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From The Faculty Chair
As the faculty chair, I have the privilege to write a short column for each edition of the Faculty Newsletter. I have no specific agenda nor plans for how to use this opportunity, but do hope that I can use the space to provide something of interest and relevance to you, the faculty. As has been the past practice, I expect to address topical issues, to engage you in their consideration, and to seek your input and advice. I also hope we can have some columns devoted to recognizing outstanding deeds and services, celebrating accomplishments and successes, and helping to build community. Finally, as my term closes, I might have the nerve to provide some reflections and observations on our Institute, its people and its workings. Nevertheless, I am always open for suggestions – please let me know what you'd like to hear about; indeed, if you are so inclined, please write something for the Newsletter.
For this first issue, I'd like to talk about a quite unpleasant, and often tragic, issue: plagiarism. I served on the Committee on Discipline (COD) for the last five years; over this period we saw an increasing number of plagiarism cases, to the point where they are now a majority of the cases brought to the committee. Other universities are reporting similar trends. And everyone fears that what we see within our disciplinary systems is only the tip of the iceberg.
What is Happening?
Before getting too far, the number of cases seen within our disciplinary system is, thankfully, very small. The vast majority of our students understands and lives up to our academic norms. So I don't want to be over-alarmist, and I don't mean to castigate our outstanding student body. Yet at the same time, I do want to bring attention to an increasing problem, and to note that we might be on a slippery slope. We are seeing more cases across a spectrum, ranging from the most blatant to more subtle instances of plagiarism.
At one extreme, a student might copy word for word from another published source, such as a textbook, with no citation or reference. The student might plagiarize an entire report, or just one or two sections. The student might change a few words and/or edit a few sentences so as to align or tune the plagiarized material with the rest of the report. Nevertheless, there is a clear and blatant intent to deceive by stealing the words of others and presenting them as one's own.
At the other extreme, a student might take material from a cited reference, but then massage it so as to attempt to paraphrase the original source material. Yet the sentence structure remains the same, and many of the words are the same or are replaced by a common synonym. Often a student might compile a series of inserts of this form. For instance, for a literature review, a student might cover several references and then take a descriptive snippet from each. This also occurs in sections that review existing theory or knowledge, where a student borrows directly from a textbook. In these instances, many students don't seem to appreciate that they are stealing someone else's work.
The sources from which students plagiarize have grown, most notably with the Internet. Students borrow not just from textbooks but also from prior reports and from the Web. Many living groups maintain "bibles" in which a student might have access to a decade worth of term papers and lab reports; in addition students can buy reports from Web-based services. And with the ease of cut-and-paste, students can take material off the Web and incorporate it directly into their documents.
Why is this Happening?
I think there are three main reasons why we are seeing more plagiarism at MIT.
First is time pressure. At the COD, we see students who seemingly are under tremendous pressure, with too much to do and too little time to do it. Taking someone else's work is a convenient short cut. With our technology and access to the Web, it's increasingly easy to do. And the students, especially when they are under pressure, make a judgment that they can get away with it. Indeed, I suspect a number of students do get away with it.
Second is a lack of understanding of what plagiarism is. Some students will contend that plagiarism occurs only when one copies word for word from another source. Another student will insist that there cannot be plagiarism if he or she has made a reference to the source; accordingly, a single citation would permit them to use someone else's words as if their own. We have also heard arguments that borrowing common knowledge, as might appear in a textbook, is not plagiarism, even if it is taken word for word. And some students view material on the Web as universally free to use, even if it is clearly copyrighted.
The third reason is a lack of appreciation of the severity of plagiarism within the academic community. Our scholarship rests on a core value of intellectual honesty. To plagiarize is "to steal and pass off as one's own (the ideas or words of another)." [Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam Company, Springfield MA, 1963.] Any plagiarism is an act of dishonesty and theft, and weakens our institution. Yet we find students who don't appreciate how important this value is to us, and who regard plagiarism as just a "poor choice" on their parts. They regard it as a victimless crime, in which no one is really hurt: it was just an expedient way to accomplish a task, e. g., the completion of a report or an assignment. And it's easy to fix if only they had more time.
What should we be doing?
There is no simple solution. As a faculty we have a responsibility to monitor, understand and then address the increasing prevalence of plagiarism. Indeed, I think we are at a point where we need to act so as to curb the trend. There is too much at stake. I propose three types of actions.
First, we need to raise awareness across the faculty of the growing amount of plagiarism, and the threat this poses to our core values. The faculty needs to discuss this within their teaching groups, their labs, and their departments. The faculty needs to understand how plagiarism arises and how much is occurring; we should be sharing our ideas and experiences at addressing the problem. The faculty needs to develop a common voice with which to speak about the problem and educate the community.
Second, we need to communicate our values and expectations to the students in as clear and strong terms as possible. We need to tell them what plagiarism is; we can no longer assume that they understand this from high school. And we need to explain to them why it is so important to us, a community of scholars. At the start of the semester, it is our responsibility to outline the requirements and criteria for our subjects, as well as our expectations for student conduct. We should take this opportunity to impress upon the students the importance of academic honesty and one's own work, and how you distinguish your work from that of another. We also need to inform them of the consequences of any violations of our academic norms.
Third, we need to remain vigilant. The problem will not go away overnight. And students must know that there are consequences to their bad decisions. But uncovering an instance of plagiarism is often happenstance; and even then, it requires a lot of work to document. There are Web-based search tools that can help in some instances. But, more importantly, we need to watch for occurrences, at least as long as the trend continues, and as educators, we need to exploit any opportunities we have to teach our students about the problems of plagiarism.
I know this is not a very cheerful topic with which to start the term, but I do think it's time we put the issue on the table. I'd be interested in your thoughts and feedback on this topic.
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