Patchwriting Their Way to Perfection: Students’ Use of Adapted Text to Address Plagiarism

• In Event: Exploring Processes Involved in Doctoral Education

Abstract

We examine the occurrence and process of patchwriting in STEM graduate student research proposals by describing specific ways students alter text to address identified instances of problematic text, i.e. text that matches with source text. We found evidence of students’ use of patchwriting strategies (isolated word changes and sentence restructuring), and patterns of source text use that support patchwriting as a developmental process and therefore as an educational opportunity. Additionally, students altered only identified problematic passages and consistently did not follow the conventions of citation, demonstrating the need for explicit composition instruction at the graduate level.

Authors

• Denise C. Strickland, University of Virginia

• Michelle Vieyra, University of South Carolina - Aiken

• Briana Crotwell Timmerman, University of South Carolina