In the time since Monday's class I've been occupied with other things, but every time I have gone into my classroom I feel a overwhelming urge to talk to them about plagiarism. Not because I'm especially concerned that the group of students in front of me at the time is going to run out and plagiarize their final paper for my course, or because I'm concerned that some have already slipped by me, but because I am interested in their thoughts on our Monday night discussion. I truly believe that the most important thing that we can teach our students is the form and process of writing an academic and intelligent paper. I also believe, as I said in class, that if a student understands the structure of a paper and what separates their writing from that of the ongoing academic discussion, they can work to address those things regardless of vocabulary or experience. Isn't the most important thing about writing following the form of the academic model? And, isn't a key component to that model the uptight and rigid manner in which academic ideas are usually expressed? I find it hard to accept that any other than laziness accounts for plagiarism when I take stock of the wide range of writing styles that we willingly accept as academic and intelligent on a daily basis. This has been more of my own rambling than any attempt to make a solid point, but there it is...