Teaching Tip

Avoiding Plagiarism

Have you ever read a paper with the sinking feeling that your student did not write the paper you were reading? Here are some tips to help you prevent plagiarism in your classes.

Two issues

Generally, there are two types of plagiarism:

1. Blatant - students know they are copying someone else’s work and hope they will get away with it. As an instructor, you have to use your judgment in identifying the problem and related punitive measures.
2. Learning Opportunity - students don’t realize that they cannot change a few words around slightly or copy and paste from Web sites without giving proper credit to the source. As an instructor, you have an opportunity to prevent this type of plagiarism by teaching students how and when to cite.

Signs of plagiarism

Many cases of plagiarism fall within one of the following categories:

1. Assignment was not followed exactly. You asked students to write about the three methods they would use to conduct a job search in their field of interest in Jacksonville, and they turn in a world-class paper on résumé writing.
2. Paper does not sound like the student normally speaks. Students often tend to write in the same manner in which they speak. If they use poor grammar in their spoken word, it should be expected occasionally in their written papers.
3. Perfect citations and references. Very few students have perfect citations and references the first time. