Perspectives on Plagiarism

Keywords

Plagiarism, writing, teachers

Abstract

When writing teachers encounter what appears to be plagiarized text in their student papers, they tend toward a kind of fight or flight response. On the one hand, a teacher, armed with an institutional policy and a good bit of quixotic vengeance, could confront the student to demand a rewrite or dole out dire consequences such as a failing grade. On the other hand, a teacher could look the other way, assuming that plagiarism happens, or that it is negligible, or that if s too hard to indict so many students in a given class. While the fight or flight reflex has descriptive power when dealing with life-threatening situations, plagiarism is not one of these. Teachers should challenge the pernicious notion that all plagiarism is the same, and that only two responses make sense.

Original Publication Citation

Eckstein, G.(2013). Perspectives on plagiarism. Writing on the Edge, 24(2), 94-100.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2013

Publisher

Regents of the University of California

Language

English

College

Humanities

Department

Linguistics

University Standing at Time of Publication

Assistant Professor

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