While reading both of the chapters by Howard and the article by Robillard, I started to think back to my years as an undergrad and the papers that I would write. I was always careful to credit all of the lines that I would borrow from others, always for fear of this thing called plagiarism. I didn't really understand that there were different degrees of this p-word, just that I knew that I didn't want to be the one who was caught using an author's words without giving the credit that was due to him or her. Oh, and I also "knew" that as long as I rewrote what was said by someone else, that was usually okay. Following these "guidelines," I felt that I wouldn't be sent packing from this great institution.
This rewriting of words and direct quoting with credit was the way of the undergraduate world. None of what I wrote was ever really original. I was learning and showing that I was learning by what I put on the paper. What I put on the paper came from the course reader, the professor, or the book that was written by the professor.
I think back to times when I worked on large-scale projects in my business classes, where we collaborated by each writing different sections and coming together to edit all of the 50-100 pages. These were always a blast to edit and revise. If ever I had doubts about my writing, these were put to rest after reading some of my group mates' work. I am sure that some sort of p-word violation must have occurred somewhere in those "original" works.
During my Master's studies, I know that I must have matured and was more vigilant about using others' words. At least my research was original, or was it? Had I taken those ideas about teaching a non-white centric curriculum of U.S. history from someone else? Was that illegal without giving due credit?
Even as we blog for these classes and comment on what we've read, I ponder the p-word. It seemed so cut and dry during my undergrad years, but I feel more than a little naive when I think of how we as a society are "unconsciously" committing degrees of the p-word more than we think.
My Blog List
-
-
Y'all are the best!14 years ago
-
-
Questions for Harry and Heather and You14 years ago
-
Final Project15 years ago
-
-
-
5 comments:
I agree that the issue of plagiarism was so "cut and dry" and now, thanks to postmodernists who love to disrupt everything, I feel sort of disempowered by it all.
The "p-word." Nice. The world of the undergrad was cut and paste writing--true enough, and I agree that explaining back to the professor what he or she had taught was a process of the learning procedure. I would say that at times in the learning world there is then "assigned plagiarism," a test, for example.
Good personal connection, Josh: I could relate to this.
I like how Howard pointed out that the professors' lectures were as plagiarized as anything the students were turning it. It makes sense now, but I never even considered that back in the undergrad days.
Thanks for the feeback. It's nice to see that others had a similar experience in college.
I'm glad the multiplication tables are in the public domain and I don't have to credit someone every time I use them. Criminy! At what point is knowledge *ours* so that crediting it would be irrelevant? I mean, there's the idea of common knowledge, but do the five people in the world who understand string theory have to cite each other (and every scientific precedent) every time they talk? This doesn't seem like a useful understanding of plagiarism to me at all.
Post a Comment