Plagiarism Advisory Service

http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk

Dr Fiona Duggan

Education

Increasing ‘consumerism’ in attitude towards education

Strategic approach by students to study

Changing nature of student population

Wider context

Growing problem in US Increased access to electronic

resources Widespread confusion about

referencing and citation

JISC response

4 pilot projects in 2001 Series of regional seminars Invitations to bid for provision of

advisory service and also national detection facility

Cut and paste plagiarism

Essaybanks

initially primarily US focused

Wide coverage of subjects and essay topics

not always good quality

Two types of service

Bulk providers relying upon the recycling of student essays

Customised, one-off essay writing service

Strategies

Electronic plagiarism detection

The technological solution Pedagogical approach ‘Head in the sand’ approach

The ‘right’ approach

Harnesses technology and pedagogy Is consistently applied throughout the

institution ‘Tackles the illness not just the

symptoms’ PLAGUE (2002)

Technological approach

Number of detection products available

Detect collusion and/or plagiarism Web-based or standalone Tend to have been developed in US

JISC detection software

Password and user profile controlled Either students or lecturers can submit papers Software checks paper for text matches Detects both cut-and-paste plagiarism and

collusion Software produces originality report

Is it plagiarism?

The report does not distinguish between properly cited text and unacknowledged sources

High instance of text matches may not always indicate plagiarism

Judgement of plagiarism remains with lecturer

Using the report

Can be used as an educational tool to highlight areas of concern

Can raise awareness of many of the issues relating to plagiarism

Can open up a discussion about academic integrity

Detection software

Should be viewed as one element of a plagiarism prevention strategy

Can be a deterrent ‘Levels the playing field’

Using assessment to ‘design out’ plagiarism

Do course teams receive guidance on how to make courses less susceptible to plagiarism?

How do assessment criteria support and value skills?

Where are issues of academic integrity and values discussed?

Using assessment to ‘design out’ plagiarism

Challenges the nature and role of assessment

Beneficial for both students and lecturers

Takes time and effort!

Supportive policies and procedures

Outline academic conventions in appropriate language

Need to be consistently applied across the institution

Need to be clearly and frequently communicated to students

Penalties

Intent? Extent Level Effect

Penalties

Need to be consistently applied Need to be transparent Should reflect the values of the organisation Should be supportive of both staff and

students

The good news is that by facing the challenge of this situation we might be forced to help our students learn what I believe to be the most important thing

they can learn at university. That is just how the intellectual enterprise of

scholarship and research really works.

Hunt, Russell (2004) Whose silverware is this? Promoting plagiarism through pedagogy. Plagiarism: Prevention, practice and policies conference abstracts. Northumbria

University

Plagiarism Advisory Service

http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk