2002-08-04
Update on plagiarism, posted at 10:50 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Many of you have asked about the plagiarism situation. Apparently someone at a university in some state turned in an entire unit plan on African-American poetry off of my website as her own, and one of her classmates told me about it via an e-mail. I followed up, and this is what I received (all names, places changed):Dear Epiphany,
I am sorry for the delay in response. I have been in the middle of a final in Algebra, a subject which gives me hives, and I have just now logged on to my computer.
However, I do want to update you. I turned in a copy of Plagiarism Patty's lesson plan, along with a copy of your lesson plan that I downloaded from your website, and I turned both of them in to my professor, Professor Smarty Pants (His first and last name). He immediately took the lesson plan to the teacher who taught the Bilingual Education class, for which your lesson plan was submitted. I was told that her response was not pleasant, and that Plagiarism Patty, the girl who plagiarized, is in deep doo doo, and that her entire Masters program is in jeopardy.
I am sure that you can appreciate the delicate nature of this infraction. I do not want to create an embarrassment for my University or for any of the professors, for that matter. However, I do want you to be apprised of the situation as it plays out.
I have just sent a e-mail to my professor, Professor Smarty Pants, and have asked him to respond to any questions you might have.
I do want you to know, however, that this issue is being addressed by the proper authorities within the University, and I will make sure that you are kept informed.
I personally want to thank you for the lesson plans that you have written. I will begin student teaching in the fall, and I know that I will refer to your webpage when I need to develop my own lessons. For my last class, I developed a Poetry lesson, and I found out that there are really very few quality plans available over the net. That is how I discovered the plagiarism -- I was looking for quality.
Feel free to write me any time. Again, I have forwarded your last letter to my professor, Professor Smarty Pants, and have asked him to respond to your questions. He may not, however, be involved in the disciplinary process, however, because Plagiarism Patty was not one of his students. I believe, however, that he may be able to get you in touch with the proper parties. I myself, am thankfully, pretty much out of the loop at this stage.
I will be in touch as soon as I receive more information. Again I am sorry that we have to correspond over such sorry circumstances.
peace,
Truth Seeker
It all sounds well, eh? I'll keep you informed as I stay informed.
You know, it's actually kind of a compliment to get plagiarized. I'm glad the woman was caught and all, but it makes me sorta proud.