Central Virginia Community College Plagiarism Is It a Big Deal Paper Informal Assignment: Plagiarism For homework, read the following essays: “Sidebar: C

Central Virginia Community College Plagiarism Is It a Big Deal Paper Informal Assignment: Plagiarism

For homework, read the following essays:

“Sidebar: Comparing and Copy,” by Jack Shafer on page 383

“How to Fight College Cheating” by Lawrence M. Hinman on page 386

“Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age,” by Trip Gabriel on page 389

“Plagiarism and Buzzfeed’s Achilles’ Heel” by Dylan Byers on page 398.

After you read the four essays, answer this question: Is Plagiarism a big deal? If it is, why? If it’s not, why not? Use the readings to back up you answer. This should be One page long, double spaced JACK
SHAFER
SIDEBAR:°
COMPARING THE COPY
How different can four news stories
generated by the
same assignment be? Compare
the opening
paragraphs of
these pieces
about the 2005 mad cow disease conference call:
the Bloomberg News version;
the New York Times version,
which lifts passages from Bloomberg without
attribution; and
the starkly different pieces
run by the
globeandmail.com
and the Omaha
WorldHerald.
1
A
short news story printed
longer
related
article
alongside
a
Opening paragraphs from the July 15, 2005, Bloomberg News story
by Daniel Goldstein:
The U.S. plans to
resume
imports
of
Canadian cattle,
after an appellate court cleared
the way to
end a
ban imposed two years ago because
of
mad-cow
disease.° Cattle prices fell and shares
of
beef producer
Tyson Foods Inc.
surged.
2
“How
different can four news stories
same assignment be?”
generated by
the
The
first shipments from Canada
may arrive at
U.S.
slaughterhouses in
days, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike
Johanns
said today in
a
conference call. “If things go
well, it
could very well be next week.”
USDA and
Canadian officials are coordinating
how to
certify
animals
for shipment, he said. 3
A U.S. appellate court°
yesterday ruled in
favor of
the
government,
which argued
Canadian cattle under 30
months
of
disease.
Tyson’s
million
in
of
available
closings. Canada
percent
of
age don’t pose
beef business
the quarter
cattle boosted
before
the
U.S. beef. 4
a
risk of
had a
loss
ended April 2,
costs and led
ban supplied
A
brain disease
that can
humans
through consumption
beef
be
of
mad-cow
of
$19
as
the lack
to
plant
about 5
transmitted to
contaminated
A
higher
court that hears appeals
of
rulings
that were made by a
lower court
Opening paragraphs from the July 16, 2005, New York Times story
by Alexei Barrionuevo:
The United
States
Agriculture Departmentsaid on Friday
that it
planned
to resume imports
of
Canadian
cattle within
days, after an appellate court lifted a two-yearold injunction imposed because
of
mad cow disease.
5
The
first shipments from Canada
could arrive at
American
slaughterhouses as
early as
next week, Agriculture Secretary
Mike Johanns
said in
a
conference call with reporters.
Officials
in
Canada
and the United
States
are
coordinating how to
certify
the animals
for shipment,
he said. 6
“We
want to
make sure everything is
in
place,”
he
said. “If thingsgo well, it could
very well be next
week.”
7
The
news sent shares
of
the beef producer Tyson
Foods and McDonald’s restaurants surging.
Cattle prices fell.
Shares
of
Tyson rose 7.5 percent
in
early trading,
and closed
at
$19.47
a
share,
a
5
percent
increase, while McDonald’s closed
at
$30.99
a
share,
up 4.7 percent.
8
Tyson’s beef business recorded a
loss of
$19 million
in
the quarter
ended April 2.
The company was hurt
by the ban on cattle from Canada,
which increased costs
and led to
temporary plant closings.
Before
the ban,
Canada supplied about 5
percent
of
the nation’s
beef.
9
A United
States
appeals
court ruled on Thursday in
favor of
the government, which
had argued
that
Canadian cows under 30 months
of
age did not
pose a
risk ofbovine
spongiform encephalopathy, or
mad
cow disease.
