Plagiarism

Precautionary Recommendations:

1) A first recommendation teachers can make to their students in order to prevent plagiarism is to actually provide them with a detailed explanation of “plagiarism.”

Ex: Simply paraphrasing a text does not excuse one from citing the source. To be free of plagiarism, the writer must be original.

2) Emphasize the difference between unacceptable plagiarism and the necessity for valuable and carefully chosen citations and quotations (in research papers).

3) Encourage students to carefully read the assigned materials and not to rely for background on secondhand publications like SparkNotes, CliffNotes, or any source that discourages independent reflection on a particular subject.

4) Remind students to keep careful notes as to avoid confusion: the better the notes the smoother the transition from preliminary research to compilation and composition.

5) Give students a reasonable amount of time to complete their assignments; the hurried student becomes careless and may be more likely to copy from others.

6) Explain the virtues of independent analysis and composition. In other words, acknowledge the intrinsic importance of independent formation in terms of building competency versus the short-term advantage of a quick fix.

7) Finally, educate students about the penalties for cheating and plagiarism.

Clues for recognizing Plagiarized papers:

1) Research papers with sloppy (or completely lacking) citations may have been copied directly from an internet source. Inconsistent use of citations may betray a half-hearted effort on the writer’s part to keep his or her bibliography in order.

2) Noticeable variation in quality within the text of a single paper is an obvious clue that it could in fact be composed of plagiarized ideas from a variety of sources. Look for unexplained changes in structure, word-choice, and style.

3) Instances where papers demonstrate contradictions or fluctuations in tone do not necessarily equate to impropriety, but they should be brought to the students’ attention and/or questioned.

4) Some students may reuse a paper written by a previous student. In this case, having each student hand in two copies of their term paper, for instance, can be useful in keeping a file for future reference.

5) Check out a few randomly chosen citations yourself in order to guard against citation fabrication.

6) Do not accuse someone of plagiarizing without evidence. Use common sense.

Resources for detecting Plagiarized Work

1) Do a browser search of the paper’s subject or commonly used phrases from the paper, time-permitting.

2) Termpapers.com provides links to many of the sites that house readymade papers of all descriptions. Give the impression that such sources are also available for to the teacher, and that cheaters will be caught.

3) Plagiarism.org is a useful site geared towards teachers and students alike.