Plagiarism: Whose Responsibility Is It Anyway? An Administrator’s Choice to Teach Not Punish

Abstract

This paper examines how plagiarism is viewed on college campuses and the resultant punitive consequences that follow. In this case, a college administrator must determine whether two graduate education students should be expelled as a consequence of having certain passages appearing from websites and journal articles without attribution in first two theses drafts. In assessing what contributed to this infraction, the college administrator determined that the students had never received direct instruction in plagiarism and how to avoid it. Working collaboratively with the referring faculty member, a 3-session instructional program was designed to teach how to paraphrase and use citations in tandem with an overcorrection procedure of positive practice coupled with restitution. The culminating session required each student to design a 5-lesson module on plagiarism and how to avoid it for their program peers. They also met with their faculty instructor to review the changes they had made in their drafts resulting in reinstatement in their research course. The entire process helped the academic program faculty recognize that the topic of plagiarism and skills necessary to avoid plagiarism required direct instruction at various points throughout the overall program to prevent students from encountering severe penalties.