Dissertation Tips:  A monthly compendium of thoughts, tips and strategies for completing your dissertation!! 

December 2009

I'm a bit late in putting up December's tips.  The end of the semester always presents challenges for all of us in higher education.  Wrapping up the semester, grading, as well as preparing for the upcoming holidays seem to fill every hour of the day! I'm always struck by how much time I spend on issues related to academic integrity (more with my undergraduates than graduates).  So I thought I would share some of my thoughts on academic integrity in this month's tips.

Academic integrity is at the foundation of the academic enterprise.  Scholarly work depends on the ability to analyze and synthesize the work of others and to develop your own argument.  The skills needed to do this develop over time.  The more articles you read, the more you analyze and synthesize what others have said, the more your write, the better you will be in crafting your own unique take on a topic. 

I've seen way too many students recently who don't seem to realize that plagiarizing is analogous to theft.  When one plagiarizes, they are taking the ideas developed and crafted by another and passing them off as their own.  They are not doing the intellectual work of translating those ideas into their own understanding.  Learning when and how to paraphrase is crucial to your success in doing scholarly work.  When in doubt, it's far better to quote and properly cite the author than risk passing off the ideas of another as your own! 

There are no shortcuts in scholarly work - you have to engage in the process of translating the ideas of others into your own understanding and communicate it in your own way.   One technique I suggest to my clients is after reading a research article, put the article aside and write a brief summary in your own words of what the article was about.  Then go back and find particular quotes that you might want to use to supplement what you've written.  If you are careful in doing your research (and taking notes in your own words) you'll find that there will be fewer opportunities to inadvertently plagiarize.