at the lawn mower company feel if I started writing warnings like "don't use lawn mower in the bath tub" and deleted the crucial "feet" warning because that warning wasn't my idea to begin with?

I think your video & commentary are important cause clearly our definitions of plagiarism tend toward absolutes, but then things get all loosey-goosey in our own (and our students') professional lives.

Thanks for this...it was a fun read & watch on the last possible day to submit grades!

Can't wait to see the next one!