Julia Burke
SLM-521
Worksheets for Instruction: Plagiarism—Elective #5
July 2, 2009
Preventing
Plagiarism
Although the Internet provides invaluable resources and tools for facilitating education, it also provides the means for undermining our goals as educators. One such example is plagiarism: presenting the work of others as your own. Although plagiarism has always existed, the technology of the Internet makes engaging in cheating behavior that much easier. What follows is an outline providing an overview of why students cheat, some possible remedies, as well as some website resources available for curtailing this pervasive and educationally detrimental behavior.
Why do students
plagiarize?
While the reasons are as varied as the personalities of your students there are some general motivations:
1. Ignorance: Students may not know what plagiarism is or what the repercussions could be if they are caught.
2. Boredom: Students may feel a lack of interest in the assignment.
3. Poor time-management skills: Combined with boredom and the inability to prioritize, studentsÕ lack of organizational skills makes plagiarism an attractive option.
4. Academic Pressure to ÒproduceÓ: Students may feel that they have no other options if they are to meet the high expectations of parents, teachers, etc.
5. Path of least resistance: The ease of Òcopying and pastingÓ combined with the availability of sites offering prepared assignments as well as the belief that they will not get caught all can lead to plagiarism.
(Harris, 6/14/09)
What are some
remedies?
1. Educate yourself and your students as to what exactly plagiarism is—prepare practice activities based on recognizing plagiarism.
2. Assign interesting projects—perhaps utilizing student input—with detailed instructions.
3. Have multiple, intermediate due dates for different parts of the assignment, negating (hopefully) the panic of last-minute work.
4. Be available to provide support and assistance during the process.
5. Research the sources available for cheating and make sure that your students know that you know about these sites.
6. Stress to students the seriousness of the repercussions for getting caught plagiarizing, emphasizing that people DO get caught. (Examples never hurt.)
7. Know how to check suspect work: Utilize such search engines as Google, Yahoo, etc. as well as more specialized sites as http://turnitin.com
(Harris, 6/14/09)
The following is a
list of sources referenced for this overview as well as sites available for
further investigation of this topic:
Eye on cheaters: schools look
for ways to combat cheating epidemic (Current Events, Jan. 9, 2004)
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EPF/is_15_103/ai_112354637
Harris, Robert. (6/14/09) ÒAnti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research
Papers.Ó Retrieved: 7/2/09. http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm
Internet Plagiarism: An Agenda
for Staff Inservice and Student Awareness
by Margaret
Lincoln ¥ Library Media Specialist
Lakeview High
School, Battle Creek, Michigan
http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/lincoln.htm
Plagiarism: What It is and How
to Recognize and Avoid It
Produced by Writing Tutorial
Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml