Learning Plagiarism: Law Students Really Must be Special
- Publisher:
- Australasian Law Teachers Association
- Publication Type:
- Journal Article
- Citation:
- Journal of the Australasian Law Teachers Association, 2015, 8 (No 1 & 2), pp. 75 - 94
- Issue Date:
- 2015-12-01
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In an earlier volume of this journal I expressed distaste for the growing prevalence of legal educators using rules of citation style to assist in determining whether and when a law student has plagiarised. More particularly, I framed this discussion in terms of a negative view of the over-use of style guides such as the AGLC, warning of the dangers of promoting citation style over an appreciation of academic integrity and good referencing. Rather, I opined the benefit of promoting a desire in law students to see themselves as part of a discipline of law and the motivation to see their work as contributing to the growth of that discipline. Here, in this second piece, I will begin from where the first article left off. I will explore the construction of the ‘discipline of law’ as it pertains to legal referencing and citation. I note inconsistencies in legal citation rules and identify that there is no such construct as a ‘discipline of law’ when it comes to legal referencing and citation (indeed we, as legal educators, are often remiss in not passing this fact on to our law students). I consequently argue that overemphasis on citation style by legal educators undermines our desire to produce well-rounded and ‘practice ready’ law graduates.
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