Plagiarism: Alchemy and Remedy in Higher Education

190 Pages·2007·1.1 MB·English

by  Bill Marsh

Plagiarism
Alchemy and Remedy
in Higher Education
B I L L M A R S H
Plagiarism

Plagiarism
Alchemy and Remedy
in Higher Education
Bill Marsh
State University of New York Press
Published by
State University of New York Press,Albany
© 2007 State University of New York
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Marsh,Bill,1964–
Plagiarism : alchemy and remedy in higher education / Bill Marsh.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-7037-4 (hardcover : alk.paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-7914-7038-1 (pbk. : alk.paper) 1. Plagiarism. I. Title.
PN167.M285 2007
808—dc22
2006021548
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction:Understanding Plagiarism 1
1. “A Flurry ofFascination”: The (Anti)Plagiarism Cases of
Stephen Ambrose and Doris Kearns Goodwin 9
Anatomy of a Literary Crime 10
A Strange Mix of Contempt and Sympathy 14
Temptations and Their Consequences 16
Of Echoes,Settlements,and Surveillance Machines 19
Conclusion: Fascination Revisited 27
2. The Plagiarism Debate: History and Contexts 31
Plagiarism Defined 31
Authorship,Ownership,and Writing 38
Plagiarism and “Societal Control” 43
Conclusion: Writing Conventions 46
3. Plagiarism in the Early-Twentieth-Century “New University” 49
Learning to Write in the “New University” 52
The “Golden Era”of Plagiarism Litigation 57
Plagiarism and the Modern “Research Attitude” 62
Conclusion: Plagiarism as Error 65
4. Plagiarism and the Alchemical Tradition 67
Alchemy,Divinity,and Christian Remedy 68
Remediumand the Birth of Scholastic Reading 75
Reading Montaigne Reading 77
Conclusion: Transmutation in the New University 86
v
vi Contents
5. How to Avoid Plagiarism 91
How to Read Writing Handbooks 94
Discipline and Credit 96
Quote,Paraphrase,and Summary 99
Conclusion: Synthesis and Alchemical Transmutation 102
6. Plagiarism,Research Writing,and the Spirit ofInquiry 105
Assaying Montaigne in the Modern Essay 105
Good Writing Habits and the Experience of Inspired
Sermonizing 110
Plagiarism and the Patchwriting Ferment 113
Conclusion: Preliminary Recommendations for
Research Writing Instruction 118
7. Internet Plagiarism and Plagiarism Detection 121
Computers,the Internet,and the Plagiarism
“Epidemic” 123
Plagiarism Detection Software 127
Glatt 128
EVE 130
Plagiarism-Finder 132
Turnitin.com and the Scriptural Enterprise of
Plagiarism Detection 134
Conclusion: Turnitin.com in the “Managed”
University 144
Conclusion: The Ghost ofPlagiarism in the Post-Media Machine 147
Notes 157
Works Cited 161
Index 171
Preface
ITISCUSTOMARYin books about plagiarism to begin with an apology and an
immediate retraction.The apology usually goes like this:plagiarism is an old
topic,treated to exhaustion elsewhere,and this book cannot,and perhaps dares
not,offer anything new.The subsequent retraction,as one might expect,is
grounded in the corollary claim that the subject of plagiarism,while certainly
well traveled,is nonetheless worthy of further study if only because it continues
to nag,plague,and inspire those who take even the slightest peek at its history.
As an author of a book about plagiarism,I hereby issue that apology and
its companion retraction.To be sure,Plagiarism:Alchemy and Remedy in Higher
Educationowes much to works that have come before.Even so (and this is the
essence of my retraction),I have elected in this book to focus not only on pla-
giarism per se but also on the ways in which teachers,policy makers,and en-
trepreneurs have endeavored to manage and remedy the plagiarism problem via
an assortment of creative solutions.This emphasis on solutions,I propose,is
what makes this book, if not entirely original, at least different from other
books about plagiarism.
I approach the topic as both a writer and a teacher of writing.In both do-
mains,I have held an abiding interest in plagiarism—and the related issues of
piracy,pastiche,sampling,and intertextuality in artistic practice—throughout
my career.I can remember wrestling with these issues as a graduate student
teaching composition for the first time.When I first encountered student pla-
giarism,in an introductory writing course at a large state university,I found my-
self instantly propelled into unfamiliar territory. In this particular case, the
evidence was glaring,the student culpable and contrite,and the punishment un-
