Browsing by Author "Moskovitz, C"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Self-Plagiarism, Text Recycling, and Science Education
    (BioScience, 2015-12-30) Moskovitz, C
    Academicians generally consider it unethical to reuse text from published work without explicit attribution. However, in practice, the conventions and ethics associated with reusing text vary considerably across academic domains and genres. Although it may be anathema in the humanities, certain types of reuse are both common and acceptable in contemporary scientific discourse. The boundaries of acceptable practice are complex, however, so there is a strong temptation to ignore the topic in educational settings. Because the fallout from innocent errors can be damaging, scientists must assume responsibility for determining what constitutes acceptable reuse in their domain and for instructing future scientists in these practices.
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    Text recycling in health sciences research literature: a rhetorical perspective.
    (Research Integrity and Peer Review, 2017-01) Moskovitz, C
    The past few years have seen a steady rise in the number of health science journals using plagiarism detection software to screen submitted manuscripts. While there is widespread agreement about the need to guard against plagiarism and duplicate publication, the use of such tools has sparked debate about text recycling-the reuse of material from one's prior publications in a new manuscript. Many who have published on the topic consider all uses of text recycling anathema. Others argue that some uses of recycling are unavoidable and sometimes even beneficial for readers. Unfortunately, much of this discourse now merely repeats dogmatic assertions. I argue that progress can be made by acknowledging three points: First, citation standards for research writing in the health sciences will not mirror those of the humanities. Second, while it is impossible to draw a definitive line between appropriate and inappropriate uses of text recycling, some uses of the practice lie clearly on the legitimate side. Third, the needs of editors for information regarding recycled text are different from those of readers. Ultimately, calls for rewording and citation as alternatives or fixes for text recycling are unlikely to prove satisfactory to either readers or editors. A response to this article can be found using the following link: http://researchintegrityjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41073-017-0026-y.
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    Text Recycling in Scientific Writing.
    (Science and engineering ethics, 2019-06) Moskovitz, C
    Text recycling, often called "self-plagiarism", is the practice of reusing textual material from one's prior documents in a new work. The practice presents a complex set of ethical and practical challenges to the scientific community, many of which have not been addressed in prior discourse on the subject. This essay identifies and discusses these factors in a systematic fashion, concluding with a new definition of text recycling that takes these factors into account. Topics include terminology, what is not text recycling, factors affecting judgements about the appropriateness of text recycling, and visual materials.
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    Text recycling: Views of North American journal editors from an interview-based study
    (Learned Publishing, 2019-01-01) Pemberton, M; Hall, S; Moskovitz, C; Anson, CM
    © 2019 The Author(s).Learned Publishing © 2019 ALPSP. Over the past decade, text recycling (TR; AKA ‘self-plagiarism’) has become a visible and somewhat contentious practice, particularly in the realm of journal articles. While growing numbers of publishers are writing editorials and formulating guidelines on TR, little is known about how editors view the practice or how they respond to it. We present results from an interview-based study of 21 North American journal editors from a broad range of academic disciplines. Our findings show that editors' beliefs and practices are quite individualized rather than being tied to disciplinary or other structural parameters. While none of our participants supported the use of large amounts of recycled material from one journal article to another, some editors were staunchly against any use of recycled material, while others were accepting of the practice in certain circumstances. Issues of originality, the challenges of rewriting text, the varied circulation of texts, and abiding by copyright law were prominent themes as editors discussed their approaches to TR. Overall, the interviews showed that many editors have not thought systematically about the practice of TR, and they sometimes have trouble aligning their beliefs and practices.
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    Volunteer expert readers: Drawing on the university community to provide professional feedback for engineering student writers
    (Advances in Engineering Education, 2017-04-01) Moskovitz, C
    This paper reports on a 3-year study utilizing a novel approach to providing students in an introductory engineering course with feedback on drafts of course writing projects. In the Volunteer Expert Reader (VER) approach, students are matched with university alumni or employees who have the background to give feedback from the perspective of the target audience for their writing. Data suggest that VER can increase student engagement in engineering course writing assignments and may improve the quality of student writing. Factors most affecting successful implementation include whether student participation is required or optional and whether readers are matched with individual students or with a student team. Other factors may include the type of assignment, whether volunteers' backgrounds are a good fit for the type of writing, and whether readers can respond to student drafts in a timely fashion.