<p>Got a call from D's HS English teacher and was told she plagiarized a paper on a reading assignment..I believe all papers are checked "online" for plagiarism against all students in the school and known resources...She will get a zero for the assignment and the call to us..My Q is what "punishment" would YOU give out?..she is a JR in HS</p>
<p>If it was high school, I’d do what my public magnet high school used to do. Grant a 0 on the paper in question, set up an emergency parent-teacher meeting, and enter remarks about the conduct on the student’s permanent conduct record if it was the first offense. If it happened a second time, suspension with a strongly worded suggestion that he/she seriously consider transferring to his/her local public high school. </p>
<p>Then again, considering we attended high school before the internet and computers became commonplace, I’ve only known a handful who were sanctioned for plagiarism…though my entering high school class did suffer a 28% attrition rate from freshman to senior year. Some of those may very well have been for recurring plagiarism or other serious offenses.</p>
<p>I’m sorry you’re having to cope with this.</p>
<p>Getting a zero is a pretty common result. I guess that the more interesting question would be understanding the nature of the plagiarism:
- Direct – She knew it was wrong, and intentionally either used a previously submitted paper or directly and extensively violated appropriate use of outside sources;
- Quotation failure – she used an outside source but didn’t attribute it properly;
- Rewording – She used an outside source, but reworded it and thought that was enough;
- Not plagiarism – sometimes students don’t understand that they can’t submit an earlier version of their paper to one of the on-line plagiarism checking systems, and then later submit the final version, because the final version may come across as plagiarized because the system sees a lot of similarities with the earlier version. I saw this happen with another child. </p>
<p>There are obvious plagiarism examples that everyone agrees go way over the line. Some other examples go over the line, but the line may be a little fuzzy, especially to a student. Learning more about the specifics may help you – and your daughter – get a better handle on the situation. If they were criminal issues, I’d classify the first case as a felony, and the others as misdemeanors of successively lesser wrongness, and the last as not plagiarism in any sense of the word.</p>
<p>Wishing you the best.</p>
<p>First, focus on the definition of plagurized. I believe with the internet it is too easy to read sources and restate in similiar words. Because the student has restated the student may (incorrectly) believe it is not plagurized. My son had an issue because he did not footnote in enough places. Making sure she clearly understands what is plaguarized and how to avoid it in the future is paramont.</p>
<p>Second, be sure in the future she utilizes a software program to run her paper through and check prior to handing in an assignment.</p>
<p>As for punishment, well for one of my kids (my sensitive child), getting a zero and call home would be greater punishment than I could ever dole out. The humiliation would be difficult for him to bear. For another of my kids, having to run all future papers through me and I’d run the software checker would be the best punishment. </p>
<p>If you know that your daughter did this to not get bogged down with the work and instead go out and enjoy a weekend, then some serious family time for the next few weekends could be the punishment. </p>
<p>Not knowing her intent, her personal “freedoms” and required schedule it is difficult to determine a suitable punishment.</p>
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I did not know this.</p>
<p>One of my daughter’s friends was accused of plagiarism when the teacher found the paper on-line; the girl had posted it on her own page.</p>
<p>I agree with the zero, but like the other posters, I think there are variations of intent. Some are easier to define than others.</p>
<p>I teach college freshmen and in addition to giving a zero, I report them to the associate vice president of the college so that a file is started. My reasoning is that I hope that an early catch will stop them from doing it again, and I think students continue to cheat because they are given too many chances. I am not judging your daughter at all because I do not know the whole story.</p>
<p>In my experience, the most common unintentional cheating is paraphrasing without citing the source. Many young people do not understand that that is plagiarism.</p>
<p>I would also suggest that your daughter go to Purdue’s Online Writing Lab (google OWL) and read the section on plagiarism. It explains it very well.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies…Not sure how she DIDN’T know she’d get caught,as she is well aware that they run the papers thru a “plagiarism” program…The teacher said the paper closely followed another student’s(not sure if the student is currently in a class,or previously),but not exactly…Until she gets home, i don’t know WHY,though i am guessing she let the assignment slip away, and instead of turning it in late,she did what she did…She does have very difficult classes all AP and Honors,though that is NOT an excuse…</p>
<p>I agree with arabrab completely. It is extremely important to find out what happened and to make sure your daughter understands the rules in the future.</p>
<p>Getting a 0 on HS paper is not a terrible consequence. But in college being accused of plagiarism may result in a semester suspension.</p>