10 Opening paragraphs from the July 15
globeandmail.com
story by Terry Weber,
time stamped
12:28 p.m.:
The United
States
is
taking
immediate steps to
reopen
the border
to
Canadian cattle imports,
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns
said Friday.
11
During a
webcast, Mr. Johanns
said that Washington has
been in
touch with Ottawa
and that the two sides are
now going through
the logistical steps necessary to
resume
trade of
live cattle for the first time since May,
2003.
12
“Our hope is
we’re talking
about days and not weeks,”
he said. “If
thingsgo well,
it
could very well be next
week, but we have not set a
specific
date.”
13
Late
Thursday, a
three-member U.S. appeal
court
panel in
Seattle
overturned a
temporary injunction
issued
by Montana Judge Richard
Cebull
halting
the U.S.
Department
of
Agriculture’s
March plan
to
reopen the
border. 14
Judge Cebull
had sided with U.S. ranchers group R-Calf in
its
argument that reopening the border
exposed
U.S.
ranchers and consumers to
unnecessary
risks from madcow disease.
The USDA had been planning to
ease restrictions
by allowing cattle younger
than 30 months
to
be
imported. 15
Mr.
Johanns
noted that Canadian officials
had already
anticipated the ruling and taken steps to
meet U.S.
requirements,
should
Thursday’s favor reopening
the
border. 16
“It
[the reopening] could be as
early as
next week, but
we want to
make sure everything is
in
place,”
he
said. 17
Those requirements,
he said, including ensuring that
animals
being imported into
the U.S. meet minimal-risk
rule criteria,
getting
documents to
U.S. customs
to
confirm
the
shipments
are
appropriate for entry.
18
Opening paragraphs from the July 15 Omaha
World-Herald
story by Chris Clayton:
Canadian cattle could start arriving
at
U.S. feedlots
and
meatpacking
plants
as
early as
next week, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns
said
Friday.
19
Thursday’s
unanimous decision
by the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of
Appeals lifting
a
lower court’s
injunction gives
U.S. and Canadian officials
a
nearly
twoweek
window
to
begin shipping
live cattle from Canada
before
another
court hearing,
scheduled late this
month
in
Montana. 20
No
date has been set, but Johanns
said he will
move as
“expeditiously
as possible” to
begin importing
Canadian cattle once officials
work out the ground rules.
Canadian and USDA officials
anticipated the requirements
would
be in place
at
whatever time the legal
issues were resolved. 21
“Our hope is
we are talking
about days, not weeks,”
Johanns
said. “It could be as
early as
next week, but
we want to
make sure everything is
in
place….
If
things
go well, it
could very well be next week, but we
haven’t
set a
specific date”
[ellipsis
in
the
original]. 22
Johanns has lamented the closed
border
since becoming
agriculture secretary in late January,
saying
that it
hurts
U.S. cattle feeders
and meatpackers
because the United
States
continued to
import
boxed
beef from
Canada.
23
Higher cattle prices because
of
tight supplies
caused
meatpackers
to
scale
back production at
U.S. facilities. Industry
officials
claim to
have lost as
many as
8,000
meatpackingjobs
because of
the
closed border.
24
“I’m
just worried
that many of
those jobs were impacted
in
a
very permanent way,” Johanns
said. “My hope is
that restructuring
now will be abated
and this
industry
can start getting
back to
a
normal
flow of
commerce here.”
25
About 1
million
cattle were imported from Canada
in
the year before
the border closed
in
May 2003
when Canada
reported its
first case of
mad-cow
disease,
or
bovine
spongiform encephalopathy. 26
AT ISSUE: SOURCES
PLAGIARISM
1. Identify
the
you think are
story.
passages
too close
in
to
FOR UNDERSTANDING
the
the
New York Times story that
original
Bloomberg News
2. Identify
passages in
the other two excerpts
that
convey
the same information as
the Times story
(paraphrased
or
summarized).
3. In
his introduction,
Shafer
says that the passages
from the Toronto
Globe and Mail and the Omaha
World-Herald
are “starkly
different” from the Bloomberg
News story. Do you agree?
