Plagiarism -

How to Detect and Deter Situations

with College Students

 

As the emphasis on creating writing assignments/classes for each discipline grows, professors need to be aware of the dangers of plagiarism from students.  There are ways to detect plagiarism and to deter such situations.  This problem is increasing every semester as the Internet becomes the student’s best friend.  The days of slaving over card catalogs and spreading resources all over the tables in a library with a stack of notecards is no more.  Students today rarely leave their seats in their dorm rooms as they research the topics for the different papers they must write.  So how do we as professors handle this situation?

 

First, when assigning a research paper, we must educate our students with a clear message about what plagiarism is and give some examples.  We can also provide some specific examples of what is not acceptable.

 

Next, we should try to provide a timeline or specific due dates for each part of the project or paper. This forces those procrastinators to take action early so they don’t copy and paste their information the night before it is due.  Setting a final due date that is not close to the end of the term also helps students from feeling pressured at such a critical time in the semester.

 

Another item of consideration is to clarify sources.  If we require that students have a limited number of Internet resources, and then ask for several book or periodical sources, they will need to visit our library facilities and pour over the resources with stacks of notecards.

 

An oral report is yet another aspect that can force the students to write in their own words and present with their own ideas about the information they compiled for the paper. 

 

Lastly, a meta-learning activity is a great way to have them think about what they learned and did to complete the paper or project.  I suggest a Discussion Board on Blackboard as the students can them also respond to posts by other students as well.  This would count for points as part of the project or research paper.

 

In conclusion, students need to understand what constitutes plagiarism, how it can be detected (see below), how to cite sources properly through MLA or APA style, and how to put information they read into their own words and thoughts.

 

If you come across a paper or project that sets off the alarm bell in your head, try taking a questionable quote from the paper and search these sites.

 

Sites for Finding Research Papers
The following sites are searchable by topic; then, you must pay for the paper. Many of the sites will allow students to request a custom paper for a higher price.

Now that you know how to detect questionable papers through searchable sites and deter situations, you must think about how to handle the problem should it arise.  Plagiarism is against university policy and needs to be handled properly.