Why is Plagiarism worse in the electronic world? Information overload. New difficulties with...

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]

http://www.asee.org/prism/december/html/student_plagiarism_in_an_onlin.htm


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.


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

About Plagiarism and Pixels [Click Here]


3. Make expectations clear.

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


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.


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.


Designing Questions

Emphasise questions at the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

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


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.


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.


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


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]


Process Keep in touch with note taking and idea

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


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.


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.


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

Research Papers Online A+: [Click Here]

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

http://www.a1-termpaper.com/

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

Why is Plagiarism worse in the electronic world? Information overload. New difficulties with...

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