Today I handed back the first Independent Novel Response (out of 3) to students. Many of them were excellent, while some also had room for growth.

However, I also had a handful of students who plagiarized their responses.

This means that the students found essays or other materials online, and then copied it, treating the material as if they had written it themselves, or treating ideas as if they had come up with them themselves.

I know analyzing literature can be frustrating to sophomores -- as it is a skill that needs to be learned and practiced -- and it may be tempting to take shortcuts, but plagiarism is never the answer.
Please be aware that I would much rather have a student take baby steps in learning to write analytical papers (I am thrilled if a sophomore student merely gets the format correct and utilizes only basic analysis) than to have a student copy a paper that makes it sound as if they are writing a college dissertation. In fact, that is the way I discover most such plagiarizing ... I have had the students since August, and they suddenly go from a sophomore writing and vocabulary level to creating work that a graduate student might be proud of.
Also, be aware that the use of any plagiarized work -- at minimum -- will merit a zero on the content portion of my papers, and that students will likely receive a zero for the entire paper if most or all of it is copied. .
One Last Note: One student told me that he considered what he had done to be research, and that he was merely rewriting the information he had found. While I applaud the doing of research, 1. He copied the work word for word; and 2. He failed to acknowledge the fact that the information had come from a different author.

Thanks for listening.

If you or your child have any questions about this issue, please feel free to contact me. Our next response, #2, is due Friday, Feb. 17. We will be in the computer lab #3107  Wednesday-Friday.