Student Plagiarism and Discourse Acquisition
Quality Assurance Beyond the Patrolling of Incorrect Source Use
| Definitions of plagiarism have by and large until recently entailed the writer’s intention to deceive. This article examines a current trend in higher education policy towards removing the element of intent from official definitions of plagiarism, making it easier to convict student plagiarists who insist their breaking of the rules was unintentional. I argue that this change of definition and the conflation of dishonesty with poor scholarship is likely to have negative consequences for the quality of education because it focuses on sanctions and not on learning. I advocate an alternative approach to the issue, including greater focus on institutionalizing structures and systems for support for student writing across the European Higher Area. |
Login
