PLAGIARISMA Workshop for Faculty

Presented by Deanna Lewis

Technical Services Librarian

Cape Fear Community College

In-Service Training

August, 17, 2006

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?

Plagiarism is the act of presenting someone else’s ideas and/or words as though they were your own

Plagiarism is not the same as copyright violation

It is possible to violate copyright laws without being guilty of plagiarism.

Likewise it is possible to be guilty of plagiarism without violating any copyright laws

For Example:

Photocopying a book and giving copies to all your friends is probably a violation of copyright, but it is not plagiarism (unless you’re claiming you wrote it). On the other hand, copying even a small section of a book (even one in the public domain) without crediting your source is plagiarism even though doing so might not violate copyright laws

WHY DO STUDENTS PLAGIARIZE?

• Unintentional Plagiarism

– Lack of training/information about plagiarism; don’t understand what plagiarism is and/or how to avoid it

– Failure to use quotation marks properly or provide internal documentation

WHY DO STUDENTS PLAGIARIZE?

• Unintentional Plagiarism– Failure to paraphrase properly

• Student doesn’t understand how to paraphrase or doesn’t sufficiently understand the material

– Poor note taking/record keeping skills

• Failure to accurately record which of their notes are quoted and which are paraphrased

• Failure to record source of the information

WHY DO STUDENTS PLAGIARIZE?

• Intentional Plagiarism

– Too many commitments, not enough time, too heavy work/class load, outside obligations and/or interests

– Don’t feel capable of doing the assignment; not prepared for college level work

– Found the “perfect” document and “can’t do it better”

WHY DO STUDENTS PLAGIARIZE?

• Intentional Plagiarism – Laziness

– Not interested in topic and/or course

– Fear of failure and/or pressure to get good grades

– Other students cheat and get away with it. Feel they must cheat to compete

WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO PLAGIARIZE?

• Students most likely to plagiarize are those who:

– Aren’t adequately prepared for college level work; students struggling with the course

– Are not interested in the topic, the course, or being in school; unmotivated; have other priorities

– Students with too many commitments or poor time management skills; habitual procrastinators

WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO PLAGIARIZE?

• Students most likely to plagiarize are those who:

– Use class time for “other” activities (reading unrelated materials, sleeping, cell phones, etc.)

– Ask to change their topics at the last minute

– Have low GPAs as compared to students with high GPAs (Pennsylvania State University)

DETECTING PLAGIARISM

• Clues that a paper may be partially or wholly plagiarized:

– Obvious visual clues:

• Another student’s and/or instructor’s name on the paper

• Internet URL and download dates on the printout

• Statement from the paper mill that it was purchased from

– Paper is more general than the topic assigned or is off-topic

DETECTING PLAGIARISM

• Clues that a paper may be partially or wholly plagiarized:– Different writing style or level of

sophistication compared to student’s usual writing

– Changes in writing styles within a single paper or strange formatting (varying margins, indentions, fonts, etc.) • This may indicate a chop shop approach; the

student has probably cut and pasted text from several sources.

DETECTING PLAGIARISM

• Clues that a paper may be partially or wholly plagiarized:– For 100 and 200 level courses, a

reliance on only scholarly resources (unless required) is suspect. Most students at this level don’t gravitate toward these sources.

– NO resources are newer than 1-5 years old. (Time frame varies by topic.)

– Déjà vu. Paper sounds familiar. Is this paper similar to another one in the class or to a paper received in the past?

DETECTING PLAGIARISM

• Tips for Confirming Plagiarism– Use the Internet; the student who cheated

probably did.

• Use Google and/or other search engines to search the title, a unique phrase, entire sentences or even whole paragraphs.

– But beware of papers that have a few words changed here and there to prevent detection via this method.

• Search paper mills on the Internet

DETECTING PLAGIARISM

• Tips for Confirming Plagiarism– Compare the paper in question with the

papers you saved from previous semesters

• You are archiving them, aren’t you?

– Search NC-LIVE for magazine, newspaper, and journal articles that have been plagiarized

DETECTING PLAGIARISM

• Tips for Confirming Plagiarism– Use plagiarism detection software

• Turnitin is the most famous• Major advantage is speed and ease of use• Disadvantages

– No software program has access to all possible sources of plagiarized texts

– Doesn’t distinguish between inadvertent plagiarism and intentional plagiarism

– Doesn’t catch inadequate paraphrasing or text where some words have been changed

– Copyright issues about uploading students’ work to databases.

TIPS FOR PREVENTING PLAGIARISM

• Let students know you take plagiarism seriously

– Include a statement in your syllabus

– Talk about plagiarism in class

– Ask students to sign a contract

– Provide examples, a tutorial or an assignment to help students understand what constitutes plagiarism

TIPS FOR PREVENTING PLAGIARISM

• Require students to turn in a bibliography, outline, notes, drafts, and copies of sources with a series of due dates.– An annotated bibliography with a summary and/or

evaluation of each source shows student’s understanding of the source as well as evidence of doing research

– Have students submit multiple drafts electronically and use the compare documents function in MS Word to be sure that the students are making substantive changes

– Requiring submission of copies of sources with the final paper makes it easy to check for proper citation. This is one of the easiest, cheapest and most effective techniques available

TIPS FOR PREVENTING PLAGIARISM

• Have students write essays in class so you can learn their writing, vocabulary, etc.

• “Remind students that the purpose of the course is to learn and develop skills” and not merely to collect a grade. Harris www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm

• Let students know that you are knowledgeable about sources for papers – Talk about paper mills; show them examples

TIPS FOR PREVENTING PLAGIARISM

• Require both written and electronic copies be turned in. – Having the electronic version makes it easier

to compare to the Internet, paper mills, and papers turned in for previous classes

• Keep copies of all papers turned in

• Do random checks of citations

• Always follow up on suspected plagiarism

• Change assignments every semester

TIPS FOR PREVENTING PLAGIARISM

• Have students write an essay about the writing process and what they learned

• Require a Student/Instructor conference or require an oral presentation based on the paper.

• Allow students to select own topics as much as possible

• Assign topics which rely more on analysis and critical thinking with less emphasis on presentation of facts.

WORKS CONSULTED

Barry, Elaine S. “Can Paraphrasing Practice Help Students Define Plagiarism?” College Student Journal. 20 (2006): 377-384. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. CFCC LRC. 8 Aug. 2006.

Bowman, Vibiana, ed. The plagiarism plague: a resource guide and CD-ROM tutorial for educators and librarians. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2004.

Carey, Suzanne F. and Patricia Arnett Zeck. Combating Plagiarism. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 2003.

Carroll, Jude. A handbook for deterring plagiarism in higher education. Oxford. Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, 2002.

Harris, Robert A. The plagiarism handbook: strategies for preventing, detecting, and dealing with plagiarism. Los Angeles: Pyrczak, 2001.

Jewell, Thomas. Prentice Hall’s Guide to Understanding Plagiarism. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2004.

Lathrop, Ann and Kathleen Foss. Guiding Students from Cheating and Plagiarism to Honesty and integrity: Strategies for Change. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2005.

Lathrop, Ann and Kathleen Foss. Student cheating and plagiarism in the Internet era: a wake-up call. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, 2000.

Pennsylvania State University. “Academic Integrity” Penn State Pulse University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University, 1999. <http://www.sa.psu.edu/sara/pulse/58-academic.PDF >