Jessica Stauffer

Jessica Stauffer

CO150.801

Instructor: Kathryn Hulings

July 8, 2014

P#2: Stakeholder Proposal

Introduction[K1]

Higher education should be a place where students are there to grow[K2], and develop their own ideas and their own thoughts. Recently, many questions have been raised towards this idea and if students are really getting this education that they are paying for, or if they are gliding by with the help of fellow and previous peers. As a college student myself, I am really interested in the concerns of plagiarism and cheating within the higher education systems and how it affects the students surrounding me. By[K3] looking at who this issue affects, and the problem itself, I hope to propose a solution to solve this problem.

Purpose and Audience

First off, I would like to state that the intended audience of this text is students currently in a higher education setting as well as professors and staff of higher education. Students of all different ages, races, education levels, and genders are the ones who are cheating and plagiarizing, so therefore I believe that a solution should be directed towards them in order for the problem to subside. Also[K4], I believe that the professors and staff of higher education should be addressed as well because they have the power to tackle this problem and take steps to ensure it decreases. To learn more about this problem, I looked at the three different texts: “Cheating in College,” by Scott Jaschik taken from Inside Higher Ed, “Rise in Student Plagiarism Cases Attributed to Blurred Lines of Digital World,” written by Kevin Simpson and taken fromthe Denver Post, and last “Studies Shed Light on How Cheating Impedes Learning” by Sarah D. Sparks taken from Education Week. These three texts were reprinted in the college reader Ethics in Higher Education,edited by Nancy Henke et al., and published in 2013. All three texts focus on the issue of cheating and plagiarizing, and look at the causes and affects toward students[K5].

Problem and Evidence

First, lets look at the text “Cheating in College” (221). Written by Scott Jaschik, this text explores the repercussions of a cheating scandal at Harvard, and looks at the morality of cheating as a whole. By exploring different questions, Jaschik goes deeper into the problem, which is cheating, and looks at possible reasons for why it is happening. He states, “Many students have indicated that they have had no involvement in certain types of cheating” and then explains that when given a survey with open-ended questions, students say that actually have engaged in cheating and “this may simply be a rationalization process so students don’t have to admit, maybe even to themselves, that they’ve actually cheated” (222). Jaschik quotes Chris[K6] Cooper, Professor at Castle View High School talks about the lack of understanding of what plagiarism is, and says, “When I explain what they (students) did, they break down and cry, like you convicted them of a crime” (250). Without an idea of what plagiarism is, students are more likely to unintentionally commit an act of plagiarism[K7].

A question that both “Cheating in College” and “Rise in Student Plagiarism Cases Attributed to Blurred Lines of Digital World” raise is if the Internet is a contributor to the problem of cheating and plagiarism. In the text, “Rise in Student Plagiarism Cases Attributed to Blurred Lines of Digital World,” Kevin Simpson talks about Professor Sarah Sloane and how she relates plagiarism to a sort of “Mad Libs” and how she sees “blatant cut-and-paste copying from the Internet; only a word changed here and there” (250). The idea of students using the internet to cheat and use other people’s work without proper attribution seems to be on the rise, but tools such as Turnitin.com and other websites seem to help slow the rising of cheating and plagiarism. Simpson also quotes Michael Mazenko, English teacher professorat Cherry Creek High School, who states that, “Some might argue that because of technology, they’re better at [cheating]…though we might be better at catching them because of technology” (252[K8]).

Another problem brought up, is whether cheating is a moral issue for everyone involved, or does is solely hurt only the student committing the act? “Studies Shed Light on How Cheating Impedes Learning” written by Sarah D. Sparks, sheds light on this question and goes deeper into the effects cheating actually has on a student. She states, “Cheating in high school leads to cheating in college, and cheating in college in turn leads to dishonesty in the work place” (255). She then goes on to explain “…a majority of students cheat, even though overwhelming majorities consider it wrong” (256). As you can see on Figure 1 below, taken from Friends Academy school website Inkwell, 117[K9] students were asked to complete a survey that described cheating in multiple ways, and were asked to respond as to why they cheat. The results varied a bit, but show that there are all different types of cheating and plagiarizing. Why do these students cheat? What is the result of this? Students were then asked as to why they cheat and their responses are shown on Figure 2, taken from Inkwell as well. This figure relates back to the text “Studies Shed Light on How Cheating Impedes Learning” which states “…students are more likely to cheat when they are under pressure to get high grades…” (259).[K10] Talking about the problem of cheating and plagiarism being a moral issue, this texts offers the statement that “You’re only hurting yourself,” and says that this may be a literal statement according to new research (256). Sarah Sparks offers the thought that although most students consider cheating to be wrong, a large majority of students still engage in it, which results in the student actually deceiving themselves into thinking they are doing well academically, which can set them up for failure (256[K11]).

Now that we have dug deeper into the issue that is cheating and plagiarizing, let’s take a look at possible solutions to eliminate this problem[K12].

