Addressing plagarism at Laurier

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(Graphic by Lena Yang)

Turnitin.com is a plagiarism detection service which many university professors and instructors require students submit their work to in an effort to check for plagiarism. But does Turnitin address the source of the problem and is there something more to plagiarism than perhaps students realize?

According to Bob Samuels, manager of the Writing Centre at Laurier, it should ideally be used as an โ€œafter-the-factโ€ tool rather than a solution to the problem of academic misconduct such as plagiarism.

โ€œI think itโ€™s really important to put Turnitin into its proper context,โ€ Samuels explained. โ€œItโ€™s one piece and itโ€™s sort of a last resortโ€ฆFor an educational institution like a university, I would say itโ€™s not our first approachโ€”it shouldnโ€™t be our dominant approach.โ€

Samuels added that she doesnโ€™t think this is Laurierโ€™s main method of addressing plagiarism.

In fact, some professors have been utilizing Turnitin as a tool in other ways to assist with learning.

Daniel Martin, assistant professor of English at Laurier, uses Turnitin to check for the percentage of quotations in his studentsโ€™ essays.

โ€œ[I use Turnitin] to check for originality of ideas,โ€ he explained. โ€œTo see if students are developing their own ideas or if theyโ€™re hoping that if they have a lot of quotations they can build up a word count.โ€

Martin shared his philosophy about plagiarism: that he believes it is a problem with teaching and not with the students.

โ€œI donโ€™t feel I have a plagiarism problem in my classrooms,โ€ he said. โ€œAnd I donโ€™t think itโ€™s a coincidence. I think itโ€™s because Iโ€™ve set a bunch of policies in place, Iโ€™ve created assignments that actually work towards eliminating plagiarism or even the potential for plagiarism.โ€

He explained that he designs assignments that will help students learn how to develop their own ideas and incorporate sources so that there is no reason for them to resort to plagiarism and no opportunity for them to accidently use it.

Samuels believes that instruction such as this is often missing in the university setting.

โ€œStudents are aware that [Turnitin] is a punitive approach, that there is some sort of punishment if they do something wrong,โ€ she said. ย ย  ย ย ย  ย โ€œBut thereโ€™s not a lot of explanation about what exactly it is theyโ€™re doing wrong. So students get this sense of fear but theyโ€™re not quite sure why that is.โ€

According to Michael Ackerman, disability consultant at Accessible Learning and a contract academic staff in the English department at WLU, plagiarism is about far more than deterring cheating and doling out punishments.

โ€œItโ€™s not about the punitive: Iโ€™m going to give you these consequences if you break this rule,โ€ he said. โ€œItโ€™s about โ€˜donโ€™t sell yourself shortโ€™. Donโ€™t give up the chance to speak in your own voice and give me your own ideas.โ€

โ€œI at least try to communicate what I think the big issue is there โ€” itโ€™s not about a punishment model. Itโ€™s about a surrender model. Donโ€™t give that up,โ€ Ackerman continued.

The universityโ€™s way of dealing with academic misconduct continues to grow. Recently, the positions of academic integrity advisors- one for Brantford and one for Waterloo were created as a new way to address academic misconduct at Laurier.

โ€œAs an academic integrity advisor, I see my role as helping to educate the students as to what academic integrity is,โ€ explained Judy Eaton, advisor for the Laurier Brantford campus.

โ€œBecause sometimes they donโ€™t understand what it is either.โ€

Their role will also provide support to faculty in the same manner. However, this role will be taking shape in coming months.

According to Lea Caragata, the advisor for Waterloo campus, creating a culture of integrity at Laurier is important.

โ€œThatโ€™s how students and faculty can work together to make sure we have a culture of integrity on campus. And I think thatโ€™s in everyoneโ€™s interest,โ€ she said.

With this in mind, there are various resources available to students to learn about plagiarism and academic misconduct such as speaking with professors, reading the student handbook, meeting with an academic advisor, or booking an appointment at the Writing Centre.

โ€œItโ€™s important for all students to be aware and proactive about learning the things that they need to learn,โ€ Samuels noted.

โ€œBecause once these academic misconduct investigations start, theyโ€™re hard to step back fromโ€ฆThereโ€™s a lot of opportunity to learn how to avoid that whole problem.โ€


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