4. Can
or
are
you identify
any passages in
the Globe and Mail
Omaha
WorldHerald
excerpts
that you believe
too close to
the original
source?
5. On
the basis of
Shafer
that the
plagiarism? Explain
what you see here, do
New York Times reporter
your conclusion.
you agree with
is
guilty of
This essay appeared
2004.
the
September 3,
in
LAWRENCE
M.
HOW
TO FIGHT
Washington Post on
HINMAN
COLLEGE
CHEATING
Recent
studies
have shown
that a
steadily
growing
number
of
students cheat or plagiarize
in
college—
and the data from high schools
suggest
that this number
will continue to
rise. A
study by Don McCabe
of
Rutgers
University showed
that 74
percent
of
high
school
students admitted to
one or
more instances
of
serious cheating on tests. Even more disturbing is
the
way that many students define cheating and plagiarism. For
example, they believe
that cutting
and pasting
a
few sentences
from various
Web sources
without
attribution is
not
plagiarism.
1
Before the Web, students certainly plagiarized—but they had
to
plan ahead to do so. Fraternities and sororities
often had files of
term papers,
and some
high-tech term-paper firms could fax papers
to
students.
Overall,
however, plagiarism
required forethought.
2
Online term-paper sites changed
all
that. Overnight, students
could order a term
paper,
print it
out, and have it
ready for class in
the morning—and
still get a good
night’s
sleep. All they needed
was a
charge
card
and an Internet
connection.
3
One
response to
the increase
in
cheating has been
to
fight technology with more technology. Plagiarism-checking
sites provide
a
service
to
screen
student papers.
They offer a
color-coded report
on papers
and the
original
sources
from which the students might have
copied.
Colleges
qualify
for volume
discounts, which
encourages professors to
submit
whole
classes’
worthof
papers—the academic equivalent of
mandatory urine
testing
for athletes. 4
The
technological
battle between term-paper mills and
anti-plagiarism services will undoubtedly
continue to
escalate, with each side constructing
more elaborate
countermeasures to
outwit
the other.
The cost of
both plagiarism and its
detection will also undoubtedly
continue to
spiral.5
“The cost of
both plagiarism and its
undoubtedly
continue to spiral.”
detection
will
also
But
there is
another
way. Our first and most important
line of
defense
against academic dishonesty is
simply
good teaching. Cheating and plagiarism often arise in
a
vacuum
created
by routine,
lack of
interest,
and
overwork. Professors who give the same assignment every
semester, fail to
guide students in
the development of
their projects, and have little interest
in
what the
students have to say contribute to
the academic
environment
in
which much cheating and
plagiarism
occurs. 6
Consider,
by way of
contrast, professors who know their
students and who give assignments
that require
regular,
continuing interaction with them about their projects—
and who require
students to
produce
work that is
a
meaningful development
of
their own interests. These
professors create
an environment
in which
cheating
and plagiarism are far less likely to
occur.
In
this
context,
any plagiarism
would
usually
be
immediately
evident
to
the professor, who would see
it
as
inconsistent with the rest of
the student’s
work. A
strong,
meaningful
curriculum taught
by committed professors is
the first and
most important defense
against
academic dishonesty. 7
The
second
remedy
is
to
encourage the
development
of
integrity
in
our students.
A
sense of
responsibility
about one’s intellectual development
would preclude cheating and plagiarizing as
inconsistent with
one’s identity.
It
is precisely this sense of
individual
integrity
that schools
with honorcodes seek to
promote.
8
Third, we must encourage our students to
perceive the
dishonesty of
their classmates as
something that causes
harm to
the many students who play by the rules. The
argument that cheaters hurt only themselves is
false.
Cheaters do hurt other people,
and they do so
to
help themselves. Students cheat because
it
works. They get
better
grades
and more advantages with less effort.
Honest
students lose
grades,
scholarships,
recommendations,
and admission to
advanced programs.
