Is plagiarism in GCSE English lit exam possible?

[CatsLikeBoxes]

My dc is in yr10. Their English teacher has said they have to grade them U in their end of year test because some of their work is word for word from popular revision sites. And that she needs to ensure it's in her own words as otherwise it is plagiarism. Can it be plagiarism if it's in an exam and she's just memorised some information? It's not like it is coursework and she's copied it.

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.

@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."

@Evvyjb what do we know?!

@MrsHamlet fools, all of us

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.

Was for English language or literature?

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.

@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?

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

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.

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.

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!

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.