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<\/a>\u201cIn my term as chair, and it\u2019s been five years now, I have not had a situation go beyond me,\u201d says Wong. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to resolve it at the chair level. I\u2019m really trying to think hard and I cannot think of an incident involving plagiarism where it went beyond me and I had to refer it to the dean. Maybe [plagiarism is] on the rise, but it\u2019s not going beyond me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boraas says that while it\u2019s rare, there are occasions where students decide to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the appeals process for grade changes, and all of that kind of stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just within the spirit of fairness, which means that if a student has a complaint they first go to the faculty member. If it isn\u2019t resolved there, it goes to the chair. If it isn\u2019t resolved there, it goes to the dean. And if it isn\u2019t resolved there, the final appeal comes to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s speculation, says Boraas, but he has little doubt that English faculty would say that plagiarism is on the rise. However, after a year and a half as English department chair, Kristine Kerins says that she can\u2019t say for sure whether or not it is on the rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnecdotally, yes,\u201d says Kerins. \u201cDo we have any hard statistics on it? No. We\u2019re starting to track it better, but I don\u2019t have any hard numbers for you. It is the impression of my faculty that it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a set of guidelines that Kerins says outlines what the college understands to be the various forms of plagiarism, and what can happen to a student if they\u2019re caught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe make it very clear, but a lot of students assume that plagiarism is handing in someone else\u2019s work and slapping their name on it,\u201d says Kerins. \u201cThings get greyer as you move down the list. Sometimes it\u2019s just getting a little snippet from another source. Sometimes it\u2019s getting too much help from a tutor or proofreader, and then it\u2019s not officially your work. It can become a collaborative effort in the last situation. We see examples of all of these.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kerins says that, to some extent, beyond the college there has been a shift in the way we exchange ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the information age,\u201d says Kerins. \u201cThings are constantly being repeated, retweeted, and borrowed from other people in other areas of our communication with each other. It seems okay in the social media world, but, academically, things get sticky. We need to know where students get ideas, let alone where they get their words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wong says he thinks it\u2019s everywhere; the difference is that sometimes there\u2019s intent, and sometimes there isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s all over the place,\u201d he says. \u201cHow to properly cite and give credit for work, or how you shouldn\u2019t use the same work in two different courses, or you shouldn\u2019t copy each other\u2019s ideas. It goes on and on. Those are the ones that we are dealing with for the most part. I think we encounter every range of possibility under the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes students think they\u2019re helping each other out, Wong says, but there is a line where help becomes plagiarism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOther students may copy or paraphrase part of [another student\u2019s work], not knowing that the instructors are reading all of their stuff,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we see two similar paragraphs or two similar works, it\u2019s likely someone wrote it and someone copied it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Camosun College Student Society student services director Michael Glover says that it\u2019s important that people\u2019s work is their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cObviously it\u2019s important within the college and university world that people are sharing their own ideas and not just replicating others\u2019, even self-plagiarism, which really is pretty new in the academic world,\u201d says Glover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSelf-plagiarism\u201d is a phrase that is tossed around more and more these days. Interestingly, Karins says that it isn\u2019t on the college\u2019s list of forms of plagiarism, but it is something her department encounters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUsually, it\u2019s students wanting to recycle their work,\u201d she says. \u201cFor example, say a student wrote a similar essay for anthropology, and they want to use it as a research paper in 151. There are times when a student can basically get a sign-off from both instructors, and basically say, \u2018I\u2019d like to use some of this research again,\u2019 and then bring that to the other instructor. Some instructors may say you can use some sources again if you\u2019re remodelling, but that\u2019s on a case-by-case situation. Otherwise, you are contractually obliged to meet the course requirements and produce original material. No instructor would say you can hand in a paper again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something Wong is seeing and dealing with, informally for the most part, are issues to do with plagiarism and international students. A lot of the problems seen recently, Glover says, stem from a lack of understanding of what \u201cplagiarism\u201d means in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom a North American perspective that\u2019s a really important thing, but that\u2019s also cultural, so that\u2019s where we run into some big problems, having such a high international student population,\u201d says Glover. \u201cCertainly there are a lot of Canadian students who are tempted by the internet and the ability to access information, but there are also a lot of international students who come and don\u2019t understand the exacting rules.