16.1243, Diss: Applied Ling: Pecorari: 'Original ...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1243. Tue Apr 19 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1243, Diss: Applied Ling: Pecorari: 'Original ...'

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1)
Date: 18-Apr-2005
From: Diane Pecorari < Diane.Pecorari at mdh.se >
Subject: Original Reproductions: An investigation of the source use of postgraduate second-language writers

	
-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 12:08:25
From: Diane Pecorari < Diane.Pecorari at mdh.se >
Subject: Original Reproductions: An investigation of the source use of postgraduate second-language writers



Institution: University of Birmingham
Program: English Department
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2002

Author: Diane Pecorari

Dissertation Title: Original Reproductions: An investigation of the source use
of postgraduate second-language writers

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics


Dissertation Director(s):
Martin Hewings

Dissertation Abstract:

Plagiarism is regarded as a heinous crime within the academic community,
but anecdotal evidence suggests that some writers plagiarize without
intending to transgress academic conventions. This thesis reports a study
of the writing of seventeen postgraduate students. The students were
non-native speakers of English working toward postgraduate degrees in four
academic areas:  science, engineering, social science and humanities.
Source reports in the student-generated texts were compared to the original
sources in order to describe the relationship between the two. Interviews
were also conducted with the student writers and their supervisors. The
student writing was found to contain textual features which could be
described as plagiarism, but the writers' accounts of their work and the
textual analysis  strongly suggest absence of intention to plagiarize, thus
providing empirical verification of similar suggestions in the literature.
Academic discipline was found to play a role in source use, along with
writing skill. The findings thus have implications for the areas of
academic literacy, English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for
Specific Purposes (ESP) and English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL)
writing instruction. These implications are discussed, and include
recommendation that the focus on preventing plagiarism be shifted from post
facto punishment to proactive teaching.




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