Response to Susan Blum: Academic Integrity and Student Plagiarism

Adin Doyle

Susan Blum’s approach to the subject of plagiarism and academic plagiarism branches from outside just the classroom. While recognizing the issue at hand, in which students will often incorrectly cite parts of their papers, usually by error, or sometimes intentionally paraphrase without citation to see if they can get away with it, or even turn in someone else’s paper that they had nothing to do with in the first place.

            Instead of blaming it entirely on the students, Blum gives us her opinion as to just why they plagiarize intentionally or unintentionally. When it is intentional, it is possibly because students value the grade and the status that it can get them over the value of the knowledge they would have acquired from actually doing the work. Because this is a part of the world that often values status and knowledge existing in the same person, plagiarizing is seen as a problem of integrity because the student does not actually know the material, and instead cares only for the grade. This is an understandable viewpoint, because in many cases the student will know the material but will be unable to get the grade they want. In other parts of the world, like in China, plagiarism is not considered as much of an issue because of their concept of conformity throughout the people. Status is valued over knowledge because the structure of the hierarchy there, so plagiarism is more accepted if it is for the sake of achieving status in the end.

            Of course, a student may accidentally plagiarize because they simply do not know how to correctly cite certain sources or put them into the correct format depending on the circumstance. I for one sometimes find myself searching Google for the correct MLA format for in-text citations.

            Blum believes that the issue should be examined not from the viewpoint of either the teachers or the students. Instead, proper education of the importance of academic integrity and how to correctly cite sources is required, without the use of treating students who plagiarize as criminals. Students should be brought to look at academic integrity as something to strive for, because if they receive the grade they want, it will be more deserved, and the student will know the material.