Plagiarism is one problem that affects almost all academicians. We write our policies and warnings in our syllabi, yet we still get papers that we know are not the student’s work. Then we spend time googling phrases that may direct us to the original source and discuss with the student why he or she is receiving an “F” on the paper. Part of the problem may be the students don’t really know what plagiarism is and isn’t. Students may turn in work they think is OK because they’ve changed a few words in the original text, or they may site a source in the paper and feel that this allows them to use anything from that source for the rest of the paper.
In the January 26 issue of Inside Higher Education, Scott Jaschik discussed a study done by Thomas Dee and Brian Jacob. The study showed that students who received a tutorial about plagiarism were “less likely to plagiarize” on their papers (Jaschik, 2010).
If you want to teach your students about plagiarism and how to avoid it, you might want to start with the tutorial and quiz from the Plagiarism Resource Site. The information on this site was also used by Dee and Jacob in their study. There are excellent materials under the “Resources” section on the right side of the webpage.
As instructors, we talk a lot about plagiarism, but we may not follow up with concrete examples of what it is and how to avoid it. Threatening students with a bad grade or expulsion may be a deterrent to plagiarism, but education is even better. Send your students to the Plagiarism Resource Site to give them the information they need.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
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I just moved my writing assignments over to Safe Assign in Blackboard and I am very pleased with how much time it is saving me in reviewing student work for plagiarism. It is very easy to use. In the future I plan to make Safe Assign part of my syllabus and point out to students that it identifies plagiarism in the hope that they will think twice before they copy.
ReplyDeleteI emphasize training on plagiarism in my writing courses. I also tell the students about UTEP's policy, which other universities also use, of including records of disciplinary actions on the student's transcript. This can prevent a student from getting a job, and definitely prevents a student from acceptance to the best medical and law schools. UTEP also does not allow instructors to deal with students who commit plagiarism in their classes. The Dean of Student Life handles all cases. So students are truly hurting themselves when they plagiarize.