TITLE:
Plagiarism: Whose Responsibility Is It Anyway? An Administrator’s Choice to Teach Not Punish
AUTHORS:
Susan Polirstok
KEYWORDS:
Academic Disintegrity, Direct Instruction, Program Assessment, Overcorrection, Positive Practice, Restitution
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.5 No.8,
May
6,
2014
ABSTRACT: This paper examines
how plagiarism is viewed on college campuses and the resultant punitive consequences
that follow. In this case, a college administrator must determine whether two graduate
education students should be expelled as a consequence of having certain
passages appearing from websites and journal articles without attribution in first
two theses drafts. In assessing what contributed to this infraction, the
college administrator determined that the students had never received direct
instruction in plagiarism and how to avoid it. Working collaboratively with the
referring faculty member, a 3-session instructional program was designed to
teach how to paraphrase and use citations in tandem with an overcorrection
procedure of positive practice coupled with restitution. The culminating
session required each student to design a 5-lesson module on plagiarism and how
to avoid it for their program peers. They also met with their faculty
instructor to review the changes they had made in their drafts resulting in
reinstatement in their research course. The entire process helped the academic
program faculty recognize that the topic of plagiarism and skills necessary to
avoid plagiarism required direct instruction at various points throughout the
overall program to prevent students from encountering severe penalties.