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April 15, 2002
Preventing Digital Plagiarism
By Caroline McCullen
Ms. Blake frowned as she impatiently shuffled through her students' papers. Shaking her head, she tossed them aside. "I just read 10 essays about knighthood, and four of them contained portions of the exact same text...word for word! I know the kids copied from a Web page, but I don't know how to stop it."
Preventing plagiarism is becoming more and more difficult, especially with the vast amount of information on the Web. With just a few mouse clicks, students can copy text and graphics from any Web page, paste them into a word processor, and call it their own. It is also alarming to note the growing number of Web sites selling customized essays and term papers for under 10 dollars. With these temptations readily available, how can we keep kids honest?
Start with a classroom discussion about plagiarism. Ask students to define it and discuss their experiences. Do they know any "horror stories" of students copying entire papers? What should they do if they discover someone copying? This is a good opportunity to review your school's honor code.
Discuss intellectual property by asking students to imagine they had just spent weeks creating a great Web page, only to find a visitor had taken the best graphic to use on his Web site. How would they feel?
Clearly define your policy, explaining that you do not tolerate plagiarism. Show students how to recognize plagiarism by giving examples. Indiana University created an excellent set of resources that teach students to cite
- another person's idea, opinion, or theory;
- any facts, statistics, or graphs that are not common knowledge;
- quotations of another person's actual spoken or written words; and
- a paraphrase of another person's spoken or written words.
Continue with a discussion of paraphrasing. Encourage students to practice the skill by reading a paragraph, closing the book, and summarizing the ideas. Remind them they can always look back to check for accuracy, but closing the book is a safeguard against copying. Use the handy examples of paraphrased text versus copied work at Indiana University's site.
Teach a note-taking method, such as Cornell, outlining, or mapping. Assign a reading, ask students to take notes, and then let them critique each other's notes. Work with other teachers to create note-taking activities in every subject.
Design activities in which students gather information and develop opinions (see "Forming Educated Opinions").
Surround students with examples of proper citation methods (see "Web Links"). Make it easy for students to give proper credit.
Schedule several points at which students turn in portions of the paper for your review. Provide class time for writing and revision, and skim papers as you walk down the aisle.
Finally, let students know you will be using digital detection services, such as TurnItIn.Com. Plagiarism decreases when students know you can compare their text to other resources on the Web.
Technology is like most scientific advances: it includes a mixture of good and bad. It is up to the teacher to steer students toward the best experiences and minimize opportunities for the bad.
Web Links
These sites offer additional guidance with helping students avoid plagiarism.
The OWL (Purdue Online Writing Lab)
MLA Style Guide
Caroline McCullen is the instructional technologist for SAS inSchool in Cary, N.C., and author of "Keeping Kids Honest," published in Middle Ground (August 2001).
Forming Educated Opinions: A Sample Lesson
Role-plays such as the following are a great way to encourage higher-order thinking and minimize the possibility of plagiarism.
Directions to students: Assume the role of an aide to General Ulysses S. Grant. He has just asked you to erect a monument to commemorate the greatest single event in the Civil War. Which event would you commemorate and what would your monument look like? You must support your opinion with facts and cite your sources. |
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