I wonder how many start of term induction talks that threaten dire punishment for the commission of PLAGIARISM (a.k.a. Cheating; IP theft...) are going on this week?
Western academe protects its purity by exhorting students not to commit that most heinous crimes of
- daring to omit citations and references
- failing to paraphrase adequately
- Copying substantial quotes from the work of others (whether cited or not)
And you will be found out!
Through the 24 billion+ stored documents boasted by everyone's favourite text matching software, Turnitin, academics can spot crime and often use the "evidence" of the high "matching" score to punish wrongdoers.
Equally, how many academics recognise that actual cheating is very, very, very rare? and that timely intervention with appropriate academic skills training and practice can not only prevent plagiarism but can also boost independent learning and cognitive development in a way that purely subject based fare cannot?
So, academics. Get off your moral high-ground and realise that your world is alien to most students entering HE or FE, they need to be trained, acclimitised and nurtured, not caught, punished and humiliated.
And an exhortation NOT to plagiarise emitted during a packed induction day alongside orientation advice about the nearest coffee machine or lavatory is simply a cop out.
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