What we talk about when we teach research : plagiarism and fraud across the curriculum

Teachers confront the problem of plagiarism when they give research assignments. These research projects vary according to the way in which the professor, the department and the discipline defines research. To investigate research across the disciplines, I interviewed six professors who teach research assignments in their classes and six students who attempted to complete these assignments during the academic period of summer semester (1993) through fall semester (1994) at Ball State University.Specifically, I observed six disciplines--English, history, philosophy and religious studies, anthropology, physics, and biology--to assess the teachers' procedures for teaching research, and their explanations of how research could go wrong.Six student volunteers were observed throughout their research assignment as they gathered sources, accumulated data, observed experiments, wrote papers and compiled11a Works Cited list. After students completed their research assignments, I requested that each instructor evaluate the assignments and conclude whether it constituted legitimate, effective research. Although all six student researchers had difficulties completing their assignments, by the end of the semester four out of the six produced successful research projects. One student received an F on her project because she plagiarized, while another earned a C because she did not complete the assignment effectively. The students who did well on their research projects exhibited discipline-specific skills and the following general characteristics: the ability to gather sources, focus topics, authenticate sources, employ disciplinary language, adhere to citation and documentation format guidelines, and use computer and lab equipment. Indicators of possible plagiarism in research projects included: students using unspecified format (such as an older MLA format), writing that revealed improvement several skill levels above previous writing, uncited elevated language and phraseology, and a lack of sources in the bibliography.Department of EnglishThesis (Ph. D.