Plagiarism and Intellectual Property Across Cultures Ohio TESOL October 30, 2009

1. Plagiarism and Intellectual Property across Cultures Joel Bloch jbloch10@gmail.comIvan Stefanostefano.4@osu.edu The Ohio State University

3. The Relationship between plagiarism and intercultural rhetoric

4. The “Otherness” of the International Student Getty Images

5. Involves subtle differences between what is the relationship between imitation and creativity that can be transmitted by culture and can positively or negatively affect L2 writing Getty Images

6. Creating a Pedagogy for Teaching about Plagiarism Getty Images

7. The Relationship between Intellectual Property Law and Plagiarism Getty Images

8. Extend the research and get students involved in this debate Getty Images

10. Both developed in response to historical changes in how authorship developed.

11. Both evolved over the last 300 years in response to social, economic, and historical forces, which has lead to inevitable cultural differences as well as similarities.

12. Both have evolved with local differences, often reflecting unique cultural practices.

13. Both have been institutionalized in both law and practice and then “pushed” down on users, without necessarily considering local needs or customs.

14. Both share metaphors that deal with often horrific criminal activities

15. Both have been criticized for stifling creative and pedagogical innovation.

17. Plagiarism cases at a large Midwestern university from 2000-2001 through 2008-2009 Source: COAM

18. Getty Images Data on Attitudes towards students on plagiarism and intellectual property

20. Attitudes of Graduate Teaching Assistants towards Intellectual Property and Plagiarism

21. Attitudes of Staff towards Intellectual Property and Plagiarism

23. Data Sources Questionnaire 33 questions Undergraduate and graduate students from all levels (n=239) Two focus groups One with GTAs (new teachers) One with staff members (course coordinators) An interview with the coordinator of the Committee of Academic Misconduct (COAM)

24. Low Degrees of Agreement among Students Q. 9You published a paper with a friend. Now you want to hand in the paper to another course on a similar topic. You copy a couple of paragraphs and paste into your new paper. Your professor accuses you of plagiarism. Do you agree with this decision? No, when I write a paper, it belongs to me, and I can do whatever I want with it. (n=89) Yes, plagiarizing yourself is the same as plagiarizing someone else, so the punishment is justified. (n=68) No, you can’t plagiarize yourself, so he shouldn’t have been accused, but it may be a violation of the rules of academic misconduct. (n=81)

25. Low Degrees of Agreement among Students Q. 25You are a writing a paper and you copy a few words from another paper. Do you think this kind of copying is considered plagiarism? Copying even a few words is considered plagiarism. (n=95) Copying a few words is only plagiarism if the words are very important. (n=61) Copying a few words doesn’t matter. (n=82)

26. Low Degrees of Agreement among Students Q. 15In a peer discussion group, you were asked to discuss your paper with your classmates before you started writing it. One of the members of your group gave you an interesting idea. Do you need to cite the idea in your paper just as you would cite a quotation from a paper? Yes, cite your group member’s idea just as you would cite any other source. (n=88) No, you don’t need to cite it since the idea was never published. (n=59) Put a footnote thanking your group member for the idea. (n=90)

27. High Degrees of Agreement among Students Q. 16You suspect that one of your professors has taken something you wrote for a course. Is this considered plagiarism? No, it’s not considered plagiarism since you were a student in the class. (n=167) Yes, it’s considered plagiarism and you can report it to the Academic Misconduct Committee. (n=26) It doesn’t matter. It’s considered plagiarism but you can not do anything about it. (n=43)

28. High Degrees of Agreement among Students Q. 23You pay another student to write a research paper. What do you think about doing this? Paying another student doesn’t matter. Writing these papers isn’t important to me. (n=193) Since presidents and businessmen pay people to write for them, students can do it too. (n=32) Handing in a paper you bought is the same as copying a paper – you are trying to deceive your teacher. (n=12)

29. Agreement between Teachers and Students Q. 8A student was accused of copying a paragraph from his textbook and including it in a much longer paper. He was sent to the Office of Academic Misconduct. What do you think should be the appropriate penalty? Since, the student copied without citing, he should be treated like any other plagiarist. (students=95) Since it was only a small amount, he should only be warned but not given a harsh penalty. (students=107) Since what is in textbooks is usually common knowledge, the student did not commit plagiarism. (students=36)

30. Agreement between Teachers and Students Q. 13In your course, you are asked to write a research paper. You are new in the field, and much of what you know is from textbooks. This information is called common knowledge. How should you handle this kind of information in your paper? Cite it the same as it was any other kind of literature. (students=98) You don’t need to cite it because it is common knowledge and belongs to everyone. (students=59) Cite it because it makes for a stronger argument in your paper. (students=80)

31. Disagreement between Teachers and Students Q. 4Can you also plagiarize images as well as texts? No, plagiarism refers only to copying texts, not anything else. (students=164) Yes, if you use an image in a paper, you should cite it just like a text. (students=49) Maybe, sometimes images are cited, but sometimes they don’t need to be. (students=26)

32. Disagreement between Teachers and Students Q. 14You find a reference to an interesting article cited in another article you are reading. You can't find a copy of the original article, but you want to cite it anyway. This is called a secondary citation. What should you do? Cite it just as if you had read it. (students=162) Cite it but mention the article you read it in. (students=36) Don’t cite it unless you can find the original article to make sure you don’t misquote it. (students=40)

36. Implications for Research Learn more about faculty attitudes towards plagiarism Getty Images

37. Implications for Pedagogy Designed a course focusing on plagiarism Read a series of articles about plagiarism Summarize, synthesize, and argue about plagiarism Use data for research paper Blog about Plagiarizing Grammar exercises and exams about plagiarizing.