Honest
students must create
enough
peer pressure
to
dissuade
potential cheaters. Ultimately, students must be willing
step forward
and confront
those who engage
in
academic dishonesty. 9
Addressing these issues is
not a
luxury
that can
postponed until a
more convenient time. It
is
a
step from dishonesty in
schools
and colleges
to
dishonesty in
business. It
is
doubtful that students
fail to
develop
habits
of integrity and honesty
still in
an academic setting
are likely to
do
once they are out in
the “real” world.
Nor is
likely that adults
will stand up against the dishonesty
others,
particularly fellow
workers
and superiors,
they do not develop the habit of
doing so
while still
school.
10
AT ISSUE: SOURCES
PLAGIARISM
to
be
short
who
while
so
it
of
if
in
FOR UNDERSTANDING
1. In
the first five paragraphs of
this essay,Hinman
provides background on how
plagiarism by students has
been changed
by the Internet. Summarize the plagiarism
situation before
and after the development
of
the
Internet.
2. The
essay’s
thesis is
Restate
this thesis in
stated
in
paragraph 6.
your own words.
3. Does Hinman
view plagiarism-detection
solution
to
the problem of college
the limitations of
such sites?
4. According to
Hinman,
what steps can
(para. 7)
take to
eliminate academic
5. In
paragraphs 8
and
additional solutions to
What solutions does he
about college
students,
suggestions are realistic?
sites as
cheating?
a
What are
“committed professors”
dishonesty?
9,
Hinman
suggests two
the problem
of
plagiarism.
propose? Given what you know
do you think Hinman’s
Explain.
6. Hinman
does not address
arguments that challenge
recommendations. What
opposing arguments might he
presented? How would
you refute these
opposing
arguments?
his
have
7. This essay was published more than ten years ago. Do
think Hinman’s observations and recommendationsare still
valid? Why or
why not?
you
This article
is
from the
the New York Times.
of
TRIP
1,
2010, edition
GABRIEL
PLAGIARISM LINES
DIGITAL AGE
At
August
BLUR
FOR STUDENTS
IN
Rhode
Island College,
a
freshman copied
and
pasted
from a
Web site’s frequently asked questions page
about homelessness—and
did not think he needed to
credit a
source
in
his assignment because
the page
did not include author
information.
1
AtDePaul
University, the tip-off
to
one student’s
copying
was the purple shade
of
several
paragraphs
he had lifted from the Web; when confronted by a
writing
tutor his professor had sent him to, he was not
defensive—he
just wanted to know how to
change
purple
text to
black. 2
And
at
the University of
Maryland, a
student
reprimanded
for copying
from Wikipedia in
a
paper on the Great Depression said he thought
its
entries— unsigned
and collectively written—did
not need
to
be credited
since they counted,
essentially, as
common knowledge. 3
Professors
used to
deal with plagiarism by admonishing
students to
give credit to
others
and to
follow
the style guide for citations, and pretty
much left it at
that. 4
But
these cases—typical
ones, according to
writing
tutorsand officials responsible
for discipline at
the three
schools
who described the plagiarism— suggest
that
many students simply
do not grasp that using words
they did not write is
a
serious
misdeed. 5
It is
a
disconnect that is
growing
in
the Internet
age as
concepts of intellectual
property, copyright, and
originality are under assault
in
the unbridled exchange
of
online
information,
say educators who study
plagiarism. 6
Digital technology makes
copying
and pasting
easy, of
course.
But that is
the least of
it.
The Internet
may also be redefining how students—who came of
age
with music file-sharing, Wikipedia, and Web-linking—understand
the
concept
of
authorship
and the singularity
of any text or
image.
7
“Now we have a
whole
generation of
students
who’ve
grown
up with information that just seems
to
be hanging
out there in
cyberspace and doesn’t
seem to
have an author,”
said Teresa
Fishman, director
of
the Center
for Academic
Integrity
at
Clemson
University. “It’s possible
to
believe
this
information
is
just out there
for
anyone
to
take.” 8
Professors
who have studied
plagiarism do not try to
excuse
it—many are champions of
academic honesty
on their campuses—but rather
try to
understand why
it
is
so
widespread.
