Plagiarism – How to prevent it Instructor Module

Waubonsee Community CollegeUpdated January, 2014

Top eleven ideas for preventing plagiarism

• You don’t have to implement all of these ideas to prevent plagiarism, but taking some action, ANY action, to prevent plagiarism shows students that you take the issue seriously. As a result, the students might take the issue more seriously. If they think you don’t care, then they are more likely to cheat.

How to prevent plagiarism

1. Invent unique assignments that ask students specific, creative questions about the subject matter.

How to prevent plagiarism

2. Discuss, define, and explain the concept of plagiarism in class early in the semester (maybe as you distribute the syllabus, which should contain the Waubonsee Integrity statement and may include the Plagiarism Statement).

How to prevent plagiarism

3. Then discuss the idea and problem of plagiarism again as you assign each paper. This time, be sure to include specifics that may pertain to the current assignment.

How to prevent plagiarism

4. Show students the plagiarism slide show presentation (the one specifically for students) in class. Interject your own ideas and perspectives as you show the slides. You may also want to give students the plagiarism quiz.

How to prevent plagiarism

5. Explain your experiences with plagiarism in class. If you have ever caught former students plagiarizing, tell your current classes about those cases and the consequences the students faced.

How to prevent plagiarism

6. Tell students about potential consequences of plagiarism, including failure for the class or facing the student conduct board. The student conduct board can suspend students for cheating, or it can require those students to attend plagiarism prevention classes.

How to prevent plagiarism

7. Emphasize that using sources to provide information to the paper’s reader or to support an argument within the paper is perfectly acceptable, in some cases required, but that all of the information that comes from those sources must be clearly marked and cited. You can use the student-focused plagiarism module to help explain this idea.

How to prevent plagiarism

8. Be sure to explain which assignments allow group work and which do not. Explain the difference between having a peer or tutor read a paper to give advice (perfectly acceptable) and having someone else write sections of the paper (not).

How to prevent plagiarism

9. Have students provide you with writing samples that you know are their own (perhaps a short document produced in class) so that you can compare those writing samples to their papers to see any significant differences in style.

How to prevent plagiarism

10. Require students to bring show you drafts before the final paper is due so that you can look at the drafts, make suggestions for improvement, and see changes in a later version.

How to prevent plagiarism

11.Require students to turn in drafts, outlines, printouts or photocopies of source material, and any other materials they used in creating the draft.