I’m currently taking a course on academic writing which can, admittedly, be a boring topic. Not everyone wants to spend their weekends and evenings carefully crafting sentences to summarize peer-reviewed academic journal articles and meticulously formatting in-text citations and reference lists in adherence to APA guidelines. And fair enough.
In my first assignment, I was tasked with summarizing the article, “Writing from Sources, Writing from Sentences” (Howard et al., 2010). There, amongst many interesting tidbits, I was introduced to a new term: Patchwriting.
Howard et al. (2010) defined patchwriting as: “reproducing source language with some words deleted or added, some grammatical structures altered, or some synonyms used” (p. 181). They discussed how many academics saw patching as clear evidence of plagiarism while others positioned it as more of a failed attempted at a paraphrase. In the latter, it’s more of a learning strategy versus a deliberate attempt to mislead. Merriam-Webster referred to patching as “paraphrasing in a cut-and-paste world” citing Howard’s work dating back to the pre-Internet era of the 1990s. Nowadays, we may view AI as more of a patchwriting device rather than a tool for paraphrasing or summarizing.
Ultimately, Howard et al. (2010) presented patchwriting as evidence that students are writing from sentences, not sources. In practice this suggests that the student hasn’t read the full source or if they have, they failed to understand the full scope. It might also mean that the student has gone on a bit of an expedition to find something particular to support their point without considering alternative concepts. The issue with patchwriting is you simply don’t know the writer’s intention and, consequently, cannot be confident in the resulting assertions they make.
This is problematic as it runs contrary to the academic conventions of immersing oneself in the literature. Academic writing is meant to expand ideas, build upon existing knowledge, and invite critique. Something even the most seasoned academic needs to keep in mind.
Here are some additional resources you may want to check out:
- Patchwriting: What It Is and Why You Should Avoid It (TCK Publishing)
- Plagiarism, Patchwriting, and Paraphrasing (UBC, Academic Integrity Matters Program)
- Academic Integrity: Paraphrasing vs Patchwriting (KPU)
- Patchwriting Is Plagiarism (The Writing Cooperative)
And here’s the APA source for the Howard et al. (2010) article in case any of you are interested in finding it.
Howard, R. M., Serviss, T., & Rodrigue, T. K. (2010). Writing from sources, writing from sentences. Writing & Pedagogy, 2(2), 177–192. https://doi.org/10.1558/wap.v2i2.177
This response was reviewed and refined using Microsoft Copilot to assist with grammar, spelling, and clarity. The AI was used solely for editing purposes and did not alter the original ideas or voice of the author.
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