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“Dear Plagiarist”
by: Jennie V Monday, Oct 19, 2009
My name is Jennie, and I am a library director at American InterContinental University. Everyday, I talk to faculty almost as much as I do students. Over time, I developed close bonds with the faculty, and we often discuss the challenges and issues that instructors face. So when I read the following article, it sounded familiar to me, but I wondered, what would students think?
The author, G. Thomas Couser, founding director of disability studies and an English professor at Hofstra University, wrote an open letter to students he caught plagiarizing in his class. Here is an excerpt from the article:
“Dear Student,
When you got your paper back with a grade of F for plagiarism, you reacted in predictable fashion -- with indignant denial of any wrongdoing. You claimed “you cited everything” and denied that you had committed intentional plagiarism, or ever would.
This response is all too familiar to an experienced professor. Only once in my three decades of teaching has a student I caught plagiarizing owned up to it right away. And in that case, I believe (perhaps cynically) that she (a graduate student) thought a forthright confession might lead me to lighten the penalty. It didn’t; I failed her for the course and wrote her up. Indeed, I found out later that she had been caught plagiarizing by a colleague the previous term and let off lightly. I suspect that, because too many professors (many of them adjuncts fearful of student backlash) overlook or are unwilling to pursue plagiarism -- the process can be labor intensive, and it is always unpleasant -- cheating has become a way of life for many students, and they are genuinely surprised at being held responsible for it. So I don’t doubt that your shock is real...”
The letter continues to get pretty intense as do the comments at the bottom of the posting from other instructors. This shows that professors are not as clueless as some may think when it comes to plagiarism. This letter also gave me a greater understanding of the pressures they too experience in their jobs. It's tough all over!
The letter is posted on InsideHigherEd.com, which is written by and for university faculty, though a lot of students read and post on it too.
Do you think plagiarism is ever OK? Why do students continue to try to work the system, rather than doing their own work? Can you see the instructor's viewpoint?
Leave your thoughts here! Let’s discuss!
Go here for the full article:
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2009/07/02/couser
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I am a student at AIU and I agree 100% with the professor. Where is the pride a student should feel when they accomplish something and know that they did it totally on their own? My father always told me to "Try my best at everything I do and I will accomplish all I try". I think that many students do not feel any guilt when they cheat because it is so common among the younger generation ( I am 48). The kids are taught to win at any means possible and they feel that everyone else is doing it, why not?! I also think that they are not thinking about when school is over, and they are at a job and a situation arises that they will need some of that knowledge that they were supposed to learn in school ,but did not learn, because they used someone elses thoughts and/or work. How will they handle the situation? Every time I get a good grade on an assignment I am on cloud 9 knowing that I did it on my own and I was able to accomplish what I did not think I could do. I hope these students that think plagiarism and cheating are ok wake up and see that they are hurting themselves in the long run.