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have an educational system that Boraas says is influenced by western European models that are very different from education models in China, India, or South America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStudents come in with different understandings of how to proceed with their work,\u201d says Boraas. \u201cMost cases I really do believe are areas where we need to do a better job of teaching the realities of what good academic practice is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As an advocate for students, Glover says that it\u2019s very important to take a student\u2019s intent into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf it looks like it\u2019s a misunderstanding or a cultural miss, we would make that argument and say, \u2018This person has been here for four months and we haven\u2019t had time to do the education piece from Camosun\u2019s point of view,\u2019 and make sure that the student knows what plagiarism is in a North American environment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From time to time Glover is asked to advocate on behalf of a student who feels that the process is unfair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMost issues are dealt with between the student and instructor,\u201d says Glover. \u201cI think most of the time they can work it out. The instructor tries to find a punishment that fits the crime. If a student rips off an entire paper from the internet, or they don\u2019t do their citing properly, those are two completely different things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Probably the biggest problem, Glover says, is inconsistency in how infractions are dealt with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere we run into problems is when instructors seem to overreact,\u201d says Glover. \u201cA couple of citing errors might be laziness or ignorance, but that\u2019s not necessarily wilful plagiarism. We want the punishment to equal out. Can you prove that someone was wilfully trying to steal? That\u2019s what we\u2019re interested in. What\u2019s really going on and why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all cases, the student society\u2019s interest, Glover says, is to get the student back into class. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for restoration of trust, and to get the student back on the path,\u201d he says. \u201cWe are always going to advocate in the best interest of the student, and sometimes it is in the best interest to say, \u2018We\u2019re sorry. How can we make restitution?\u2019 Or if we feel that there has been an overreaction or there is something else going on we\u2019ll advocate for that. We are always trying to act in the best interest, depending on the situation, and then try to get the student back in class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Camosun is an educational institution, after all, so what can be done to better equip students to succeed? Boraas says he is completely committed to ensuring that students leave Camosun with the skills and capability to be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPart of that is understanding how to work ethically and how to acknowledge other people\u2019s work,\u201d says Boraas. \u201cI\u2019m also committed to us taking an approach to academic standards that is about giving students every opportunity to learn the skills necessary, and not initially take a punishing perspective. We are an educational institution first and foremost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instructors can talk about plagiarism issues more in class, says Wong, or bring in a librarian to talk about proper citation and formatting, what\u2019s copying and what\u2019s not, and the definition of \u201cplagiarism.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSometimes students don\u2019t know that using the same work for two different classes isn\u2019t allowed,\u201d he says. \u201cThey just don\u2019t know. I\u2019ve talked to students in the past who just had no clue. Maybe, since we\u2019re an educational institution, we should start there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is incredibly important, says Wong, that instructors lead by example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe other thing is modelling some of that,\u201d says Wong. \u201cOn my PowerPoint slides I use quotes from somebody and cite it. I\u2019m trying to model to the class that I\u2019m the instructor and I can\u2019t just take someone\u2019s idea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wong says that he\u2019s not sure why sometimes people give credit and sometimes they don\u2019t with citations. They may have forgotten, says Wong, or they were well-intentioned but they didn\u2019t know how to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is another resource in the library that students can use,\u201d says Wong. \u201cThere is all kinds of information available. It\u2019s all there. I guess at this point it\u2019s about pointing students in the right direction, even if you\u2019ve heard it before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Camosun director of learning services Sybil Harrison says she thinks sometimes there is not a full appreciation for what librarians and the people in the Writing Centre can do to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think what\u2019s happening in the class is the responsibility of the instructors, but there is other expertise around this that isn\u2019t always used,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is a whole area of digital scholarship. I really do believe we need to spend more time on informational literacy. As a librarian, that\u2019s my professional background. We need to teach students why we are doing things, not just jumping into mechanics and the differences between MLA and APA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Camosun libraries at both campuses are open seven days a week, and there are a number of online supports available to students around the clock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is always someone here who is available to help a student,\u201d says Harrison. \u201cThe Writing Centre books one-on-one appointments for help with academic writing consultants. We\u2019re participating in a provincial service called Askaway, so if a student can\u2019t come in and they have a citation question, they can ask online. We have online guides, which we update all the time to keep them relevant and current.