<p>Sounds like you need to get your daughter’s story. Sometimes if a lot of work is done in class, papers could closely follow each others’ in format. Good luck.</p>
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<p>Do you know how many words of plagiarism? Was this a research paper? Sometimes students merely forget to quote when they are doing research. Which is not correct, but certainly less than wholesale copying another document.</p>
<p>Not making excuses, I’d just get all the details first.</p>
<p>Edit- Guess I’m plagiarizing arabrab. ;)</p>
<p>Paper was on a a G Orwell novel</p>
<p>What evidence is there that she plagiarized from another student? Could the other student have used HER paper? Or could they simply have discussed the topic–surely not a crime!–and so structured the argument similarly?</p>
<p>Having been unjustly accused of plagiarism in HS, I am very sensitive to this, but do not leap to the conclusion that your D is guilty of deliberate plagiarism. That said, do not defend her unreasonably if you become convinced that she is guilty, either.</p>
<p>I agree with arabrab, in general.</p>
<p>On the bright side, maybe she will learn from the whole situation. Like MD Mom, I think second chances often prevent a student from taking the issue seriously. It’s one grade, and in high school, she probably has many grades in the grade book and can recover. </p>
<p>Agree that zero is a pretty standard consequence. </p>
<p>The turning in of a paper for multiple classes (like re-using an AP paper for a college course) is called double submission. It is a form of academic dishonesty. I can imagine the new technology makes it easier to catch when a student tries it within an institution. When a student submits at two different institutions, it’s almost impossible to detect.</p>
<p>From reading the OP original and follow up posts, I get the impression that she seems to think her D was under academic pressure and probably did use a resource to produce this paper therefore the call out on plagiarism. I feel she was asking what punishment would <em>we</em> as in the college confidential parent base, give our respective children if faced with the same situation. For me, if my child was in this situation, a few things have already happened. She is getting the zero and hopefully that will be painful, but not so painful that it will have “forever” implications. This is a learning experience and hopefully D will learn from this large error in judgment. To help the learning process…lol…I would make sure she is shut down socially for a good couple of weeks and that she certainly write letters of apology to her teacher, her counselor and the principal. They won’t care that she is overhelmed, overtired, or stressed out. They want to hear that she understands what she did was wrong, she understands it was wrong, she understands it is serious and how sorry she is she did it. Then she needs to get to work proving she meant it.</p>
<p>Now with all that said. I would make darn sure my kid was guilty before I asked any of this from her and make sure she knows you have her back if indeed she swears she is not guilty. Help her navigate the process of appeal, etc. And on a side note, if this was my kid, my happy butt would have been at the school about 8 minutes after the call, in the counselors office, with my child having her spill her collective guts.</p>
<p>As i type, my punishment is as follows(zero not withstanding)</p>
<p>1) socially grounded for November
2) Needs to actually write and submit assignment,with the understanding she is to get NO CREDIT
3) a lecture on the complications of plagiarism from us…</p>
<p>any other ideas? :)</p>
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<p>Agreed. </p>
<p>The interesting thing is that I had a plagiarism discussion with a colleague this morning. Her daughter was accused of plagiarizing a paper in religion class, which I found amusing in a sick sort of way. Anyway, CK (colleague’s kid), does not understand the whole citing a paraphrase rule; she got nailed for plagiarism two years ago for something similar. I suggested that she have her daughter complete our college’s on-line plagiarism tutorial and take the quiz for it. I then suggested that she explain to her teacher that she had completed a plagiarism tutorial and ask to write another paper.</p>
<p>I agree with Longhaul (post 4) that the “punishment” needs to fit the student. While your ideas might be fine and necessary for you daughter to get the message, that would be major overkill for my son. In general, I find that the lowest amount of punishment that makes my point is the most effective. When my husband or I go over that point, the lesson is not quite as effective because of the resentment of the unfairness. But I admit that this probably only works because my son is so hard on himself.</p>
<p>You could add read the book, if you think she didn’t finish</p>
<p>Yes, I agree with Longhaul too-- in fact Lh’s post made me laugh. I only have one and she endures the torments of the damned if a teacher looks at her the wrong way. OP’s suggestions might be very good for some kids (I know plagiarism is rampant at D’s school and the kids who plagiarize could use a good lesson, if you ask me.) But if your D is just in over her head and grabbed at the closest thing to get the paper done-- some serious talk about perhaps dropping an AP course, etc. might be in order.</p>
<p>I will add that everyhting is on “hold”,punishment from our side,until we get to speak with her later today…I was also surprised that the teacher kind of “downplayed” the situation,when i said we wouldn’t tolerate that type of action(plagiarism) and would talk with D and deal out appropriate measures…</p>