Reflective Writing 9

 Name              : Meillita Puan Maharani

ID Students’   : 2223200081

Class               : 4A

Course             : Academic Writing

Reflective Writing 9

            Plagiarism in essays and research papers is becoming more common, as evidenced by incidents and anecdotal evidence. According to Applebome (1997), term papers for sale are abounding on the internet. Howard (1995), presumably in response to the pervasiveness of plagiarism in academic writing programs at American institutions, offers a case for a positive view of inexperienced writers' "patchwriting" skills. Plagiarism, defined as the use of a source text's language and/or ideas without attribution, is not a problem unique to NNS English learners in academic writings. Academic paper writers are expected to exhibit the capacity to synthesize material from different sources and credit the authors of the source texts using the standards of the genre.

            L2 writing teachers who want to change their classroom procedures to assist students to enhance their writing skills and avoid plagiarism are the target audience. We begin by summarizing some cultural/ideological contributions, followed by citing some studies with a more focused educational and developmental focus. Following a study of the literature, the following theories emerge – not all of which are mutually exclusive: cultural-ideological disparities; challenges with writing skills; developmental processes; and training – either none or inadequate —; and the role of academic gatekeepers.

            Plagiarism and Academic Writing of English Learners gathered data from three sources: (1) senior theses written in both English and Japanese, (2) other papers written by learners, particularly summary-reaction papers, and (3) input from learners via a questionnaire and informal interviews conducted during office visits. We observed the following characteristics of plagiarism in these students’ writing: (1) When explicitly quoting from a source, sources are supplied; (2) when paraphrasing or summarizing from a source, no reporting verbs are used, and no acknowledgment of the original author is given; (3) the original text is reworked, with phrases, parts of sentences, and lexis "copied," sometimes with tell-tale "mistakes" of Japanese learners added, such as dropping all the definite articles; and (4) the first and last paragraph(s) are the student's, with the entire body of the essay taken from the original. We asked the authors of the documents we looked at to explain their actions. Most of them admitted to copying from the source, citing reasons such as a lack of time, a lack of understanding of how to complete the task, and a concern of receiving a low grade due to their English language level.