How to deal with plagiarism

Work Teaching English in Taiwan
1

This may have been discussed already, but I can’t find anything using the search function.

I teach English to a class of (adult) scientists at one of the top academic institutes in Taipei. One of my class has just handed in an assignment copied word for word from a newspaper (I thought that the English seemed too good and did a google on the first line).

Any tips on how to deal with this? Her boss is in the class, so I don’t want to come down to hard on her, but I can’t help her out with English if she’s copying it from the web.

Thanks in advance for any help.

2

She obviously has little respect for you if she’s doing that.

A quiet word after class, return her assignment, with a printout of the article she copied stapled to the back and a fail mark. That should teach her. Boss doesn’t need to know.

You could offer her the chance to do it again, if you’re feeling kind.

3

I think its just stupidity…

Quite right. Doing this will not lose her face. Something that is important here.

The right thing would be to give her a chance to do the assignment again, so forget the fail mark.

If she does it again then out her in front of the Boss…

4

Actually, you didn’t mention if these assignment count for anything. I mean do they need to pass the course for work or anything?

Roach, you’re right, it IS stupidity, but I still think it shows little respect. I also agree that a fail mark is not necessary in this case.

5

No marks or anything, the assignments are just a chance for them to practice their writing skills. So why cheat? I don’t get it.

6

Face.

7

I agree.

8

Off the top of my head:

A quiet word after class, return her assignment, with a printout of the article she copied stapled to the back and a fail mark. That should teach her. Boss doesn’t need to know. Doing this will not lose her face. Something that is important here.

You could offer her the chance to do it again, if you’re feeling kind. The right thing would be to give her a chance to do the assignment again, so forget the fail mark.

If she does it again then out her in front of the Boss…

Actually, you didn’t mention if these assignment count for anything. I mean do they need to pass the course for work or anything? No marks or anything, the assignments are just a chance for them to practice their writing skills. So why cheat? I don’t get it.

Just my NT$2-worth.

Stray Dog

9

Ha! I read that whole thing, you f*cker!

10

To offer another perspective -
Her actions may well reflect something that is considered the norm in Taiwanese business/scientific/research communities.

Of course its not a good thing, but it might be something she has previously done in her job that was completely acceptable.
This in no way should be construed as justifying or accepting her plageristic actions.

Just another opine.
I have seen things such as this in my Taiwanese business dealings.

11

too true, TC

plagiarism is just starting to be seen as a problem here. go to a few academic conferences, and you will hear presentations about what is currently happening, and opinions about first, whether plagiarism is a problem (now a minority hold this opinion), and second, what to do about it if it is deemed a problem.

ownership of ideas is seen differently, though it is slowly coming around to the western perspective. more and more profs are seeing it as a problem.

a few high level scholars were recently thrown out of their positions as they were found to have plagiarised. students often don’t hear anything about this until they reach a master’s level …

12

At NTU it appears that they take plagiarism pretty seriously, but that’s just based on my experience in the Chinese department … I’m not sure about the science and other departments where plagiarism could be a big problem. If find the requirements for citations and the such to be even more rigid than for research papers back in the States. There was even quite a bit of time allocated to the topic of how “it is bad and will get your ass failed if you plagiarize” in our “Research & Methodology” class. I just hope this trend will spread to the rest of Taiwan, as even most of my professors admit, plagiarism is a BIG problem here.

13

[quote=“Stray Dog”]A quiet word after class, return her assignment, with a printout of the article she copied stapled to the back and a fail mark. That should teach her. Boss doesn’t need to know. Doing this will not lose her face. Something that is important here.

You could offer her the chance to do it again, if you’re feeling kind. The right thing would be to give her a chance to do the assignment again, so forget the fail mark.

If she does it again then out her in front of the Boss…

Actually, you didn’t mention if these assignment count for anything. I mean do they need to pass the course for work or anything? No marks or anything, the assignments are just a chance for them to practice their writing skills. So why cheat? I don’t get it.[/quote]
Stray Dog, its quite clear that your post is blatant [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/how-to-deal-with-plagiarism/18365/12 :noway:

Kindly re-submit your post using original material by the end of the day. Otherwise I shall be forced to out you in front of the Boss… :sunglasses:

14

[quote=“gcat”]I teach English to a class of (adult) scientists at one of the top academic institutes in Taipei. One of my class has just handed in an assignment copied word for word from a newspaper (I thought that the English seemed too good and did a google on the first line).

Any tips on how to deal with this? Her boss is in the class, so I don’t want to come down to hard on her, but I can’t help her out with English if she’s copying it from the web.[/quote]

It depends on whether you taught them first what plagiarism is and informed them it is a serious offense. If you did that, then I would print out the source that she copied, staple it to her paper and return it to her with a big “F” on it, regardless of whether her boss is present. She’s a liar and thief and shouldn’t be coddled.

If you didn’t forewarn them, maybe another approach is justified, because TC is exactly right: plagiarism is rampant in Taiwan and I don’t believe many here are reaaally starting to take it seriously. Which is why it is your duty to teach them that it IS a serious offense. Maybe it’s now time to have a discussion of plagiarism in class. Distribute for discussion copies of news clippings about plagiarists losing their jobs or suffering other losses (in Taiwan or abroad), let them know how serious it is, and hopefully your one offender will squirm in her seat with embarassment (and will have learned a lesson).

Then if anyone does it again, copy the source, staple it to the students paper and return it with a big “F.”

15

I didn’t explicitly talk to them about plagiarism, because I figured that they’d know (they’re all really highly qualified academics).

