To plagiarize work is to steal someone else’s work without citing it.

Plagiarism has reached epidemic proportions today. The ease and speed with which a student can copy material previously written by someone else has made this an unfortunate phenomena happening in classrooms today. Why should a student ‘reinvent the wheel’ when it is right there in front of him? It is a challenge to get kids to understand that copying something from a book or the internet that was written by someone else is the same as stealing a piece of candy from the candy store. They use the copy and paste functions available on their computers with such dexterity that they forget that it is their job to bother to actually think intelligently and complete assignments in their own words.

There are three things that you can do to limit plagiarism in your classroom:

1. Make yourself knowledgeable about plagiarism, how to spot it and use web resources available to assist teachers:

Student Plagiarism in an Online World – a magazine article that is easy to read with some different links for teachers

Plagiarism Stoppers – a website with many links useful to teachers including programs to detect cheating

2. Let your students know that you are aware of how plagiarism happens:

Plagiarism Happens – An easy to understand for kids Power Point presentation available on the web

3. Help your students understand how to properly cite sources:

Citing Sources using MLA Style – An easy to read guide of what needs to be cited and how to cite a source using MLA style.

APA Style – A source of how to cite electronic media. Also includes a link back to how to cite any sort of media.

Using your own words to complete an assignment is not easy. Understanding these topics will make your classroom a better one.