The Handy Teacher’s Guide

“Plagiarism in the Classroom”

Teaching kids how to creatively express themselves in an original way is an exciting part of teaching, but not always an easy one. Plagiarism is a difficult issue to handle and one none of us ever want to see from our students, but it happens. This guide was put together to help you detect cases of plagiarism in your classroom, strategize the best ways to handle situations that arise, and good practices in teaching students about plagiarism and why it is not acceptable.

Top 5 Things to Remember

1. Educate yourself on what plagiarism is and the ever increasing presence it has in our classrooms today.
2. Lay down the rules and foundation at the beginning of the year and stay consistent.
3. Research different resources to help you prevent and detect plagiarism in your classroom.
4. Be clear in your expectations for your students’ work and provide support through every step.
5. Don’t take it personal; always keep your students’ learning at the forefront of your mind.

How do I detect that a student in my class has plagiarized their work?

You receive a questionable paper from one of your students and you want to find out whether or not they have actually plagiarized their work. There are many good websites out there to help you determine whether your students have cheated and copied someone else’s work from the Internet. The first easy step would be to put a questionable sentence into a search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc). This will bring up any sites that have that exact sentence listed anywhere on their site. Other sites to help you determine the validity of the piece are http://www.turnitin.com/ and http://www.canexus.com/. Once you have determined that the student did plagiarize their work, what do you do now?

How do I handle a situation where I have found that one of my students has plagiarized?

First check to see whether your school has a policy regarding plagiarism and follow the guidelines set by the school administration. In addition, it is a good idea to establish an expectation of honesty in your class from the very beginning of the year. Set rules and consequences for their actions and discuss the severity of this issue. Have the discussion with your students about what plagiarism is, what it looks like, and why it is something that is unacceptable not only in your classroom but everywhere. Try to use real life situations of authors that have been accused of plagiarizing and how it has ruined their career and credibility as an author. Some good informational sites to help supplement your discussion are Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It (http://www.indiana.edu/%7Ewts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml) and Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers (http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm).

What are some good practices in teaching students about plagiarism?

As in any good lesson, be sure to frame the context before delving into the issue. Students may not even know what it means to plagiarize. Lay out the definition and discuss with the students different examples of plagiarized texts. Make sure your students know how to cite and the importance of citing information. Many students may feel that when they cite their information they aren’t giving credit to their work. Discuss with them the issue of validity and credible references and how that can “up the anty” shall we say of their paper quality. An important thing to state is to not wait until a situation occurs, lay this groundwork at the beginning of the year and be sure that your expectations are clear and consistent. An excellent resource to use is Internet Plagiarism: An Agenda for Staff Inservice and Student Awareness (http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/lincoln.htm).