False Truths
In A Nation’s Argument, we have been learning about all the things that make an argument strong. We have been taught to consider premises, inductive and deductive reasoning, conclusions, and validity. We learned that being valid doesn't always make a sound argument, and that premises without contradiction make an argument strong. A premise is a proposition supposed or proved as the basis of an argument, and a contradiction is a statement that implies both truth and falsity (Merriam-Webster.com, 2020). The soundness of an argument also makes it strong. A sound argument is when an argument is valid and the premises are true. True premises, in turn, make the conclusion true. A sound argument is the opposite of flawed. The purpose of this Action Project was to propose an amendment to GCE Lab School’s Family Handbook Code of Conduct. Based on a logical flaw, we needed to argue and defend our change to the rule using a sound argument. I hope you enjoy!
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Plagiarism is when people take someone else's work or ideas and pass them off as their own (Merriam-Webster.com, 2020). According to US law, words CAN be stolen. It is an act of fraud. It involves stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward. People’s original ideas are intellectual property protected by copyright laws, as long as these ideas are recorded somewhere, like in a book or on a website (Plagiarism.org, 2017).
Plagiarism is tricky to detect, but definitely worth preventing. In the GCE Family Handbook Code of Conduct, it states that plagiarism “involves paraphrasing an author’s ideas and failing to give credit for borrowed ideas or information that is not common knowledge within a given subject area” (GCE Lab School, 2019). If a student at GCE is caught plagiarizing, the teacher and student will need to assess the situation to conclude if the student really meant to steal someone else’s work. The handbook states, “There are many gradations of plagiarism, and teachers and students may need to work together to determine whether the unacknowledged borrowing was intentional” (GCE Lab School, 2019).
This is what I wish for my school amendment to revise and reconstruct - what should be done when a student plagiarizes. For those who do not go to this school, or have never created an Action Project, GCE students follow a special check-list, called a rubric, to make sure APs meet all of the teacher’s requirements. In just about every one of these rubrics, citing original sources of information and keeping our own information on projects original are some of the requirements. Not meeting a requirement on an AP rubric takes points off the student’s final grade. So, taking points off is the TRUE course of action for plagiarism at GCE, instead of what the handbook states. In the Code of Conduct Handbook, the consequence for plagiarism is “work[ing] together to determine whether the unacknowledged borrowing was intentional” (GCE Lab School, 2019). Is this a meaningful consequence? I interpret it as an easy way out. If this is the only course of action for a plagiarizing student, what’s stopping them from stealing other people’s hard work all of the time?
Plagiarism is the stealing of information from a source without giving that source credit for it. It could be a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire AP. If a student builds their entire AP on text that was copied and pasted from other websites, doesn’t this mock the teacher and all of the students who worked hard creating original projects? It is especially frustrating when a student might be assigned to look over a classmate’s AP, only to find out they are reading a blog with copied and pasted material from someone else’s website. The Action Project might be complete, but it is fraudulent. It may even make the person reviewing the blog post feel like their AP is inferior because the plagiarizing student sounds like an expert.
What can we do to keep this in check? A student might not admit they plagiarized someone’s work, or confess where the information came from. Therefore, my amendment is to have the students, when assigned the task to look over their peers’ work, search through sources for potentially stolen material OR Google suspicious sentences and paragraphs to confirm that the work is original. As classmates, this might be considered intrusive, or untrustworthy, so perhaps the student should alert the teacher of the suspicious material first. IF a student is caught plagiarizing, he/she/they should be forced to recreate the Action Project in their own words and, automatically, have 10% taken off their AP grade.
This is the metaphorical image I drew to represent the revision I made to the act of plagiarism at GCE Lab School. The vertical line down the middle of the image represents a computer screen that the school (eye on the left) is monitoring. Everything on the right side of the image is happening digitally. The small, quivering person, labeled OS, is the Original Source. The large shadow represents the plagiarizing student who is leeching his/her/their information without consent. Finally, the scale symbol being projected from the eye represents the school’s commitment to truth and justice.
"Plagiarism is something that I believe needs to be handled at our school, and I agree with this rule."
- NB
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CITATIONS
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Plagiarism is when people take someone else's work or ideas and pass them off as their own (Merriam-Webster.com, 2020). According to US law, words CAN be stolen. It is an act of fraud. It involves stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward. People’s original ideas are intellectual property protected by copyright laws, as long as these ideas are recorded somewhere, like in a book or on a website (Plagiarism.org, 2017).
Plagiarism is tricky to detect, but definitely worth preventing. In the GCE Family Handbook Code of Conduct, it states that plagiarism “involves paraphrasing an author’s ideas and failing to give credit for borrowed ideas or information that is not common knowledge within a given subject area” (GCE Lab School, 2019). If a student at GCE is caught plagiarizing, the teacher and student will need to assess the situation to conclude if the student really meant to steal someone else’s work. The handbook states, “There are many gradations of plagiarism, and teachers and students may need to work together to determine whether the unacknowledged borrowing was intentional” (GCE Lab School, 2019).
This is what I wish for my school amendment to revise and reconstruct - what should be done when a student plagiarizes. For those who do not go to this school, or have never created an Action Project, GCE students follow a special check-list, called a rubric, to make sure APs meet all of the teacher’s requirements. In just about every one of these rubrics, citing original sources of information and keeping our own information on projects original are some of the requirements. Not meeting a requirement on an AP rubric takes points off the student’s final grade. So, taking points off is the TRUE course of action for plagiarism at GCE, instead of what the handbook states. In the Code of Conduct Handbook, the consequence for plagiarism is “work[ing] together to determine whether the unacknowledged borrowing was intentional” (GCE Lab School, 2019). Is this a meaningful consequence? I interpret it as an easy way out. If this is the only course of action for a plagiarizing student, what’s stopping them from stealing other people’s hard work all of the time?
Plagiarism is the stealing of information from a source without giving that source credit for it. It could be a sentence, a paragraph, or an entire AP. If a student builds their entire AP on text that was copied and pasted from other websites, doesn’t this mock the teacher and all of the students who worked hard creating original projects? It is especially frustrating when a student might be assigned to look over a classmate’s AP, only to find out they are reading a blog with copied and pasted material from someone else’s website. The Action Project might be complete, but it is fraudulent. It may even make the person reviewing the blog post feel like their AP is inferior because the plagiarizing student sounds like an expert.
What can we do to keep this in check? A student might not admit they plagiarized someone’s work, or confess where the information came from. Therefore, my amendment is to have the students, when assigned the task to look over their peers’ work, search through sources for potentially stolen material OR Google suspicious sentences and paragraphs to confirm that the work is original. As classmates, this might be considered intrusive, or untrustworthy, so perhaps the student should alert the teacher of the suspicious material first. IF a student is caught plagiarizing, he/she/they should be forced to recreate the Action Project in their own words and, automatically, have 10% taken off their AP grade.
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| Illustrated by SN |
This is the metaphorical image I drew to represent the revision I made to the act of plagiarism at GCE Lab School. The vertical line down the middle of the image represents a computer screen that the school (eye on the left) is monitoring. Everything on the right side of the image is happening digitally. The small, quivering person, labeled OS, is the Original Source. The large shadow represents the plagiarizing student who is leeching his/her/their information without consent. Finally, the scale symbol being projected from the eye represents the school’s commitment to truth and justice.
"Plagiarism is something that I believe needs to be handled at our school, and I agree with this rule."
- NB
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CITATIONS
“Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America's Most-Trusted Online Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated , 2020, www.merriam-webster.com/.
Global Citizenship Experience Lab School. Family Handbook 2019-2020. Family Handbook 2019-2020, Global Citizenship Experience Lab School, 2019.
“What Is Plagiarism?” Plagiarismorg RSS, 26 May 2017, www.plagiarism.org/article/what-is-plagiarism.
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