Academic writing involves extensive interaction between writers and texts. Writers develop their arguments out of other writers’ ideas and use published sources to both support and refute perspectives. Examine almost any academic journal article, and you will see references and quotations from other articles and books woven throughout the text. Learning how to integrate those sources in ways appropriate to disciplinary and cultural norms is a core challenge of learning to write academically.

Second language writing teachers are almost certainly aware of plagiarism as a concern in their practice. In our own educations, we probably heard teachers stressing the importance of “using your own words” and “giving credit where it’s due” over and over again. We probably repeat those phrases ourselves. We may teach at institutions that impose harsh penalties on students who copy words from sources without appropriate citation. But plagiarism is nowhere near as clear an issue as it might initially appear. This post explores some of the concerns we should keep in mind as we work with second language writers in academic contexts. Continue reading →