Stacia Linz

SLM 521

Elective: Plagiarism

A QUICK PEEK AT PLAGIARISM

The Internet has completely changed the landscape of research, writing—and cheating, on assignments. Within the cyber-anonymity and a tremendous tangle of information, it’s almost effortless for students to intentionally (or unintentionally) cheat, or to misrepresent themselves by misunderstanding, misappropriating, or incorrectly citing their sources.

The onus is on you, as the teacher, to understand this new landscape, to instruct students in how to navigate themselves appropriately, and to craft meaningful assignments which stand up to plagiarism, and which provide both you and your students with opportunities to measure learning.

Here is a quick and dirty solution-oriented guide to the problem:

Presentation	Indications	Address by	Notes/resources
Incidents of suspicious behavior surrounding test-taking, written assignments & projects	There is an unaddressed cheating problem in existence, or in the making	Open up frank discussion, define cheating —and keep the discussion open
Essay or paper “feels” familiar	Student has borrowed a paper from one of your previous students	Rotate paper topics and assignments, year to year, assign Reflection-style papers, which require students to draw on personal experiences
Gray text within body of writing appears when printed out	The gray text was downloaded directly from the Web	Print out questionable papers as first recourse	*colored and downloaded text appears gray when printed out
Unusual or inconsistent formatting issues, including pagination, font, margins, with incorrect/outdated bibliographical information	Text was cut and pasted from the Web or someone else’s file, and filled around	Observation
Writing style or level of sophistication is inconsistent with instructor’s experience with student	Borrowed concepts and/or text	Observation, Student interview, asking him/her to discuss the salient points contained in, and process of, the work
Instructor observation of elements above	Plagiarism	Using a plagiarism detecting service, either school-wide, or pay-per-search	Turnitin.com Copyscape.com Essayrater.com

*Remember, the goal is to create an environment where it easier for students to succeed with authentic assignments than it is to engage in cheating!