Module 7: reading reflection

                                           My Views of Plagiarism in Online Writing Class

            What is plagiarism? Actually I knew nothing about it even when I was studying in high school. The first time I heard about it was when I was studying in university in China, but our teachers still didn’t mention much about it except for our degree paper. Until I came here, studying in MSU, I hear about it everywhere. “No plagiarism” functions as a warning in my mind every time I begin my writing, which keeps reminding me that if I have plagiarism in my paper, then I fail it.

However, I haven’t spent even one minute to do a research about it until today. The first thing I do is to find its definition offered by a website, which is “plagiarism is the "wrongful appropriation" and "stealing and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions" and the representation of them as one's own original work”. Then I read some materials, one is Turn it Down, Don't Turnitin: Resisting Plagiarism Detection Services by Talking About Plagiarism Rhetorically by Stephanie Vie, and the other is the chapter fifteen of Teaching Writing Online by Scott Warnock. After reading them, I have some questions in my mind: what is the relationship of plagiarism with the online writing class? What are the advantages and disadvantages of electronic plagiarism detection tools in online writing class? As an online writing teacher, what should we do to prevent plagiarism?

As stated in Teaching Writing Online, “if plagiarism is easier to commit because of the internet, it is also easier to catch because of the internet” (152-3), our students get more chances to cheat in writing since they are surrounded with technologies in online writing class, which means they get easier access to others’ writing. However, since everything is public on the internet, it is hard to detect students’ cheating if they “borrow” someone else’s writing. Maybe we can say the internet promotes and suppresses plagiarism at the same time. On the other hand, online writing teachers read much of students’ writing in online class, so they are familiar with students’ writing progress, which inspects students not to cheat because their teacher is clear about their writing level. Generally speaking, students have less tendency to plagiarize in the online writing environment.

            Although the tendency is less, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. In Turn it Down, Don't Turnitin: Resisting Plagiarism Detection Services by Talking About Plagiarism Rhetorically, Stephanie points out that “when a student is told that their paper will be compared with documents in that database, a student is then deterred from cheating,” which is one main function of electronic plagiarism detection tools. At the same time, when those detection websites gather writing from others, they make money as well because they offer service to us. Stephanie describes the phenomenon in such a way, “we are better able to examine some of the metaphors Turnitin uses to represent its attitudes toward writing, which thereby serve as windows into tension points that drive the business of higher education today.”  Take “Turnitin” for example, it has been critiqued from many aspects in the society: students object it for it make use of students’ copyrighted writing to make money; teachers object it for it creates tense relationships between teachers and students; institutions are unsatisfied with it for its high cost of service every year.

            Faced with the advantages and disadvantages of those plagiarism detection tools, online writing teachers should take advantage of them rather than discard them because they still have their place in teaching world. As Scott suggests, “technology tools have their place, but they should not supplant good teaching practices” (157), so the more important thing is that how teachers should behave when faced with students’ plagiarism. First, teachers should not take aggressive approaches when suspect it because some students don’t know they already plagiarized even they did it. What’s more, teachers should design intelligent and creative students for students where they can’t borrow or copy others’ writing.  Also teachers should pay close attention to students’ work to learn about their process and how they revise it so that students don’t have chances to cheat them.

            It is a common sense that all students want to keep away from plagiarism in their academic life,  teachers have the responsibility to help them in keep students’ academic integrity by educating them about “plagiarism,” rather than test students’ writing like computer detection system with distrust.

Works Cited

Vie, Stephanie. Turn it Down, Don't Turnitin: Resisting Plagiarism Detection Services by Talking About Plagiarism Rhetorically. N.p., 2013. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

Warnock, Scott. Teaching Writing Online: How and Why. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 2009. 152-7. Print.