College can’t ID source — so how’s it plagiarism?
Bianca McKerihan on July 9, 2011 in Education NewsA school decided to charge a student with plagiarism even though it couldnt find where he supposedly copied from.
While a student at the Harper College of Arts and Sciences at Binghamton University, Jonathan Katz was required to complete a term paper for a history course.
Katz waited until just 10 days before he handed in the paper to pick his topic, and his professor described the quality of its vocabulary and syntax as uneven. She also said the manner in which the paper deftly linked a variety of complex doucments suggest[ed] the analytical ability of a professional historian. In addition, she reported that Katz was unable to discuss the paper intelligently at the time he submitted it.
The professor referred the matter to a committee on academic honesty, which unanimously concluded Katz had plagiarized it. He was assigned a failing grade for the course.
A court upheld the finding, rejecting the argument that the charge should not have stuck because the school never identified the source of the alleged plagiarism.
It didnt have to, the court said. Identifying the source was not a prerequisite to a finding of plagiarism under the schools academic honesty code, and the circumstantial evidence was enough to support the charge.
Should schools have to find the lifted source materials before concluding a student has plagiarized a work? Tell us what you think below and dont forget to follow us on Twitter.
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