by:
  Michael Donnelly,
  Rebecca Ingalls,
  Tracy Ann Morse,
  Joanna Castner, and
  Anne Meade
  Stockdell-Giesler

  The Devaluing of Growth?

A keystone of composition pedagogy is the intellectual process of writing; in rhetoric, ethos is instrumental. These two concepts form the foundation of many a composition classroom and of liberal education itself, a philosophy which the University of Tampa holds dear. In my first semester of using Turnitin.com, I found myself guilty of dissimulation: while professing the virtues of process writing, and emphasizing the necessity that all good rhetors should have a strong ethos, or believable character, I was simultaneously demonstrating my mistrust in them and my emphasis on the end-product of their work by insisting that they filter their final drafts through the policing agents in the Turnitin software.

While I exhorted students to be ethical scholars, to seek knowledge for the sake of itself, I reminded them that, ultimately, their work is a marketable object to be offered in exchange for a grade. I intimated that I trusted neither their integrity nor my own ability to discern the authenticity of their work, despite having read drafts, journals, and reader responses.

In my experience, the anti-plagiarism software certainly did catch some plagiarism (both intentional and unintentional) among students. However, I cannot believe the product in and of itself promotes originality in student work. In fact, as evidenced by the attempts by hackers to disable the website, I am more inclined to believe that it instead encourages students to find ways around it. The problem is not the plagiarizing. It's the mentality among the students that creates the willingness to risk detection, and antiplagiarism software, used alone, simply reinforces the us vs. them/ivory tower v. real world mentality that students use as an excuse to cheat in the first place. Students who devalue the process of learning and intellectual growth are, I believe, more willing to compromise their own academic integrity.

• Introduction: A Writing Program Director's Dilemma
• Flying, Finally
• The Role of the WPA
• The Problems with PDS
• May the Conversation Continue...
• Dissimulation in the Writing Classroom
• The Devaluing of Growth?
• A Lack of Ethics
• An Ethos of Academic Integrity
• Students Consenting to Turnitin.com: What Are We Asking When We Ask Them to Sign Away Their Work?
• The Concept of Intellectual Property
• Roots of Consent
• Why "Consent" May Not Be Sufficient
• Turnitin.com: A Teaching Tool
• Responsibility for Writing
• A Focus on Revision
• Turnitin: Oversimplified Answer to a Complex Problem
• Skill and Creativity
• Self-Fulfilling Prophesies
• A Stimulus to Creativity
• Engagement and Success
• Conclusion
• References
• print version