Professors watch for plagiarism

Because of large class sections, heavy workloads and easy access to online essays, some Boston University students resort to copying others’ work, an offense university deans say can result in expulsion.

Plagiarism is still a significant problem that students, professors and faculty deal with, even though there is not any indication of a general increase in it, College of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean for Students Wayne Snyder said.

“Plagiarism is not any different from going into a store and stealing something,” he said. “It’s stealing from the intellectual world of ideas. The currency of schools is ideas.”

According to the CAS Academic Conduct Code, BU’s objective is to provide an environment in which “every student believes that his or her academic competence is being judged fairly and that he or she will not be put at a disadvantage because of someone else’s dishonesty.”

Snyder said professors are increasingly using automated services that scan papers for “similarities” to published works, but still mostly use their own judgments when reading papers.

“Most professors are widely read and know the way their students write,” he said. “Professors usually can tell when a freshman’s paper sounds like it’s been plagiarized.”

Associate professor of religion Michael Zank said he deals with plagiarism regularly in his classes, but treats each case individually, as it arises.

“If I suspect plagiarism, I confront the student for an explanation,” he said. Then he deals with the issue based on the circumstances, he said. In a class of 40 students, he currently has six “suspicions” of plagiarism.

“I know my students and their writing,” he said. “I know the readings and the information and I’m a careful reader.”

Snyder said students must be held accountable because plagiarism is wrong and there is no valid excuse for it.

“There’s a lot of temptation,” he said. “Students say they’re pressed for time or have enormous pressure, but they still can’t use that as an excuse.”

Zank said stress and poor judgment are often reasons why students resort to plagiarism, but added that in most cases students do not plagiarize sources word for word.

“Many students study and work together,” he said. “Then they go off to write individually and many of the ideas are similar.”

CAS freshman Emily Joy said she was nervous when she had to submit her paper to turnitin.com, an online service that checks for plagiarism.

“I knew I hadn’t deliberately plagiarized,” she said, “but I was afraid [the website] might say a group of words I’d written was too similar.”

Turnitin.com compares student papers against its database, which contains published books, magazines, journals, the current and archived internet and millions of student papers already submitted. The service then submits an “originality report” to the professor, which reports any text matches for the professor to determine.

Associate professor of political science Sofia Perez said she has not had to deal with any specific problems of plagiarism, but if she suspected cases then she would consider using an online service to confirm.

CAS sophomore Kristina Ramnarine said she was reminded of BU’s policies regarding plagiarism at the beginning of every course and whenever a paper was assigned.

Students who are guilty of plagiarism face penalties based on the specific circumstances. Penalties vary from a grading penalty, a reprimand in the student’s file, probation, suspension or expulsion from the university.

“I think the policies are important because those who don’t do their own work don’t deserve to be here,” Ramnarine said.

College of General Studies sophomore Shannon DeRosa said she has never considered plagiarizing.

“I’d rather get a grade based on my ability, rather than a false grade based on someone else’s,” she said.

CGS sophomore Jodi Siegelman said she would only plagiarize if she was sure she would not get caught.

“I wouldn’t do it unless I was absolutely desperate,” she said. “I don’t want to get into that kind of trouble.”