Prevent Plagiarism

With the use of the Internet becoming popular, quick, and easy as a source of information for students, the temptation and ease with which to cheat is very high. There are things you can do to cut down on this increasing trend to plagiarize information from the Internet.

Understand Why Kids Cheat

§ They do not understand what plagiarism is.

§ They are under pressure to get into a good college.

§ To maintain high grades.

§ They are lazy, and the quick, easy cut/paste method is too tempting.

§ It is more socially acceptable today.

§ Poor time management – procrastinating until the last moment.

Signs of Plagiarism

§ Bibliography sources are all older than 5 years.

§ Inactive websites are listed in the bibliography.

§ Introduction and summary writing styles do not match the body of the paper.

§ Vocabulary, writing style and grammar are unusually sophisticated and adult-like.

§ Web address is left on the top or bottom of a page.

§ Student is unable to answer questions about sources, parts of the paper, or summarize his/her work.

What Can You Do?

§ Learn about Internet term paper sites where students can purchase papers. A list is found at http://www.coastal.edu/library/mills2.htm and http://www.termpapers.com.

§ Select a suspected plagiarized phrase and enter it into a search engine such as Google, Northern Light or AltaVista.

§ Educate your students about plagiarism.

§ Teach students how to cite resources properly – stress that citing sources within the text will help increase your research skills and grade.

Prevention

§ Make the assignment clear and give specific expectations about the type of research required.

§ Make the assignment interesting to the students and change topics from semester to semester.

§ Require process steps to be met. Set a series dates for certain steps to be completed throughout the research project such as the topic, preliminary bibliography, outline, rough draft, final annotated bibliography, and final draft.

Helpful Resources

http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm

http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan02/lincoln.htm