Cara Lin, I think you are too hard on the issue about plagiarism toward non-English speakers. And as Jim pointed out, there are only so many intelligible ways to state a simple idea. And there are only a few efficient and elegant ways to state an idea.
Everyone, including native English speakers learn how to speak and write by copying someone else's, which is called learning not plagiarism. For instance, when I was in a graduate school, my professor edited and rewrote my paper almost every sentences to show better ways of expressing of my idea. My professor also tasked me to read papers and list sentences that elegantly express ideas. And, of course, I read and copy writing style manual that show how to express ideas the simplest and the most efficient ways. Because of these trainings, my writing style and expressions of idea are very similar to my professor's. So, did I plagiarize? I don't think so. This is part of learning process. If your students are copying somebody's sentences because their writing style and sentence structure are better in expressing their own idea, then I call this as learning process. If students are copying the works of others to represent as their own, then this becomes a plagiarism. Toshihide "Hamachan" Hamazaki, PhD : 濱崎俊秀：浜ちゃん Alaska Department of Fish & Game Division of Commercial Fisheries 333 Raspberry Rd. Anchorage, Alaska 99518 Ph: 907-267-2158 Fax: 907-267-2442 Cell: 907-440-9934 E-mail: toshihide.hamaz...@alaska.gov -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ecolo...@listserv.umd.edu] On Behalf Of James Crants Sent: Saturday, June 06, 2009 7:10 PM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Plagiarizing methods... Cara Lin, I don't think it's plagiarism to state a very simple idea (like your PCR conditions) using the same words someone else did, since there are only so many intelligible ways to state a simple idea. The University of Calgary has some information on how they define academic plagiarism ( http://www.ucalgary.ca/~hexham/study/plag.html) that agrees with this position: For example many basic textbooks contain passages that come very close to plagiarism. So too do dictionaries and encyclopedia articles. In most of these cases the charge of plagiarism would be unjust because there are a limited number of way in which basic information can be conveyed in introductory textbooks and very short articles that require the author to comment on well known issues and events like the outbreak of the French Revolution, or the conversion of St. Augustine, or the philosophical definition of justice. Also, the Office of Research Integrity at the Department of Health and Human Services, USA (Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing. Miguel Roig. http://ori.dhhs.gov/education/products/plagiarism/plagiarism.pdf. p. 14) does not consider examples such as the ones you identified to be plagiarism: "ORI generally does not pursue the limited use of identical or nearly identical phrases which describe a commonly-used methodology or previous research because ORI does not consider such use as substantially misleading to the reader or of great significance." (I include quotes AND indentations because Roig is quoting a caveat in ORI's definition of plagiarism, and I'm quoting him without knowing just what document he's quoting from.) Overall, I think it's commonly accepted that brief bits of text conveying simple ideas will offer the author only so much maneuvering room, and it's not plagiarism if there's really no sensible way of stating the idea in a novel way. So, yes, I would say you are being overly harsh if you are failing grad students for "copying" PCR reaction conditions, especially if the only evidence for plagiarism is that they used the same words someone else did to describe the conditions (i.e., if you don't know whether they really copied or just converged on the same wording). I would recommend checking out the above links and the loads of other good sources you can find by searching for "plagiarism definition" or "academic plagiarism" online. True, it's not always clear what is or isn't plagiarism, but I think the slope seems a lot less slippery when you look into how other people and organizations have tried to tackle the issue of defining plagiarism. Jim Crants On Sat, Jun 6, 2009 at 3:38 AM, Cara Lin Bridgman <cara....@msa.hinet.net>wrote: > James Crants' response is addressing the problem. Many people with English > as a second or third language are trying to write papers in English. It is > very easy to find sentences and paragraphs that have the grammar structure > that says exactly what you want if you just change a few key words and > numbers. When trying to write the methods for PCR, for example, it is easy > to find someone else's methods, copy these methods, and change the times and > temperatures to match the conditions of your own study. Since most people > do not include citations for things like PCR protocol, the copied methods > may not be cited. > > When I point out to students and colleagues that it is plagiarism to write > methods (and papers) by cut and pasting sentences (and paragraphs) from > published papers, I often get the response "But my English is so poor!" > True. Their own written English is usually barely readable. The thing is, > when I ask if it is ok to write a paper this way in Chinese, they'll all > quickly say it is not. So, if it's not ok to copy in Chinese, then should > not be ok to copy in English! I had to quit teaching in one school because > I could not get the students or their advisors to make this connection. > > The problem my students have with PCR methods is that they have only found > 4 ways of writing PCR methods. They did not do this survey to find ways to > copy, but because they (and I) could not think of a new way to describe PCR > conditions. So it looks as though even native English speakers are copying > a sentence structure and changing the times and temperatures to match their > experimental conditions. > > I was taught and I'm trying to teach, that we have to write things using > our own words (paraphrase) and we have to give citations for the ideas > (including methods and techniques). For me, reading something, putting it > away and then sitting down to write my own version, may result in > similarities with the original and may not. I teach my students to go back > and check to make sure their sentence uses their voice and is really > different from the original published sentence. The thing is, we've run > into a wall when it comes to describing PCR. > > And here is the real kicker. I've been failing graduate students for > copying things, including methods like PCR reaction conditions. So, am I > being too harsh as a teacher? > > I confirm the plagiarism by checking student phrasing against wording in > papers they cite. My philosophy is that it is better the students make > mistakes and fail now, while in school, than later when they are trying to > build their professional careers. I make it clear that my goal is not to > fail them, but to help make sure they understand the right way to write. > It's when they plagiarize on the final paper that they fail. This is > because plagiarism on the final paper is evidence they've not learned how to > avoid the problem. > > But my students and I have a new problem: what about things like PCR? > > > CL > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Cara Lin Bridgman cara....@msa.hinet.net > > P.O. Box 013 Shinjhuang http://megaview.com.tw/~caralin > Longjing Township http://www.BugDorm.com <http://www.bugdorm.com/> > Taichung County 43499 > Taiwan Phone: 886-4-2632-5484 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > -- James Crants, PhD Scientist, University of Minnesota Agronomy and Plant Genetics Cell: (734) 474-7478