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s absolutely critical, says Kerins, that academic integrity is maintained at Camosun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEspecially in the era of fake news, it\u2019s important to be able to properly identify sources of information,\u201d says Kerins. \u201cIt\u2019s becoming, arguably, more and more important, since it\u2019s harder and harder to know what to believe. Holding ourselves accountable when we write is the first step to holding others accountable when we read things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harrison says that Camosun needs to talk about information literacy and be critical of what information sources students are using, as well as what tools students are using to keep track of resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn this day and age there is so much fake news, and we need to be really critical information consumers and thoughtful information creators,\u201d she says. \u201cI think we still have a long way to go as educators. I think they are doing a pretty good job in Grade 8 and 9, but we sort of lose track of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wong says that he has gone to workshops about how to prevent plagiarism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the things I remember is that, as instructors, we should try to craft assignments such that it isn\u2019t so general that students can find the information and copy and paste,\u201d he says. \u201cMy assignments are very specific. You can\u2019t just look it up on the internet and find it. As an instructor, I try to put students in a situation where they have to do the work, rather than looking for the information somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every student has to take English 151; Glover says they should be learning about plagiarism there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey should be going through that course early. I think it\u2019s also important for the instructors to focus on why this is happening more and more. We have students now that work full- or part-time jobs and take full- or part-time school simultaneously, and the pressures on students to cheat are visceral. Where do you give and take in your life? As the cost of tuition goes up, and as the cost of rent goes up, the temptation to cheat will go up. It\u2019s good, everywhere a college can, to take pressure off of students. That may mean instructors, hopefully, understanding that workloads need to be realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harrison says she thinks sometimes we have an expectation that if people have graduated high school they should know about academic writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think sometimes assignments set students up for inadvertent plagiarism,\u201d says Harrison. \u201cYears ago, I heard a really good presentation at a conference from an instructor who, rather than an annotated bibliography, got students to write a reflective bibliography. Her emphasis was about engaging with those academic articles, and how you are able to engage with them, and perhaps come up with your own ideas on the subject of them. There are other examples out there, but I think we need to revisit the approach we take to research papers. I should be careful about this, because my colleagues in the English department will probably shudder hearing me say this, but we\u2019ve been using that standard for so long. Is that really where we need to be in the 21st century? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At times we\u2019ve seen dramatic shifts, says Harrison, and it\u2019s likely about how the tools available change the landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think we go through ups and downs where things become more apparent,\u201d says Harrison. \u201cFor example, around 1995 when we began cutting and pasting\u2014that made it easier for people to do. On the flip side of that, you can hand me a piece of writing, and I can cut and paste it into Google and see if it comes from somewhere else. It is a bit of both sides. Perhaps it wasn\u2019t as easy to see before. I do not believe that students are more dishonest or have less integrity than students before them. I think it\u2019s the context and the environment we are operating in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boraas says that UVic and some of the larger institutions are using computer programs to detect plagiarism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is software like Turnitin,\u201d says Boraas, \u201cand papers are submitted through that platform and then analyzed for common plagiarism. It\u2019s a database of all kinds of papers, including ones that are available on the web for sale. We have not gone down that path, and partly because as a college our first inclination or effort is about the teaching\/learning experience. It\u2019s certainly worthy of a conversation but at this point we have not chosen that kind of a path. As with anything, if the issue becomes more problematic we\u2019ll revisit the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Academic integrity is the foremost concern, says Wong. He says that once we allow academic integrity to degrade, all is lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we allow that to happen, then we start wondering about the academic journals and expert testimony\u2014everything is in jeopardy,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t know if students think about that when they are in the middle of plagiarizing or if it\u2019s just, \u2018Deadline, gotta get it in.\u2019 Maybe they are just getting sloppy. I don\u2019t know if it dawns on them. It\u2019s a good question to ask. I bet if you asked students off the record and they admitted to it, they wouldn\u2019t say they were worried about academic integrity collapsing. They are probably thinking about deadlines and grades and work, and they forget how important the whole structure is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to several people I\u2019ve spoken to, plagiarism is on the rise at Camosun College. Camosun\u2019s Academic Honesty Guidelines list four levels of infraction, ranging from inadvertent plagiarism\u2014which is penalized as the instructor sees fit\u2014to unacceptable infractions, which could result in the dean removing the student from their program or even the college. I wanted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-february-6-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17079,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17078\/revisions\/17079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}