Is plagiarism in GCSE English lit exam possible?

If a story was written my guess is that this was English Language not Literature. I can understand a repeated story being used as a concern but using the term "malpractice" is rather strange. Yes, I could see this being a concern for examiners and this being highlighted. It is often the weaker students who reproduce answers verbatim who don't really at 15/16 how to make their work different. With course work the Turn it in programme can be used to check similarity and I believe that is used by many universities and some schools - it can't be used easily on written work.
I think this issue is important for parents of children in their GCSE years. Exams are meant to be standardised and it seems the points made here show that there is confusion.

https://media.samaritans.org/documents/Media_Guidelines_FINAL.pdf

@bouncingblob see Samaritans guidelines above - page 12, language to avoid.

I agree that a GCSE student is unlikely to upset Lady M’s relatives, but language is insidious and important.

Apols for thread detail!

Of course it's still something you can "commit", given that word is used in any number of contexts beyond the legal framework.

Anyway, phrasing it as "Lady Macbeth commits suicide" would cause no problems for any GCSE student.

OK thanks @Oblomov24 I thought maybe you were looking in a new book.

@bouncingblob the form of words used now is "died by suicide" or "took their own life" – suicide is no longer a crime (not since the 1960s IIRC) and so it is not something you can "commit", and to use that word is perjorative. If you look in newspapers and on news websites you will find this to be so. This is as per media guidelines on suicide reporting from the Samaritans.

What do you mean this form of words is no longer used?

@clary

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/macbeth/characters/&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwixko6UiKeHAxUogP0HHdp3CYwQFnoECB4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw26SDrcVbU-GVjZaugZU64q" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">macbeth

Clary I just copied and pasted one of the links when I searched : Macbeth character analysis. Is that an old link? No longer using the words commits suic*de?

On a totally side note @Oblomov24 does Spark notes actually use the phrase "committed suicide"? I mean I assume so - but U want to check before I send them a stroppy email as this form of words is no longer used.

Was for English language or literature?

I'd be intrigued to see the plagiarism sentences highlighted by teacher.

Eg you only have to search Macbeth character analysis and immediately 8+ links come up, many of which students may have looked at.

Did she use her photographic memory and memorise it verbatim? Many of the links? And then reproduce huge sentences? In which case you must talk to her about how that can't happen.

Eg Sparknotes:

"Lady Macbeth
Macbeth’s wife, a deeply ambitious woman who lusts for power and position. Early in the play, she seems to be the stronger and more ruthless of the two, as she urges her husband to kill Duncan and seize the crown. After the bloodshed begins, however, Lady Macbeth falls victim to guilt and madness to an even greater degree than her husband. Her conscience affects her to such an extent that she eventually commits suicide. Interestingly, she and Macbeth are presented as being deeply in love, and many of Lady Macbeth’s speeches imply that her influence over her husband is primarily sexual. Their joint alienation from the world, occasioned by their partnership in crime, seems to strengthen the attachment that they feel to each another."

Many of the things in the above, will be the all the links. "victim to guilt and madness" is one that comes up again and again.

If on the other hand she's written many of the words above, together, it could be an issue.

Please come back to us op once you see the paper. I'd be asking teacher to put it in an email. Hopefully highlight in yellow which bit is taken directly from a website.

Many of us have year 11 and year 10's, so this kind of thing is important.

@MrsHamlet fools, all of us

@Evvyjb what do we know?!

@greenlettuce it is your information that is inaccurate. As many people on this thread have attempted to tell you.

Reminds me of a certain youtuber and his insistence that using HIS pre-written stories "was not plagiarism". Even released a video "confirming" this.

Surprise - examiners were instructed that EVERY time we saw these stories that they should be escalated.

The full JCQ guidelines (rather than the limited section you reference) make this clear.

From examiner training: "the repetition of phrases or whole sections of text, where this goes beyond the scope of a pre-learned writing frame, should be escalated as suspected malpractice."

I agree that about what plagiarism is and the acknowledgement of sources, the question is whether repeating in formation in an exam which you have learnt is malpractice and that is different.

In an exam students do not reference in the same way they do in coursework - the don't have to. In an exam student are writing under pressure and they are not copying from a source.

Every student will have learnt things from books and will be reproducing information they have been taught. I actually think it is really quite scaremongering to suggest that students will be accused of malpractice if they reproduce information they have learnt. In the OP's case I believe the teacher was incorrect if she was applying GCSE rules - if it was her own rules then that is a different matter but I don't think telling students inaccurate information is good practice.

I think parents will be concerned by inaccurate information as the allegation of malpractice is very serious with serious consequences.

That is from an old version of their guide for teachers/assessors, not JCQ regulations.

As I've already pointed out, the current guide omits that paragraph. In any event, that paragraph is somewhat confused. It talks about "the compilation of research notes which can be used in the examination" and also says it can occur "when candidates are permitted to annotate texts and bring these into the examination room". In both cases, any plagiarism will only be found when the student's exam script is marked.

The actual regulations state that, "plagiarism: unacknowledged copying from, or reproduction of, published sources or incomplete referencing" is candidate malpractice. There is nothing in the regulations that says it is only malpractice in non-exam situations.

So I'm afraid you are wrong. Memorising and reproduction of text is malpractice regardless of whether it happens in an exam setting.

Kids aren't expected to come up with original thoughts on Romeo and Juliet, but they mustn't simply learn someone else's work off by heart and regurgitate it word for word. They need to adapt it to the question. I would agree that plagiarism in an exam situation is likely to be rare, but JCQ clearly regard it as malpractice.

Yes, of course you don't expect much original thinking. It's one of the reasons why gcse is a terrible preparation for IB.

But what you can't do, is regurgitate 1000 words you got off Spark Notes or Shmoop verbatim.

Sadly, examiners do see quite a bit of that.

Corvus - it really isn’t. GCSEs have a large recall component- by definition if kids are learning definitions and facts they will be from a book / website.
We don’t expect gcse kids to come up with new ideas about Romeo and Juliet, they use what they have learnt and adapt it to the question. The whole point of flash cards, cgp books etc is that they are for learning stuff and it doesn’t need to be referenced in exams. It’s called studying. I think some people are confused about the difference between work done in exams and NEAs and other assessments that are ‘open book’.

"By virtue of its definition, plagiarism is restricted to those examination components where students undertake examination work in unsupervised conditions, such as coursework, pre-release work, or the compilation of research notes which can be used in the examination. It can also occur when candidates are permitted to annotate texts and bring these into the examination room." from JCQ

Candidate who reproduce stock answers which they have learnt parrot fashion often don't answer the question so they may not score highly.

I'm sorry, it's a thumping great malpractice.

If, for example, you know you've got a question on a character from Of Mice & Men coming up, then you could of course memorise answers to the 6-8 possibilities from examples online.

It's malpractice - mind you igcse Edexcel doesn't help itself by setting questions like this.

I teach overseas, in a culture that has a tradition of confident rote learning.

It's definitely a concern, & would void a y10 exam for sure.

Really? Perhaps you can point readers and the relevant regulations, since it seems they contradict what JCQ say in their Guide to Plagiarism in Assessments.

@Evvyjb Thank you!

OK @greenlettuce you clearly know more than all of us! I bow to your superior knowledge.

(Please don't pre-learn and regurgitate model answers. It will be flagged as malpractice)

If you say so.

@MrsHamlet
No it is not malpractice as the JCQ regulations clearly state

Your quote is from the Guide to Plagiarism in Assesments which states

"This guidance note is written for the staff of assessment centres who have   responsibility for supervising and/or marking candidates’ non-examination assessments or portfolio work"

Plagiarism is also mentioned in the Information to Candidates - Cousework & Non Examination Assesments pages but not the Written exams pages.

An older version of the document states more specifically about exams. I suspect it was re-written to include more reference to AI in coursework.

https://ccea.org.uk/downloads/docs/ccea-asset/General/Plagiarism%20in%20Examinations.pdf