The original version of Flint, Clegg, and Macdonald (2006) cites MacFarlane as being published in 2004 versus 2003. As no document is listed with the same author, title, and publication details in the stated year, I have used the corrected year of 2003. This does not equate with APA Style, but arguably supports academic integrity.
The ideas of "transfer" and "recipient" populations suggest a homogeneity, which is problematic. Although the source group, the American Psychological Association, may be constructed homogenously at the meso-level, the construction of the transfer and recipient populations as homogenous is illogical. Amongst the transfer groups, for instance, will be members of the American Psychological Association and recipient states, as well as a multitude of identities, fractured or otherwise. Perhaps a better method would be to identify a self-named group within the academic community to which the knowledge flow is directed.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
APA Style as Internationalised Institutional Knowledge
I consider APA Style to be an example of internationalised institutional knowledge. APA Style is a common citation style recommendation made by journals, including those in the education arena (Fairbairn et al., 2009). Additionally, it is one method of defining what counts (and does not count) as possessing academic integrity. Drawing on MacFarlane (2003) and Larkham and Manns (2002), Flint, Clegg, and Macdonald (2006, p. 153) describe "the notion of intellectual integrity and originality... [as] paramount to academic achievement" and "inherent" in higher education. Further, this notion is "perpetuated by external processes such as the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), which rates single authorship journal articles as the highest form of academic output" (ibid.). Despite its role in supporting the "importance of originality" as an objective, culturally-neutral ideal (ibid.), APA Style continues relatively unchallenged.
I am considering:
(1) Whether internationalised institutional knowledge is experienced differently by domestic source, transfer, and recipient populations;
(2) That the American Psychological Association, as the APA Style's source population, have a defined position on originality;
(3) Whether 'transfer' is the correct term for populations which receive and transfer knowledge to another population;
(4) Whether institutions as 'transfer' agents act consciously in promoting APA Style;
(5) If recipient populations are offered opportunities to critique the importance of originality as a core academic construct.
These ideas are forming into the basis for quite a good doctoral dissertation!
REFERENCES (in APA Style, of course)
Fairbairn, H., Holbrook, A., Bourke, S., Preston, G., Cantwell, R., & Scevak, J. (2009). A profile of educational journals. Retrieved from http://www.aare.edu.au/08pap/fai08605.pdf
Flint, A., Clegg, S., & Macdonald, R. (2006). Exploring staff perceptions of student plagiarism. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 30(2), 145-146. Retrieved from http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/carnegie/files/CJFH_30_02_03.pdf
Larkham, P. J., & Manns, S. (2002) Plagiarism and its treatment in higher education. Journal of Further & Higher Education, 26(4), 339-349. Retrieved from http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0309877X.asp
Macfarlane, B. (2003). Teaching with integrity: The ethics of higher education practice. London, UK: Routledge Falmer.
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