I have come across lots of plagiarism problems in the law school at NTU though, so I should have outlined the issue more. (As an aside, I’m doing a graduate class on international intellectual property rights at NTU and my classmates a. copy without citation from the WTO website and b. copy my work. Crazy stuff!)

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I want to go softly as I’ve only just started with this class. I’ll copy some articles on plagiarism (as suggested) and then return her essay with the printout of the original and ask her to try again (as suggested).

16

[quote=“Roach”][quote=“Stray Dog”]A quiet word after class, return her assignment, with a printout of the article she copied stapled to the back and a fail mark. That should teach her. Boss doesn’t need to know. Doing this will not lose her face. Something that is important here.

You could offer her the chance to do it again, if you’re feeling kind. The right thing would be to give her a chance to do the assignment again, so forget the fail mark.

If she does it again then out her in front of the Boss…

Actually, you didn’t mention if these assignment count for anything. I mean do they need to pass the course for work or anything? No marks or anything, the assignments are just a chance for them to practice their writing skills. So why cheat? I don’t get it.[/quote]
Stray Dog, its quite clear that your post is blatant [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/how-to-deal-with-plagiarism/18365/12 :noway:

Kindly re-submit your post using original material by the end of the day. Otherwise I shall be forced to out you in front of the Boss… :sunglasses:[/quote]

you f*cker!

:wink:

17

I think somewhere it is definitely being communicated that this is OK, perhaps in a “you’re not supposed to do it, but everybody does” with a grin kind of thing.

Last semester, one of my students from the education graduate school copied most of her paper from a Website. Of course, I caught this in about 5 seconds, googled it, and printed it out. I stapled it to her paper and wrote a big zero on her paper. Of course she came crying and saying, “I’m sorry. It was a mistake.” Although I hadn’t mentioned her name in class, I warned my students that I had caught someone and had given them an automatic zero with no chance for a rewrite. I stressed again (as I had already covered this in the beginning of the class) that this is a big no-no and showed them again where I say clearly on my syllabus that the first time they get a zero on the paper, the second time they are out of my class. Her classmate figured out who it was because he saw her come up to me after all of the other students had left. And guess who tried it this semester? You guessed it. The same guy that watched his classmate suffering over her “mistake” last semester. I printed out the Website he used again, made quick work of putting the big zero on the top, and passed it back. Then he tried the “I’m so sorry teacher, can I do it again?” Routine. No way. I don’t know if they think I won’t catch them when in the middle of a paragraph their writing suddenly becomes perfect or what.
Notice though, that they were both GRADUATE STUDENTS. I have yet to have any trouble with undergraduates plagiarizing. So somewhere they are getting the message that this is OK. It only seems to get worse the higher up they get. I tried to help “edit” a Taiwanese woman’s PhD dissertation last year. I gave it back and said, "I think the writing is already very good, since it’s already been written up and published in… (and I mentioned the journal I had found it in). Then she tried to get me to write it for her, and started crying that her English was not good. But she’s in an English related PhD program for cryin’ out loud! She’s supposed to teach the next generation how to use the language. :loco:

18

I did some editing work for a well-known news anchor in Taiwan…her PhD…a few months later she was accused of plagarism…

I have nothing to add…just a claim to fame. :slight_smile:

19

Ya think so?

[quote]The National Science Council (國科會) recently reported 23 cases of plagiarism involving some well-known scholars in Taiwan, many of whom are still teaching at local universities or doing research work. . .

NSC Vice Chairman Liao Chun-chen (廖俊臣) said his agency would consult with scholars and legal experts on how to stop the practice, which he said has damaged the quality of Taiwan’s academic work and set a bad example for students who wish to pursue academic careers.

Liao did not reveal the names of those found plagiarizing, but said more than half once taught or are still teaching at national universities, including two at National Taiwan University and one each at Chengchi University, Sun Yat-sen University, and Tsing Hua University.[/quote]
etaiwannews.com/Education/20 … 310485.htm

[quote]a Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmaker yesterday accused National Taiwan University (NTU) of sheltering one of its associate professors, who was suspected of plagiarism in one of the articles she used for her promotion last year.

TSU Legislator Tseng Tsan-teng (曾燦燈) claimed that Chen Mei-li (陳美莉), a physical education professor at NTU, copied her piece from two articles written by her colleagues and made them into her own.[/quote]
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003247299

[quote]The plagiarism scandal at the Chinese Culture University erupted in April when Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) and Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺), both Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, revealed that Lin Tsai-mei (林彩梅), then the university’s chancellor, had allowed Su Tsui-yun (蘇翠芸), her advisee and also her daughter, to copy from Lin’s book in order to help Su finish her dissertation on business and management.

The two DDP lawmakers said that 90 of the 110 pages of Su’s dissertation were copied from Lin’s book verbatim.

Lin was forced to step down as chancellor under pressure from the university’s committee and the ministry of education, but she has stayed on at the university as the director of the school of business.

Su was stripped of her master’s degree.[/quote]
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003085576

But, lest I be accused of unfairly picking on the Taiwanese, I admit that of course there are plenty of plagiarists in all countries and lines of work:

famousplagiarists.com/academia.htm

20

The teacher of the class at NTU that I take in intellectual property is the DEAN of the law school. He sees at least five of his graduate students blatently plagiarising every single week and does nothing. Surely in a class on intellectual property rights academic plagiarism would mean an automatic fail - ‘sorry but you didn’t get it’.

Off to see my plagiarising student now. We’ll see how it goes.