Solution

As we looked into the reason why students feel the need to plagiarize and cheat, possible solutions arise to fix this problem. First off, different measures need to be taken to ensure the students are not cheating, and both the students and professors need to contribute to this. Looking back at Figure 2, we notice that two reasons students cheat are because they are overscheduled and because of procrastination.Scott[K13] Jaschik states, “This is especially true of students who may have time management problems and neglect assignments until the last minute. More than one student has suggested to us that they have used the interned to copy information because it’s the only way they can get a particular assignment done when it is due the next day” (223). Jaschik also says, “To fix this problem, students must simply be more organized. Students may feel that the professors give too much of a workload, but without organization it is impossible for them to put time and effort into their work, resulting in the use of other’s work”(223). In time, if students give said time and effort into their school work, good grades should follow as well. Professors, on the other hand, have the power to implement solutions and strict repercussions if they catch students cheating and plagiarizing. As such, I propose that all written work should go through websites such as Turnitin.com to ensure that the students used their own and current work.[K14]Kevin Simpson states in his article, “Rise in Student Plagiarism Cases Attributed to Blurred Lines of Digital World,”, that “Turinitin.com, a website that scans and archives millions of papers and employs algorithms to scrub them for lifted material has been key in that effort…but finds no substitute for teachers simply knowing their students”(252). Also, to ensure tests are not being passed around, and answers are not being shared, professors should be required to re-write tests each semester and have different versions for different sections. This[K15] may sound like an unnecessary amount of work for the professors, but[K16] this will, in turn, help the students actually learn, instead of trying to memorize answers they got from other students. Last, if the professors do catch a students plagiarizing or cheating, there should be immediate repercussions and consequences for that student and for the course work they submitted. To change the course of this problem, it is important that we change these habits and rules immediately, so students can go back to getting and education and learning instead of trying to solely get good grades[K17].

Work Cited[K18]

Jaschik, Scott. “Cheating in College.” Ethics in Higher Education. Nancy Henke et al. Southlake, Texas: Fountain Press, 2013. 199-214. Print.

Simpson, Kevin. “Rise in Student Plagiarism Cases Attributed to Blurred Lines of Digital World.” Ethics in Higher Education. Nancy Henke et al. Southlake, Texas: Fountain Press, 2013. 199-214. Print.

Sparks, Sarah D. “Studies Shed Light on How Cheating Impedes Learing.” Ethics in Higher Education. Nancy Henke et al. Southlake, Texas: Fountain Press, 2013. 199-214. Print.

Kriegstein, Brittany. Figure 1. 2013. Cheating at Friends Academy: An Exposé, New York. Inkwell. Web. 7 July 2014.

Kriegstein, Brittany. Figure 2. 2013. Cheating at Friends Academy: An Exposé, New York. Inkwell. Web. 7 July 2014.

[K1]Sub-headings! Wonderful and genre appropriate. Already, the logos is being paid attention.

[K2]As always, these small line edits are marked to raise awareness, but they do not affect my assessment of the essay unless they become an overwhelming pattern that interferes with meaning.

[K3]This phrase does a great job of using pathos to establish an emotional connection with the reader by identifying yourself as an invested stakeholder.

This passage also does a good job of establishing background.

[K4]Nice identification of a specific audience.

It could have been even more specific!

I can hear you thinking: How could I have done that, Kathryn?

Just by making clear that you are writing about America students, professors, and staff in American institutions of higher learning.

[K5]Great identification of the three texts used to support the essay’s claims.

[K6]Always make sure to quote the original writer, even if he /she is quoting someone else. Make sense?

[K7]Wonderful! The evidence is prefaced with a lead-in, is clearly stated, correctly attributed, and then explained.

This all demonstrates very nice ethos and logos.

[K8]Great exploration and continued iteration of the problem! Logos and ethos are overlapping a working in positive and useful manner!

[K9]Good!  Wonderful use of visualrhetoric and nice attribution of it.

[K10]Very nice! Here you connected evidence and shown your reader how it all relates and support s each piece.

[K11]Beautiful paraphrasing.

[K12]The problem is well established.

Somewhere around here, I would have liked to see an explicit identification and explanation of the exigency.

In other words, why must something be done NOW?

[K13]I love the reference back to the visual rhetoric and using it to both prove the problem and support the solution.

Very nice writing!

[K14]Clear, concise, and to-the-point proposal that is prefaced by lovely, connected evidence, and shows a very nice synthesis of ideas!

[K15]I agree 100%!

[K16]Nope. It’s our job to do so! 

[K17]Superb passage that integrates the evidence beautifully!

The essay ends a tiny bit abruptly. To make an already excellent essay even better, the essay could have considered ending with a summary type conclusion to tie it all together.

Make sense?

[K18]This works cited page is almost perfect! It just needs to be in alphabetical order.