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Preventing Plagiarism

Preventing Plagiarism. Tips, Activities, and Cross-Disciplinary Teaching Strategies. Step 1: Establishing a Knowledge Base. Start Early. Teach what plagiarism is at the beginning of the semester.

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Preventing Plagiarism

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  1. Preventing Plagiarism Tips, Activities, and Cross-Disciplinary Teaching Strategies

  2. Step 1: Establishing a Knowledge Base

  3. Start Early • Teach what plagiarism is at the beginning of the semester. • Engage students in hands-on activities that require them to recognize examples of plagiarism or incorrect citation.

  4. Provide Practice • Give students practice at paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting texts in informal writing assignments or homework or Blackboard postings throughout the semester. These are complex skills that challenge students’ reading comprehension, vocabulary, syntax, and understanding of content.

  5. Help Students Find Their Voices • Help students understand the difference between using research to support their own ideas and mere cutting and pasting. • Help students to see themselves as part of an academic community, with ethical responsibilities to that community (qtd. in Colvin 150).

  6. Step 2: The Assignment

  7. Create Unique Assignments • Vary the paper topic from semester to semester. • Devise paper topics that are difficult to plagiarize. Compare and contrast topics help make plagiarism more difficult. • Allow students to choose topics that answer a genuine question they have (WPA 5).

  8. Work Smaller • Assign shorter, more focused papers requiring fewer sources, but set higher expectations for students to think critically about the sources they use. • Create assignments that give opportunities for in-depth exploration (narrow the topic) (WPA 5).

  9. Provide Purpose and Audience • Help students to understand the purpose of the writing assignment. Tell them explicitly what you hope for them to learn on the assignment. • Have students present their research to others (WPA 5).

  10. Step 3: The Process

  11. Focus on Process • Use a process approach to writing—ask to see outlines, notes, annotated bibliographies, first drafts, final drafts. • Have students write about their ideas without their sources first. • Conduct peer reviews. • Conference with students about their paper topics at various points during the process. • Include “low-stakes” writing, such as reflective writing or progress reports, to allow for more coaching and monitoring (WPA 6).

  12. Allow Time with Sources • Allow students enough time to complete their research and think deeply about their topics (WPA 5). • Teach students how to evaluate sources (WPA 6; Hall). Have students write an annotated bibliography. This requires them to read their sources carefully before they begin writing. • Make the annotated bibliography due before the paper (rather than on the same day as the paper).

  13. Teach Discipline-Specific Research • Teach students to cite sources in your discipline. You may use different types of sources or a different citation style than students learned in their English classes. • Have students read and analyze examples of academic writing in your field, noting the conventions that are particular to your discipline (WPA 6).

  14. Give Students Control—and Responsibility • Teach students to use computer tools to avoid plagiarism (make sources different colors or font sizes in their documents or use Google searches to check when unsure). • Have them submit their papers to Turnitin before turning them in to you.

  15. Give Feedback • Make the final paper due well before the end of the semester, never on the last day of class (Howard). • Be sure to grade and return it to students before the semester ends (Howard).

  16. Step 4: Preventing Second Offenses

  17. Help Students Learn from Mistakes • Treat every case of plagiarism as a learning opportunity. • Talk with students face-to-face about the violation. • Don’t take it personally (Lang). • Document all cases of plagiarism and file an academic honesty violation form with your program director and the head of Instructional Services.

  18. Works Cited Colvin, Benie B. “Another Look at Plagiarism in the Digital Age: Is It Time to Turn in My Badge?” Teaching English in the Two-Year College 35.2 (2007): 149-58. NCTE Inbox. National Council of Teachers of English. 15 July 2008 <http://www.ncte.org/library/files/About_NCTE/Overview/inbox/7-15-08.html>. Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA). Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices. 23 July 2008 <http://www.wpacouncil.org>. Hall, Jonathan. “Plagiarism Across the Curriculum: How Academic Communities Can Meet the Challenge of the Undocumented Writer.” Across the Disciplines. Writing Across the Disciplines Clearinghouse. Colorado State U. 9 Feb. 2005. 22 Aug. 2008 <http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/articles/hall2005.cfm>. Howard, Rebecca Moore. “Forget About Policing Plagiarism. Just Teach.” Chronicle of Higher Education. 16 Nov. 2001. 23 July 2008 <http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i12/12b02401.htm>. Lang, James M. “It’s Not You.” Chronicle of Higher Education. 26 Oct. 2007. 23 July 2008 <http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i09/09c00301.htm>.

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