Summary Response to “Cheating across Cultures” (Redden, 2007)
In a 2007 article from the news organization Inside Higher Ed, Elizabeth Redden states the problem of international students in American colleges and their cultural understanding of academic integrity（same structure）. [You should make the structure more easier and clear]Focusing specifically on Chinese international students, Redden quotes Greenblatt, an academic advisor and “expert on China” (¶4), who claims that even good, well-meaning students may not have the （misrepresentation）[change the misrepresentation into the original representation that the writer want to express.]issues of academic misconduct due to different cultural understandings of cheating. Redden reports the most common form of cheating as plagiarism, which, as she presents, may be caused by two main reasons: different cultural understandings and international pressure. Redden cites Crosby, a director at Carleton College, who reports that different cultural definitions of knowledge, which indexes different perceptions of cheating, may be a cause of international students’ lack of academic integrity. Redden then claims a quotation from Dodd, a director at Duke university, who expresses that the “international dimension ” (¶8) （missing quotation marks）[you don’t use the quotation marks, you should add the quotation marks when you quote others’ words]may play a role in increased stress to do well for international students, which may lead them to plagiarize in their homework.(same structure)
Redden moves to a conclusion by proposing solutions that many universities have implemented to encourage international students’ learning of Western academic norms. The main element of such an implementation is guaranteeing access to resources for international students. Redden reports the University of Denver’s implementation of a program designed to “develop a stronger network of resources”.(no resources) 【Reduce the expression of repeated expressions】The program initiates a “two-way street”, (missing quotation)[add the quotation when you quote others’ phrase ]says Elliott, a director of international student services at the University of Denver (no resources)Reduce the expression of repeated expressions where advisors set up a discussion of sorts between international students and their professors on the issues of cross-cultural perceptions of cheating. In the end, while it is important for instructors to guide their students, Redden cites Elliot who says it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to consult resources before they cheat or plagiarize.
From my vantage point as an ESL student, much of what Redden includes in her article is spot on. In my academic upbringing in China, what was considered academic misconduct is not the same as what I’ve experienced in the U.S. Like Crosby says in ¶7, we Chinese students were schooled to repeat back word-for-word what we were told. Our perceptions of learning were to acquire without much critical thought, so we don’t need to (misrepresentation)[The following inadequate paraphrase confuses the meaning of the original]Change the paraphrase to fit in the original purpose]memorize everything given to us by our teachers and our textbooks. This information was viewed as the ultimate form of truth and was not to be questioned. And I can appreciate what Dodd in ¶8 says about pressure to do well. Of course, to paraphrase a source is more difficult than to quote a source directly(too many same structures)【Reduce the expression of repeated expressions】, but when a writer quotes too much, he or she loses his or her original voice. Thus to pass off eloquently structured sentences, we international students may disguise an author’s word-for-word sentence as our own in hopes that our reading audience will not discover it. But it’s important to remember that plagiarism is dishonest, which threatens our integrity as an academic, and it can have dramatic consequences if our instructors catch it. Like Redden says, as students,we have responsibilities to seek help (use too much same words)[delete the same words in order to make it more concise]from advisors, professors, and other students before we cheat or plagiarize.
Final comment：
If students doesn’t revise the plagiarized paper, it will be closely related to the integrity of students, If the situation is not serious, then it may let the students re-take the test or cancel the test results, If the circumstances is serious,it may be imprisoned or handed over to the relevant judicial department for disposal.
To be sure that understand what plagiarism is, you can consult the OSU Libraries (https://library.osu.edu/projects-initiatives/copyright-resources-center/using-materials/plagiarism/) or ask for help at the writing center. Every time before you start writing an essay, make sure to have your own idea of the whole article and structure of it,don’t copy or borrow others’ opinions.