Saturday, January 25, 2014

Dissertation Plagiarism Part 3: Don't Forget Wikipedia

For my next installment, I offer the kind of plagiarism that we generally see from our undergraduates. On page 11 of her dissertation, Henderson offers the following:


While the material beginning with "this addition was made . . ." appears on several internet sites, I'm sure that all of us have experienced the undergraduate plagiarists sophisticated reliance on the first site that pops up. In the case of this material, it happens to be Wikipedia, that proven source of scholarly material. The material from Henderson's dissertation appears in this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_reasoned_action. You will note that in the Wikipedia article, the anonymous author actually accurately references the material from this source: Katherine Miller, Communications Theories: Prospectives, Processes and Contexts, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004). The quotation cited in Wikipedia and plagiarized by Henderson appears on p. 127 of Miller's book:



I think further comment on this version of plagiarism is unnecessary.

4 comments:

  1. This is astounding and utterly embarrassing- for her. When will the supposed scholar step down to prevent further embarrassment and detriment to the university?

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    1. That's not going to happen. Wayne Watson is not going to remove her either. They are going to try to keep things intact, damage to the university be damned. The only way this abominable situation will be resolved is through outside intervention.

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    2. Then it is time to remove Wayne Watson. But how should it be gone about?

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  2. It is hard to understand what Watson might mean by his use of the word "alleged" in the context of Angela Henderson's plagiarized dissertation. The evidence is right there in the pages she submitted as her work. Dissertations are always published, either printed, bound and placed in the university library or published online or both. The point of research and scholarship is the publication of one's work with the understanding that one's peers will read it and respond. What possible objection could Ms. Henderson have to having her dissertation read carefully and thoroughly responded to by an experienced researcher and scholar.

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