Why is Plagiarism worse in the electronic world?

Information overload. New difficulties with summarising and

synthesising large quantities of information.

Unreliable quality of the information on the Internet.

The ease of cutting and pasting chunks of information with little reading, effort, originality or learning.

How can teachers help prevent plagiarism?

1. Learn about plagiarism by reading some excellent articles in sites such as:

• Student Plagiarism in an Online World [Click Here]

• Plagiarism: What it is and How to recognise and avoid it [Click Here]

How can teachers help prevent plagiarism?

2. Do not assume that students are clear on what exactly constitutes plagiarism or why it matters.

Discuss the meaning of plagiarism, including borderline cases, and the concept of academic honesty with students.

The following sites are useful in informing your discussion.

How can teachers help prevent plagiarism?

Plagiarism: What it is and How to Recognise and avoid it [Click here]

About Plagiarism and Pixels [Click Here]

How can teachers help prevent plagiarism?

3. Make expectations clear.

Put these expectations in writing and make the consequences of plagiarism clear to students.

How can teachers help prevent plagiarism?

Designing Questions

4. The question is the answerDesign research activities in such a way that the possibility of plagiarism occurring is minimal.

This demands creating questions which require students to synthesize and evaluate moving past just the gathering of information.

How can teachers help prevent plagiarism?

Designing Questions

What to avoid in questioningFree staff and students from the tedious and wasteful ritual “Go find out about…” research activities, because they beg for cutting and pasting of information and require no manipulation of the information.

How can teachers help prevent plagiarism?

Designing Questions

Emphasise questions at the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Design tasks which require:- Explanation- Problem Solving- Choices and decision making

How can teachers help prevent plagiarism?

Designing Questions

Appropriate questions often begin with:

• Why?• How?• Which?Check out Jamie McKenzie’s site:“The Question is the Answer:”http://fno.org/oct97/question.html

More tips for helping students avoid plagiarism

Process5. Emphasise process in set tasks

• Guide students through the six steps of the information process –

define, locate, select, organise, present and assess.

• This will allow students to divide their work into manageable stages and encourage original work.

More tips for helping students avoid plagiarism

Process Teach appropriate skills for each

stage of the process. • E.g. the use of concept maps in the

defining stage.• E.g. listing of resources in the

locating stage.• E.g note taking skills in the selecting

stage.

More tips for helping students avoid plagiarism

Process Don’t assume the students know

how to take notes. Teach them to:• Take notes in point form• Learn the difference between an acceptable

paraphrase and an unacceptable paraphrase

• Cite paraphrases and quotes correctly• Create bibliographies according to accepted

formats

More tips for helping students avoid plagiarism

Process For clear examples of acceptable

and unacceptable paraphrasing go to:

• Plagiarism: What it is and How to recognise and avoid it [Click Here]

• Using sources [Click Here]

More tips for helping students avoid plagiarism

Process Keep in touch with note taking and idea

development by requesting • Idea outlines• Questions• Concept maps• Working bibliographies• Working notes• Drafts

More tips for helping students avoid plagiarism

Process Include process as part of the

assessment. Provide clear rubrics for valued

information handling behaviours. Here is an example which can be

printed with permission. Information skills rating scale [Click Here]

Tips for Detecting Plagiarism

Check for unusual formatting or formatting that does not match what you require.

In particular, check for website printout page numbers or dates, grayed out letters and unusual use of upper/lower case and capitalization.

Tips for Detecting Plagiarism

Notice any jargon or advanced vocabulary or sentence structure.

Review the bibliography. Is the correct citation style used? Are there many items that the school library does not have?

Identify unique phrases and search them in one of the large search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

Tips for Detecting Plagiarism

Browse these websites which provide ready-made papers for students:

Research Papers Online A+: [Click Here]

A1 Termpaper: [Click Here] Genius Papers: [Click Here]

References

Hamilton College 2003, New York, viewed 22 August, 2003, http://www.hamilton.edu/academics/resource/wc/usingsources.html

McKenzie, J. 1998, From Now On. The Educational Technology Journal, viewed 22 August, 2003. http://fno.org/oct97/question.html

Wilson, D. 2000, PLC Library & Information Services, viewed 22 August, 2003, http://www.plc.vic.edu.au/Library/plagiarism/plag.htm

Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Indiana, viewed 22 August, 2003, http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html