[Instrumental music.] So, hi Hiroki. -Hi. Do you know why I called you in today? -I think something about my paper. Yeah, so, I'm very concerned with the extent to which you plagiarized. I ran your paper through Turnitin and it came out as 21% plagiarized. And that's just not acceptable. Um… I… I was quite surprised because I included the policy on the syllabus. -But I wrote this paper by myself. All by myself. -And I thought you said I can use reading resource Yeah, you were expected to use four sources, but you have to do that responsibly and ethically and what you did is not responsible or ethical. Um…I hope you understand that plagiarism is a very big issue here, and it could lead you to being expelled from the University. -I guess I just not don't understand because I wrote reference list and… I wasn't cheating. Well it's not enough just to put your sources on the reference list… um… Okay, like this section here… you have your whole paragraph almost exactly copied, from Wikipedia apparently, and that's just not appropriate.
Um, you have to cite ideas, you have to cite your sources, and if you fail to do that its plagiarism. Um…but there are some other issues…let's see. You mentioned Markov, but I didn't see the reference list. -But this reference and also the Borowski reference, I found in this article Oh. Um, I see. I see. Well, but that's not appropriate because you're not giving credit to the right author. So, um… or you do, but you didn't really read the original. Right? You just found it in that other reference.
It's called secondary citation. But there are just too many problems and because plagiarism is such a huge issue at this university, I just cannot accept this paper. -But this paper is 30 percent of my grade. Yeah, I understand that. Well unfortunately, that might mean that you might need to repeat this course. Um, so I would talk to an academic advisor and I'm sure she could give you some ideas for how you can go around that. I think there is a section of this course offered next semester. And honestly, I think it will really help you. It will reinforce some of the concepts we've been learning about. You could learn more about academic writing. Because you know if this happens again… um… you could truly run into some major problems, and you really need to learn how to avoid plagiarism. -Oh…um… -Can I write new paper and submit like… tomorrow, day after tomorrow? Well, it's so late in the semester, Hiroki, I just don't see how you could write a good paper at this point. So… um…I wish I could accept a paper But I can't.
So… Well, thanks for coming in. I wish you luck with this. I hope it all works out. -Ok. Thanks. Bye In this scenario, the instructor has an accusatory, punitively oriented approach that causes the student to immediately shut down, leaving little room for discussion. The student is blindsided with the accusations. This probably confused him, and it is doubtful that he learned anything from the consultation.
It is not enough to simply list policies on the syllabus and expect the student to understand. Allow time for discussion and reflection. Consider using examples and modeling when you teach. Notice the timeline of the assignment. It is very late in the semester, with little time to implement any feedback. Finally, the instructor's sole focus on problematic sections of the paper completely omits areas where the student may have been successful. Well hi Hiroki. Thank you so much for coming into my office. I wanted to talk to you about your paper. So great work! You've done a really nice job! -Wow! I'm really happy to hear that! I put so much effort on this paper! Good. I can definitely say that you've put in a lot of work. So great work. Why don't I talk to you a little bit about some things you've done really well, and then we could talk about things that you could still work on? -Oh, okay. Um…would you mind if I take notes? Great. Sure…great idea. Okay, so you selected a very strong topic.
It is very narrow, and it's allowing you to use your personal experience. In fact, I was thinking you could use more of that. So instead of only using examples from the readings, you can use your own examples from your own life and your friends or people you know. -Oh. -Um, I thought that if I use a lot of my experience in my paper -Um…it would be…
Make… -It would be my paper less academic. You know if it's good experience, if it's relevant to your topic, I wouldn't worry about it. I think it's very appropriate for this topic to use your experience. I know what you mean about not sounding academic sometimes, though. There are few things I noticed. Like here in your introduction, when you say "successful factors that lead you to prosperous exotic marriage life." Maybe if you leave out "you," that could be… that could sound more academic. Playing with that word choice–exotic prosperous marriage life.
