Journal of English for Academic Purposes4 (2005) 83–95 Pandora’s box: academic perceptionsof student plagiarism in writingWendy Sutherland-Smith*Likewise, Haggis andPouget’s (2002) research suggests that the greater heterogeneity of students incontemporary higher education means that we need greater clarity and explicitnessabout the approaches that students need to adopt in order to deal with ‘students’confusion and disorientation in the working context of specific subjects and actualwriting tasks, at the time they are experienced’is viewed by many academics as a kind of Pandora’s box - the elements containedinside are too frightening to allow escape for fear of the havoc that may result. Reluctance by many to discuss openly may contribute to the often untenable situations we face when dealing with issues.
assessment shapes students’ perceptions of learning in highereducation (Ramsden, 1992)key element of the recent drive to make assessment more transparent toboth students and tutors has been the articulation of assessment frameworks (Rustet al., 2003), such as assessment criteria and grade descriptors, so that students areprovided with written information regarding what is required of them and whatstandards must be obtained to achieve different grades.a mismatch between thecontent which is taught and the content which is assessed, failure to use appropriateassessment tasks for the type of learning required (such as using multiple choicequestions to assess bedside manner among doctors), Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 23, No. 4, 1998 351Using Marks to Assess Student Performance,some problems and alternativesJAMES DALZIEL, Department of Psychology, University of Sydney, AustraliaRust et al. (2003) stress the tacit nature of assessment criteria and the difficulty oftransferring such tacit knowledge to others.in work on ‘academicliteracy’ by Lea and Stierer (2000), which views academic writing as a ‘contexualised social practice’ where the ground rules are not made explicit to students.