PLAGIARISM:  QUESTIONS, CONTEXTS AND CONSEQUENCES
Tuesday, October 19, Noon-1
Gendebien Room, Skillman Library

Members of the Lafayette community are cordially invited to an open dialog on plagiarism on Tuesday, October 19. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP by Friday, October 15: https://opinio.lafayette.edu:443/opinio/s?s=1875

In her recent book My Word!  Plagiarism and College Culture, anthropologist Susan Blum writes

At its core [plagiarism] means to copy someone else’s work; even paraphrasing without attribution counts as plagiarism.  Although the meaning sounds clear, however, it is murky in reality.  (12)

That plagiarism is, indeed, a “murky” issue seems to be supported by the most recent round of debates. Reporting on the rise of plagiarism on college campuses, a recent NYT article wonders whether “many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious misdeed” (“Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age”). In response, however, Stanley Fish argues that plagiarism is not the big moral deal teachers typically make of it, but rather a failure to follow the rules of a particular (academic) discourse community.

If you’re interested in learning more about the issues surrounding this debate, join us for a lively and interesting discussion moderated by Patricia Donahue, Bianca Falbo and Lijuan Xu.

Co-sponsored by the Dean’s Office, The ATTIC, The College Writing Program, and Skillman Library.