False Feathers: A Perspective on Academic Plagiarism

208 Pages·2014·4.05 MB·English

by  Debora Weber-Wulff (auth.)

Debora
Weber-Wulff
False
Feathers
A Perspective
on Academic Plagiarism
False Feathers

Debora Weber-Wulff
False Feathers
A Perspective on Academic Plagiarism
Debora Weber-Wulff
Berlin, Germany
ISBN 978-3-642-39960-2 ISBN 978-3-642-39961-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-39961-9
Springer Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014932836

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TheJayandthePeacock
AJayventuringintoayardwherePeacocksusedto
walk,foundthereanumberoffeatherswhichhad
fallenfromthePeacockswhentheyweremoulting.
Hetiedthemalltohistailandstrutteddowntowards
thePeacocks.Whenhecamenearthemtheysoon
discoveredthecheat,andstridinguptohimpeckedat
himandpluckedawayhisborrowedplumes.Sothe
JaycoulddonobetterthangobacktotheotherJays,
whohadwatchedhisbehaviourfromadistance;but
theywereequallyannoyedwithhim,andtoldhim
“Itisnotonlyfinefeathersthatmakefinebirds.”
Æsop,translatedbyJosephJacobs(1894)
TheFablesofÆsopSelected,ToldAnewandTheir
HistoryTraced.London:Macmillan.p.55.
Availableonlineat
http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/55848

Preface
AsIwasgettingnewglassesinMay2013,theopticiansawmydoctoraldegreein
hisdatabaseandjoked:“Doyoustillhaveadoctorate?Onemustaskthesedays.”
WhenIbegantalkingaboutplagiarisminGermanyin2002,itwasanon-issue.
It did not happen here, and so there was no need to talk about it at all. People
did not understand why I, a professor of computer science, was speaking about
plagiarism. I started testing plagiarism detection software in 2004 to see if it was
effective.Itwasn’t.Sure,itcouldfindafewsources,butitwasnotthemagiclitmus
testforplagiarismthatpeoplewereexpecting.Beyonddiscussionsaboutsoftware,
people were not interested in talking about plagiarism. There was (and still is) no
widelyaccepteddefinitioninGermanyofwhatconstitutesplagiarism.Butnow,in
2013,eventheStammtischpatronshaveanopinionaboutplagiarism,especiallyby
politiciansandindoctoraldissertations.Whathappened?
In February 2011, the German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
wasfoundtohaveheavilyplagiarizedinhisdoctoraldissertation,sparkinganation-
wide discussion on the topic. When the first documentation platforms GuttenPlag
WikiandVroniPlagWikistartedup,Ifirststoodontheoutskirts,tryingtoexplain
tojournalistsbothwhatthis“swarm”phenomenonmeantandwhatconstitutespla-
giarism.Asmoreandmoreplagiarismwasdocumented,Iwasdrawnintothevortex
andbeganparticipatinginthedocumentationusingmyWikipedianickWiseWoman;
Ihavebeenactiveeversince.Thediscussionswithsomanypeoplefromsomany
differentfieldsaboutplagiarismhavebeenquitefruitful,althoughunfortunatelynot
much has actually happened yet in the way of changes to the German university
system.
A book was needed on the topic, and although there are many fine books in
English, they are not well known in Germany. I was planning on translating Jude
Carroll’s most excellent book on dealing with plagiarism at universities, A Hand-
book for Deterring Plagiarism in Higher Education, into German. I was going to
includeachapteronzuGuttenbergandadapthermaterialtotheGermanuniversity
systeminordertogetthewordoutthatitisnecessarythatactionbetaken.
Butherbookfocusesonlyonthestudentplagiarismproblemandithasbecome
increasinglyclearthatplagiarismisasystemicproblemandisnotjustrestrictedto
vii
viii Preface
Germany.TherearepeopleatalllevelsofacademiainGermanyandelsewherewho
apparently either do not know how to properly use the materials of others or are
willingtotakeshortcuts.
Thenameofthisbook,FalseFeathers–APerspectiveonAcademicPlagiarism,
is based on the German-language e-learning unit “Falsche Federn Finden” (http:
//plagiat.htw-berlin.de/ff) that I produced during my sabbatical in 2004. The book
isnot,however,atranslationofthatmaterial,whichhasbecomequitedated.Ihave
includedsomehistoricalmaterialthathascometolightinrecentmonthsduringmy
sabbaticalworkin2013,aswellasanoverviewofhowplagiarismisdealtwithin
someothercountries.Thereisalsomuchinterestinhowthecrowd-sourcedGerman
projectVroniPlagWikifindsanddocumentsplagiarism,soIhaveincludedasection
onthistopic.
SincethereisnowinternationalinterestinthequestionofplagiarisminGermany,
itthenseemedbesttowritethisbookinEnglish,evenifthetargetgroupisprimarily
German academics. Due to all of the public discussion about plagiarism, they are
findingthemselvesinneedofanswerstothreepressingquestions:Whatexactlyis
plagiarism?Howdowefinditwithaslittleeffortaspossible?Andwhatdowedo
whenwefindit?
Not only do I find the problem of plagiarism interesting as a research subject,
butIamalsoconvincedthatbothplagiarismandthemuchwiderandmoreserious
problemofscientificmisconductingeneralareshakingtheverybasisofscientific
investigation.Ihopethatthisbookcanmakeasmallcontributiontocombatingthis
enormousproblembyofferingeducatorsagoodlookintothevariousaspectsofthe
plagiarismproblemandsuggestingsomeplansforfindinganswerstothequestions
above.
Likeeverybook,thisistheproductoftheworkofmanypeople,althoughonly
my name is actually on the cover. I would like to thank so many people by name
for innumerable fruitful discussions, the careful reading of the many manuscript
versions,andespeciallythehardworkindiggingoutthehistoricalplagiarismcases.
Iamindebtedtoyouforyourcontributionsandwouldhavelovedtoincludenames
here,butmanyhaverequestedthatInotevenmentiontheirpseudonyms.Soletthis
be a global thank you for all who have closely accompanied the creation of this
book.Allerrorsaretheresultofmenotfollowingyourexcellentadvice.
ForfriendsandfamilywhothoughtthatIhavebeenrathergluedtomycomputer
thesepastmonths:Thankyouforyourpatience!
Iamlookingforwardtoreactionstothiscontributiontothediscussionandwel-
comeemailsandletters.
Berlin,Germany DeboraWeber-Wulff
September2013 [email protected]
Contents
1 Introduction................................................... 1
References..................................................... 2
2 PlagiarismandAcademicMisconduct ............................ 3
2.1 DefinitionofPlagiarism ..................................... 3
2.2 ATypologyofPlagiarism ................................... 6
2.2.1 Copy&Paste ....................................... 7
2.2.2 Translations......................................... 7
2.2.3 DisguisedPlagiarism ................................. 8
2.2.4 Shake&PasteCollections............................. 8
2.2.5 ClauseQuilts........................................ 9
2.2.6 StructuralPlagiarism ................................. 10
2.2.7 PawnSacrifice ...................................... 10
2.2.8 Cut&Slide ......................................... 12
2.2.9 Self-plagiarism ...................................... 13
2.2.10 OtherDimensions.................................... 13
2.3 OtherTypesofAcademicMisconduct ......................... 14
2.3.1 Ghostwriting........................................ 14
2.3.2 ContractCheating.................................... 15
2.3.3 HonoraryAuthorship................................. 16
2.3.4 FalsifyingData ...................................... 17
2.4 AGermanStandpointonAcademicMisconduct................. 18
2.5 IncidenceofPlagiarism ..................................... 19
2.6 ReasonsforPlagiarizing..................................... 20
2.7 WhyIsPlagiarismaProblem?................................ 22
References..................................................... 24
3 PlagiarisminGermany ......................................... 29
3.1 zuGuttenbergandtheCrowd................................. 29
3.2 VroniPlagWiki ............................................ 31
3.3 ReactionsoftheGermanUniversities.......................... 36
ix