Former Senior Proctor Grafen highlights plagiarism concerns
The university is set to tackle plagiarism more vigilantly with the value of Oxford degrees under threat. Concerns have been raised that students are increasingly copying texts from the internet and claiming it as their own. Oxford’s former Senior Proctor and chief disciplinary officer, Alan Grafen, highlighted the problem in Oxford Magazine, a publication for dons. “There seems to be two reasons for the prevalence of simple copying. It is indeed very easy with online sources.
A less obvious reason is that at British schools nowadays, a practice is encouraged of submitting work in class that is more or less cobbled together from the internet.” In particular Grafen attacked international students for committing plagiarism. He declared that many of the cases of plagiarism referred to the Proctors’ office concerned students whose primary language was not English.
“It is not unusual for a student to discover that his or her first few pieces of written work was returned by a supervisor with very negative marks about the quality of the English and that a piece constructed by copying is then hailed as a very welcome improvement” If tutors do not pick up on this plagiarism students are tempted to keep submitting plagiarized work to maintain the improved standard of their work.
Grafen therefore stated, “It is essential that any hint of copying or unacknowledged paraphrase is pursued.” Svetlana Khabroba, a Russian second year Modern History and Politics student, said, “I don’t think we should be accused for this’. While Khabroba found writing essays in English difficult in her initial terms at Oxford, she says she has never been tempted to plagiarize. “It takes time and practice and criticism before improving.
Yet Grafen has not attempted to tackle the difficulties tutors and examiners face in detecting plagiarism. The Education Policy and Standards Committee defines plagiarism as “the use of material appropriated from another source or from other sources with the intention of passing it off as one’s own work”. The multitude of sources available on the internet, as well as journals and other publications, make detecting a plagiarized text highly difficult.
While software is available to counter plagiarism, CopyCatch Gold for example, the sheer volume of sources constantly added on the internet make such software ineffective. Plagiarism is not a new concern although with access to the internet its has become increasingly widespread. Last year there were 10 detected cases of “intentional or reckless” plagiarism and the university has had to permanently exclude some students.
In recent years there have been cases of degradation, a disciplinary action which takes away a graduate’s degree. With recent media attention focused on Oxford students selling their essays, the university is under pressure to put a stop to dishonest academic practice. Yet it remains to be seen whether tutors and examiners will find an effective way to detect plagiarism.
20th Apr 2006