Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Book reviews
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language
borrowed or stolen
source
by whom
without acknowledgement
with or without intent to deceive.
These six elements provide an excellent framework on which to build detailed policies on
plagiarism. Policies on plagiarism also need to include dialogue between students and
teachers. In an age in which education makes such extensive use of the Internet, intentional and unintentional plagiarism through cut-and-paste techniques is so much easier
than in the past print-based era. Although universities are experimenting with technological detection by software programs such as Turnitin, there remain issues about how to
detect plagiarism and how to decide on the intention of the author.
However, students and teachers understanding and views of plagiarism are not
synonymous. Sutherland-Smith raises an issue of great importance by linking strict legal
penalties for plagiarism to content-driven transmissive methods of teaching and assessment,
while describing transformative methods as encouraging students to promote student
responsibility for intellectual engagement with readings (p. 153).
Sutherland-Smiths treatment of the topic of plagiarism and its attendant issues is
both refreshing and educative. Her narrative style is engaging and grounds the work in a
practical context. Her review of the literature and analysis of issues is detailed, encompassing and relevant although some discussion of open copyright licences may have been useful. Her treatment of plagiarism using a continuum around teaching approaches and the
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intent of the author certainly helps to understand the issues and formulate policy. Questions
remain though, with the publish or perish climate in universities: to what extent does
plagiarism occur among university staff, and what mechanisms are in place to detect it?
References
Cavaleri, N. (2006). Preventing plagiarism. Cambridge University LTS NEWS, 7(12), 13. Retrieved
26 September 2007 from www.admin.cam.uk/offices/education/lts/news/ltsn7.pdf
Howard, R. (1999). Standing in the shadow of giants: Plagiarists, authors, collaborators. Stamford, CT:
Ablex.
Lessig, L. (2004). Free Culture. New York: Penguin Press.
Peccorari, D. (2002). Original reproductions: An investigation of the source use of postgraduate language
writers. Unpublished PhD thesis (University of Birmingham).
Gerry White
Australian Council for Educational Research
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Book reviews
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