Research Sightings: Academic Integrity, Remix Culture, and Globalization
Evans-Tokaryk, Tyler. (2014). Academic integrity, remix culture, globalization:A Canadian case study of student and faculty perceptions of plagiarism. Across the Disciplines, 11(2).听
This recent article by Tyler Evans-Tokaryk in the interdisciplinary writing studies journal Across the Disciplines tackles plagiarism in college and university environments, drawing on contemporary theoretical perspectives and a case study involving students and faculty at the University of Toronto.听听
The author touches on some of the familiar commonplaces of this topic, but also reframes the discussion by looking carefully at several contemporary factors.听听听 With more and more second-language writers in North American higher education, a more sophisticated understanding of the developmental pathways toward听 linguistic and rhetorical competency is needed.听 Some recent research on L2 writers argues that听 “patchwriting” – the imitation / incorporation from sources of chunks of complex syntax – is a natural stage in the development of second-language prose mastery, and therefore should not be lumped in the same category as intentional plagiarism.听 Moreover, our students’ communication and composition habits are increasingly shaped by “remix” modes of production.听 These modes undermine traditional, Romantic assumptions about authorship and originality, and are inevitably at odds with the expectations and norms of the academy.听
The case study results complement this theoretical framework with specific observations from U of T faculty and students that illustrate the lack of a shared definition of plagiarism, and the absence of effective institutional responses to the gap between faculty and student perceptions. Students, the article underlines, are in agreement that repeated faculty threats regarding the consequences of plagiarism are not an adequate response to the situation.听 Evans-Tokaryk suggests the real issue which must be addressed is the lack of effective, discipline-specific instruction in the effective use of sources.
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