PREVENTIN

G PLAGIARISM

H O W TO H

E L P YO U R S

T U D E N T S

Presen

ted by M

egan Lowe, C

oordin

ator o

f Public

Service

s

SESSION OVERVIEW The four types of plagiarism Methods for preventing/avoiding

plagiarism Library services Q&A Time

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THE FOUR TYPES OF PLAGIARISM• Many students plagiarize NOT because they’re

lazy, sociopathic, or overwhelmed.• They plagiarize because they don’t know how

NOT to plagiarize – they don’t know what qualifies as plagiarism.

• This is not a concept being actively taught in K-12, and it can sometimes be a cultural issue: several ULM professors have reported cases with international students who admit they likewise weren’t taught about it – there are differing values when it comes to academic integrity.

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TYPE 1: COPY/PASTE This is sadly still the most common type of

plagiarism! It tends to arise most in conjunction with

website-based resources (rather than scholarly articles) – there are still students who think that if it comes from the Internet, it’s free to use without attribution.

That’s not to say that students don’t lift material from scholarly resources without proper attribution – that still happens, too.

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TYPE 2: PATCHWORK PLAGIARISM This is where the students actually seem to be putting

a little extra work into their plagiarism – they “weave” material from another source into their own work but without attribution.

It’s as though they’re trying to “hide” the stolen material within their own work.

Sometimes students think they’re doing this right – after all, most professors prefer it when the students incorporate the material into their writing rather than just dropping quotations in without preamble, introduction, or proper explanation.

Unfortunately, most students don’t realize that they still need to give credit where credit’s due: proper attribution is always the solution.

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TYPE 3: PARAPHRASING PLAGIARISM This is another type of plagiarism that occurs when

students are attempting to incorporate external material in their work but fail to do so properly.

Unfortunately, many students do not understand how to effectively paraphrase material and do not realize that paraphrased material *still* requires proper attribution.

Many students who have been “accused” of this type of plagiarism admit that they’ve never been shown how to correctly paraphrase material – they often think just substituting synonyms is sufficient.

Students also seem to think that because they’ve put the material in their own words they don’t have to document the material – this is a failure to understand that plagiarism is not just about the theft of words but about the theft of ideas, of intellectual property.

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TYPE 4: UNINTENTIONAL PLAGIARISM This is probably the most frequent kind of

plagiarism – and it does arise from laziness, though sometimes it’s just carelessness.

Students ask me, “If it’s not intentional, then how is it still plagiarism?”

Most students believe that plagiarism is committed with *intent* - I tell them that professors can’t read minds, and neither can I; we don’t know what their intent was. It could easily be either intentional theft or an accident. But it’s not clear to us.

I like to tell students that most professors will give students the benefit of the doubt but not to bank on such good faith or good will.

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SO: HOW DO WE PREVENT PLAGIARISM? We can’t compel academic integrity, but we can

support our students to make decisions with academic integrity.

One of the most important things we can do is be up front with them about our academic integrity expectations and the consequences of not complying with the academic integrity policy.

This means we are all responsible for consistent application of the integrity policy.

We should also be mindful of cultural differences and be very clear with international students about our expectations about academic integrity.

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PREVENTING PLAGIARISM We are also all responsible for expressing clear

expectations regarding style formats – don’t assume that your students know which style format they should use or that they know how to apply that style format appropriately.

Students often do not understand that style formats represent professional expectations – that is to say, if they intend to pursue certain careers, they will need to know how to format papers and write properly in that style.

They also do not understand that style formats set forth the rules for creating appropriate and useful documentation.

All of this needs to be communicated to students meaningfully.

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PREVENTING PLAGIARISM Scaffolding is another way to help students not

plagiarize – that is, turning large research assignments into smaller assignments (like stages) during which they have opportunities to ask questions and make adjustments, before turning in the final product.

Students could also turn in first pages of resources (including photocopies of print materials) so it’s easier to trace the resources, their use, and more easily check if plagiarism has occurred.

Forbidding students from using the Internet is not sufficient; actively encouraging them to use the Library’s resources is a better bet. However, students can be encouraged to use Google Scholar – it is a good resource and can connect students with good material that’s freely available.

Use Turnitin – the University provides access to the service, so use it! P R E SE N T E D O N B E H AL F O F T H E U L M L I B RA RY

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HOW CAN THE LIBRARY HELP? Understanding plagiarism and how to avoid it -

including proper documentation of sources – are part of the skill set called information literacy.

As such, the librarians can do instructional sessions in classes on what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

If you can’t have the librarians come in and teach such a session, links to several different presentations on plagiarism can be found on the library’s website under “Guides and Tutorials.”

Discussions of plagiarism can also be included in tailored instructional sessions developed for classes.

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HOW CAN THE LIBRARY HELP? The librarians are also available – like the Write

Place – to proof papers and make sure style formats have been properly used.

We can also help students make sure that they’ve used resources properly within the paper.

We can also check papers to make sure that documentation (citations and references) has been done properly.

I am also available to meet with students one-on-one for plagiarism remediation.

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THANKS FO

R COMING!

F E E L FR E E T

O CO N T A C T M

E AT L

O W E @U L M . E

D U

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