Maybe something like "successful marriage life." Little things like that could make you more academic. But that's just a small concern, and it's something you can work on with the Writing Center tutors. -Oh, Writing Center. Oh, another thing. Oh, is it okay for me to use Writing Center? Absolutely, that's a resource that is here for you. So, I would definitely go there with these kinds of editing issues, but not only with that. You can go there earlier with your paper. When you're struggling with some readings, you need some help with building your argument. You can really truly go there throughout the writing process and they can be very helpful. -Yeah, I heard they're really helpful, and I would definitely use this.
Great! Great! Okay, so let's talk about your draft and what you can do to improve it even better. Make it better for your final draft. So if this was me revising the paper, I would consider discussing one more concept from the class readings, or lectures. You do a nice job with bringing that information about verbal and nonverbal communication… um…but remember we have to have at least two concepts. It's a requirement for this assignment. So, maybe I was thinking, you could include something on low context and high context cultures. Perhaps somewhere in the introduction. Uh…it will not only help you meet the requirements, but it will make your paper be more theoretically grounded. So, that's just one idea. I mean, you can discuss something else, but keep thinking about what are some issues we've discussed throughout the semester that are relevant to your topic. -That sounds good. I will definitely use… I would definitely use that. Yeah. And these kinds of examples can really help you reinforce your argument. You know that there are some real differences in culture and these differences account for some success factors in intercultural marriages.
So I think will be very helpful. So another question I had has to do with your decision to focus on the particular– I think you called them elements for successful intercultural marriages. So, like let's see, this whole section here and here, you're basing on Romano. And you're discussing–let's see–family support, flexibility, liking for another culture, sensitivity to each other's needs and self-disclosure. Now, I noticed that Romano discusses ten, and you only discussed five. So what made you choose those particular five? -Oh, um. I… I used five… five of his examples Mm-hmm. -And if I -If I could copy all of them or all elements as an example, I think I feel like -I'm plagiarized. I'm plagiarizing. Okay. I appreciate that you were concerned about that and you're right. It wouldn't be appropriate to closely paraphrase everything Romano said. Right? It wouldn't be interesting, it wouldn't be appropriate. This is your paper, your argument. Um…and I noticed that you didn't quite just copy even those spots, you had another reference, I think by Reynolds.
Right? So what that tells me is that you are making an effort to synthesize information, so that's very very good. Having said that, I think you need a stronger rationale. Why did you choose these five? Okay, or these ten? Why the five? So I was thinking maybe you could focus a smaller subset, smaller number and say, all these ones have to do with communication, or these ones have to do with personal characteristics. Okay? And only focus on that part. Do you understand, or…? -I'm not sure. Well think about it more at home, and if you really cannot justify, if you cannot say why the particular five, what you could do is list all the ten that Romano mentions, and then you could say something like you know discussing all of these is beyond the scope of the paper. So I'll focus on blah blah blah. -Oh, I know I have seen that before. -Um…The scope of… Aha, so you could say discussing all these success factors is beyond the scope… Beyond the scope of this paper. It's a good phrase, useful phrase.
I'm glad you taking it down. Okay, so there is one more very important point we need to talk about. When you write, when it's your own writing, your voice is very friendly, very open, very accessible, very very easy for me to follow. Now sometimes, I notice though, that suddenly, it's very different. Suddenly it changes. Uh…let me see…like this section here… and even I think this… yep…this section here. So it makes me wonder if you struggled with some of your readings. If you weren't quite able to find a way to integrate it with your thinking. Um. Is that what… what you struggled with? So, you really have two choices here Hiroki. Um, either you have to find a way to integrate information. So whatever you're reading in an article, connect it to your own thinking. Okay? Make it clear how it's relevant to your topic. How it's connected. Or, you might want to just leave it out. For example, that information about a German intonation… maybe that's something. If you don't find a way to make it more clear– how does it relate to success of intercultural marriages–then you may want to just leave it out.
