Plagiarism / Fair use / Copyright

A curriculum for critical thinking and web research

Skill level: BeginnerSchool level: Middle school (11–13 years old)

High school (14–18 years old)

Prerequisite skills needed

Students need to have basic computer use skills, such as the ability to launch Internet Explorer®, type into search boxes, and validate the reliability of an Internet source. See the “Validity” lesson plans for ideas. Students also need to know how to navigate through webpages to locate important information and cite Internet resources. See the “Citing web sources” lesson plans for ideas.

Synopsis of lesson

Students learn how to paraphrase information. Teachers develop acceptable guidelines for research documentation to avoid plagiarism, including proper note-taking, appropriate paraphrasing, and how and when to cite sources. (Refer to the “Citing web sources” lesson plans for further information.) This lesson provides an opportunity for students to differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism.

Rationale for lesson

Students who are researching may need additional help to avoid plagiarism while using web resources. Many content area teachers feel that students’ information is not always personalized when they are researching using web sources and may even be copied directly from the source. This lesson helps students learn to paraphrase information.

Essential concepts / questions

Essential question for teachers:

How can I support students in documenting and paraphrasing copyrighted material?

Essential question for students:

How can I effectively and properly use information from web sources?

This plan is part of acritical thinking and web

research curriculumdeveloped by the International

Society for Technology in Education(ISTE) and Microsoft.

www.microsoft.com/education/criticalthinking

This plan is part of acritical thinking and web

research curriculumdeveloped by the International

Society for Technology in Education(ISTE) and Microsoft.

www.microsoft.com/education/criticalthinking

National Educational Technology Standards (NETS)

NETS-T

4A: Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

NETS-S

5A: Advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology.

Teacher preparation

Teachers should develop guidelines for research documentation.

Teachers should develop samples of acceptable paraphrased documents, appropriate ways to take notes, and ways to cite sources used for research, modeling these skills when appropriate.

Use the Bing™ search engine to look up appropriate websites and to find samples of proper ways to paraphrase, how to effectively take notes, and ways to cite sources on the Internet. “Plagiarism – Teacher demo – Beginner” is a quick reference for teachers that contains descriptions and sources for plagiarism, fair use, and copyright-friendly materials.

Students must first have a strong grasp of the mechanics of search and the ability to evaluate the reliability of the information they find (see other sections of this curriculum for lesson ideas).

Management issues

Teachers must consider students’ availability for labs and should take into account the time spent on research and documentation. Also, if students are to locate and document information electronically, teachers should consider where those files will be stored. Teachers can develop storage folders on the school’s network or folders on Windows Live™ SkyDrive™. Teachers should determine how much time will be allotted for research, documentation, and preparation of the final product.

Instruction

To prepare the students for proper research techniques, teachers create a guideline for proper research documentation. Teachers provide the students with a sample paraphrased document to compare with a sample plagiarized document. Teachers should note the differences between the two. Also,

teachers should discourage plagiarism by modeling the correct way to take notes on a given topic. See “Plagiarism – Teacher demo – Beginner.”

Student activities / guidance

Give students the guidelines for proper documentation. Discuss the definition of plagiarism and the consequences of the action. Show students samples of proper and improper ways to paraphrase. Discuss the differences between the samples and how students can paraphrase researched information.

Assessment

“Plagiarism – Student worksheet 1: Plagiarism or not?”

Students answer the essential question:

How can I properly and effectively use information from web sources?

Related resources and tutorials

Search engine Bing

www.bing.com Bing Users Guide: How to use Bing

http://www.nirmaltv.com/2009/06/01/bing-detailed-user-guide

Plagiarism Plagiarism

http://www.plagiarism.org ClassZone

http://www.classzone.com/books/research_guide/page_build.cfm? content=avoid_plagiarism&state=none

“Read Write Think” sample lesson http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/

exploring-plagiarism-copyright-paraphrasing-1062.html?tab=1#tabs

Note-taking Microsoft Office OneNote®

http://www.microsoft.com/education/products/office/onenote/ default.aspx#Tips

Education World http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson322.shtml

Citing sources Citation Machine

http://citationmachine.net/index2.php The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Related resources and tutorials (continued) Tutorial on using the Reference feature in Microsoft Office Word 2007

http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2007/Word/references.asp

For ideas and guidelines See the “Mechanics of effective searching” lesson plans. See the “Validity” lesson plans. See the “Citing web sources” lesson plans.

Storage Windows Live SkyDrive

http://skydrive.live.com/

Closure and reflectionQuestions for closure and student reflection when reviewing student activity and learning:

What are some strategies for paraphrasing information?

What are some strategies to avoid when you are paraphrasing information?

Why do we need to paraphrase information?

Teacher reflection questions

Ask students to reflect upon their own work and the work of the group.

Were there any unforeseen management issues?

Will students be able to complete this type of lesson more independently next time?

What brief review will be provided to the students?

Supplementary materials

“Plagiarism - Teacher Demo – Beginner”

“Plagiarism - Teacher Demo – Intermediate”

“Plagiarism - Student worksheet 1: Plagiarism or not?”

“Plagiarism - Student worksheet 2: The Amendments of the U.S. Constitution”

Visit us on the web at www.microsoft.com/education/criticalthinking.

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