complicated:in accordance with university policy,the student received an “F”on
the assignment and was denied the option of a rewrite.Future infractions—
of which there were none,to my knowledge—would have resulted in stiffer
penalties,such as failure in the course and possible expulsion or suspension from
the university.At each turn in this process—and I remember this vividly almost
twenty years later—I felt remarkably ill-equipped and unprepared.Positioned as
I was on the front line in this particular battle between literary propriety and the
vii
viii Preface
literary sin known as plagiarism,I had few tools at my disposal,and little knowl-
edge in my storehouse,with which to negotiate those tricky issues—of guilt and
innocence,success and failure,right and wrong—which quickly surfaced when I
sat down with this student and announced,“There’s a problem with your paper.”
Since those early teaching experiences,I have continued to explore plagia-
rism wearing at least two different hats.As a teacher,I have sought to under-
stand not only why students plagiarize and via what methods,but also how
those on the receiving end of plagiarized texts go about both recognizing and
then managing these particular infractions.As a writer,editor,and small-press
publisher I also hold a keen interest in plagiarism as a kind of literary experi-
mentation akin to collage,assemblage,cut-up,and other forms of material re-
purposing or remediation.In both domains,I have found plagiarism to be a
vexing,inspiring,and amusing topic,and one rich with legal,aesthetic,ethical,
pedagogical,and even religious implications.This book,then,is in some ways
an attempt to reconcile these multiple concerns.In the end,however,I am pri-
marily concerned with plagiarism—and plagiarism detection—in today’s insti-
tutions of higher learning and particularly in the realm of student writing.In
that sense,I return in this book to that moment when I first spotted plagiarism
in my student’s essay and understood,in a flash,that my job as a writing teacher
would be more complicated than I had first imagined.
My aim in writing this book is to add historical and theoretical context to
the plagiarism debate,building on the recent work of Howard,Buranen and
Roy,Randall,Kewes,and Lunsford.I hope to provide a modified framework
for studying the uses to which plagiarism-related rules and conventions are put,
particularly in the age of the Internet and computer-mediated communication.
In this work I cannot go deeply enough into questions of individual practice—
for example,the application of Turnitin.com as an instructional and adminis-
trative tool in specific colleges and universities.I opt instead to provide a largely
analytical account of plagiarism and plagiarism detection systems and the sev-
eral techniques arising at different moments in answer to the plagiarism prob-
lem.I hope that future research (of my own and others) will test the claims
made below against more specific sets of questions centering on writing and re-
search practices,particularly in the composition classroom.In the last chapter,
I offer my own understanding of how such projects might proceed and,in ad-
dition,suggest alternative methods and modes for teaching research writing in
today’s institutions of higher learning.
I should add, finally, that this book is the culmination of research that
began five years ago at the University of California at San Diego.For its sup-
port of this research,I would like to thank the university and the Department
of Communication,and in particular the many people whose inspiration,en-
couragement,and loving kindness helped sustain my efforts.I would like to ex-
tend a special thanks to my adviser and mentor,Valerie Hartouni,as well as all
Preface ix
others who helped along the way,especially Robert Horwitz,Brian Goldfarb,
Linda Brodkey,Bud Mehan,and Susan Leigh Star.I would also like to thank
Gayle Aruta,Bea Velasco,Jamie Lloyd,and Judy Wertin for their vivifying
good humor and generous help in times of need.I thank as well my friends and
colleagues,in particular Ricardo Guthrie and J.R.Osborn,whose focused cri-
tiques and artful suggestions kept me honest and on track throughout.And I
thank my daughters,Maya and Zazil,for their love,their laughter,and their
well-placed notes and reminders.
Finally,I would like to thank Octavia Davis,my partner in literary crime.
This book,first and foremost,is dedicated to you.