9
In surveys
from 2006 to
2010 by Donald
L.
McCabe,
a
co-founder of
the Center for Academic Integrity
and
a
business professor at
Rutgers
University,
about 40 percent
of
14,000
undergraduates admitted to
copying
a
few sentences in
written
assignments.
10
Perhaps more significant, the number
who believed
that
copying
from the Web constitutes “serious
cheating” is
declining—to
29 percent
on average
in recent
surveys
from 34 percent
earlier
in
the decade.
11
Sarah Brookover, a
senior
at
the Rutgers
campus
in
Camden, N.J., said many of
her classmates blithely
cut and paste without
attribution. 12
“This generation has always
existed
in
a
world
where
media
and intellectual property
don’t have the
same gravity,”
said Ms. Brookover, who at
31 is
older
than most undergraduates. “When
you’re
sitting
at
your
computer, it’s the same machine
you’ve
downloaded
music with, possibly
illegally,
the same machine you
streamed videos
for free that showed
on HBO last
night.”
13
Ms.
Brookover, who works at
the campus
library,
has
pondered the differences between researching in
the
stacksand online.
“Because you’re
not walking into a
library,
you’re
not physically holding
the article,
which takes you closer to
‘this doesn’t
belong
to
me,’” she said. Online,
“everything can belong to you
really easily.”
14
“Online,
‘everything can
A University of
disturbed by
belong
to
you really easily.’”
Notre Dame anthropologist, Susan D.
Blum,
the high
rates of
reported plagiarism, set
out to
understand how students view authorship and the
written
word, or
“texts”
in
Ms. Blum’s
academic
language.
15
She
conducted her ethnographic
research among
234
Notre Dame undergraduates. “Today’s students stand at
the
crossroads of
a
new way of conceiving
texts and the
people
who create
them and who quote them,”
she
wrotelast year in
the book My Word!
Plagiarism and
College
Culture,
published by
Cornell
University
Press. 16
Ms.
Blum argued
that student
writing
exhibits
some
of
the same qualities
of pastiche that drive other creative
endeavors today—TV shows
that constantly reference
other shows
or
rap music that samples
from earlier
songs.
17
In an interview, she said the idea of
an author
whose
singular
effort creates an original
work is
rooted
in
Enlightenment ideas of
the individual. It
is buttressed
by the Western concept
of
intellectual property rights as
secured
by copyright
law.
But both traditions are being challenged. “Our notion
of
authorship and originality was born, it
flourished, and it
may
be waning,” Ms.
Blum
said. 18
She
contends that undergraduates are less interested in
cultivating a
unique and authentic identity—as their 1960s
counterparts
were—than in
trying on many different
personas, which the Web enables
with social
networking.
19
“If
you are not so
worried
about presenting yourself
as
absolutely unique, then
it’s O.K. if
you say
other people’s
words,
it’s O.K. if
you say thingsyou
don’t believe,
it’s O.K. if
you write papers
you couldn’t
care less about because they
accomplish the task, which is
turning
something in
and getting
a
grade,” Ms.
Blum said, voicing
student
attitudes. “And it’s O.K. if
you put words
out there without
getting
any
credit.”
20
The
notion
that there might be a
new model
young
person,
who freely borrows from the vortex
of
information to
mash up a
new creative
work,
fueled
a brief
brouhaha earlier
this year with
Helene
Hegemann, a
German
teenager whose best-selling
novel about Berlin club life turned
out to
include
passages lifted from others.
21
Instead of
offering
an abject
apology, Ms. Hegemann
insisted,
“There’s
no such
thing as
originality anyway,
just authenticity.”
A
few critics rose to
her defense,
and the book remained a
finalist
for a
fiction
prize (but did not
win).
22
That
theory
does not wash with Sarah Wilensky, a
senior
at
Indiana University,
who said that relaxing
plagiarism standards “does not foster creativity, it
fosters
laziness.” 23
“You’re not coming
up with new ideas if
you’re
g…
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