Managing Plagiarism – Part 1 of 2
Posted on June 17, 2008 by admin
Filed Under Students, Teaching, Writing Process
Cartoon From Teachable Moment by Inside Higher ED
No matter how much students get told that plagiarism is not tolerated, they still hand in projects with content that is not theirs. This prompts educators to wonder
- Why do students do this if they know the consequences? and
- How can plagiarism be prevented?
Why do students plagiarize?
- Procrastination and Poor Time Management.
Students may be juggling work from 5 different courses simultaneously. At peak times during the year, the stress of having several simultaneous deadlines can cause them look for shortcuts in their work. This can include copying other students’ assignments, incorrect citation or no citations at all.
- Unable to Cite Properly.
Students come to university with different abilities and skill sets; they often possess incomplete or incorrect knowledge about how to cite resources and effectively organize their sources during research. This can result in incorrect citing practices or the use of the wrong format, and may cause unintentional plagiarism.
How to prevent plagiarism?
- Spend time discussing academic standards.
The best ways to ensure that students know what plagiarism is and what is acceptable in your class is to clearly define what you expect from them at the beginning of the semester. Telling them that resubmitting previous academic work is unacceptable or defining what an allowable level of peer collaboration is can reduce the risk of plagiarism.
- Teach students how to not plagiarize.
Students may understand they should not plagiarize, however understanding how to correctly write a research paper so as to avoid it may be less obvious. It is useful to give a short lecture or a comprehensive handout on how to research and write a paper with correct citation and without plagiarizing. The library can help faculty members with this.
- Be aware of your students.
Students need to feel that your class is manageable. Try to make sure students feel they can succeed in your class without dishonesty. Tell students that they can talk to you if they are having difficulties. Also try to recognize signs of stress in students and remind them that there are on campus services to help them if they are having problems, such as the Student Academic Success Center, the Library, and Health and Counseling Services.
- Create assignments that prevent plagiarism.
By creating assignments that have specific topics which require new thought or research, the risk of students merely copying or paraphrasing a generic essay can be reduced. This can mean creating an abstract for the assignment and as well as compiling resources for the students to use, which the library can help with. It can also be useful to require students to submit a first draft or drafts along with the final version of the paper. This will ensure that students will not leave their assignment to the last minute which will reduce the tendency for them to plagiarize.
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2 Responses to “Managing Plagiarism – Part 1 of 2”
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Hi,
I have found a very useful site for plagiarism checking,its 100% free and a great tool for teachers, students, bloggers and all types of content writers.
plagiarism software
Hi,
Thanks for the tip.