-Yeah, I… think -Yeah, I think I will leave it out because I found this information on Wikipedia. -I know when I found that information, -I thought it's great, but now I feel the information is irrelevant to my topic. Yeah, it clashes with your voice a little bit, and, you know, with regard to Wikipedia, it's not a bad source to go to at the beginning. If you don't know much information about the topic, you go to Wikipedia you find out more information. But I wouldn't use it as your main source. Some professors think it's not very academic. It's not very credible. So again, okay to use initially, but not as your main academic source.
-So no Wikipedia in academic source. Unless you're just finding out some basic information. All right, let me see I think there are two other sections, the one about constructive conflict and especially the section before your conclusion. Let's see you talk about "strategies for clinicians and psychologists dealing with struggling intercultural couples." Now that whole section was so specific. I was losing track of your main argument a little bit. It was so different from your main argument. So again, two choices. What are they? -Leave out or… Integrate, right? Connect. Good. Perfect. -Yeah, I think I will leave it… leave them out. -Because I care…I more care about the length of paper because, the longer I wrote, the better grade I can get. I thought that might be the case and something to think about is you lose one point for not meeting the page requirement, but you can lose many points if you, you know, copy and paste sections from other readings, and they are not connected to your argument. So, you know, definitely keep thinking about this and rest assured that at one point for um…not meeting the requirement will not give you a bad grade.
Okay, Hiroki, so what are you going to do as you revise this paper? -Okay, let's see. Um so you want me to focus on the part where I talk about the success factors and explain a little bit about the ones I chose and why I chose from Romano. Exactly! And what else? -Um… okay, let's see. -And then look through those few sections where maybe I was using too much internet and …not changed…I mean… did not integrate the information. -Or maybe leave out some… some of the information Exactly. Integrate, leave out. Perfect! -and only if it not related to my topic or my argument. -And…Maybe devise some language so it's more academic. Great, great! And the tutors can definitely help you with that. So one more last point. If you do integrate some of those sections, you… you change them a little bit more you work them with your voice, uh, work them in with your voice, make sure you attribute the information.
Make sure you tell us where you got that information from. Okay? And you do that… you do a nice job with it for the most part, when you're paraphrasing, quoting, you always show me where you found the information. But in those few sections I highlighted, you didn't do it quite as well. So make sure you make those revisions too. -Okay. I will. Great! So again, great job.
I know firsthand how difficult it is to write in a second language. Right? So you're doing great, I really appreciate how much work you're putting in. So I think you're going to be very proud of this paper once it's done. -So I can get a good grade? I think you will get an excellent grade, but just really focus on those revisions. -Yes! It's a long process isn't it? -Yes, it is! Yeah, I didn't realize like how much I need… I need to put my effort on this paper. I always in the library in this semester and, yeah… Yeah, I… I… you know I think most of my students think they can write a good paper in a weekend, but… not quite the case. Yep…yep.
But, you know… I don't know if you'll believe me but when I write for publication it probably takes me a whole semester to write a paper. Then I maybe revise it, I don't know, 10 20 30 times. Send it to somebody, they give me feedback I revise it another 20 times, and it's a very long process and you know you have to just be excited about it and willing to learn and become part of, of this community. All right? – I will do my best. Great! Well, good job again and good luck with your paper.
-Thank you. Bye. Did you notice a big difference? This consultation uses the sandwich approach. It began with a positive comment, highlighting the strengths of the paper, discussed shortcomings and ended on a positive note. The instructor is much more positive, causing the dynamic to shift to that of a dialogue. As a result, both parties are much more engaged. The use of a scaffolded assignment allows the student ample time to incorporate feedback and revise. Assessment is now transparent. This transparency is reinforced during the consultation. The discussion of problematic source use highlights the failure to communicate meaning effectively and keep the student's voice, rather than accusations of unethical practice. Finally, the instructor shows willingness to support the student's language development.
As you continue thinking about teaching and responding to texts written by second language writers, take a moment to reflect that what else a teacher can do. The following questions will provide a framework. [Instrumental music.].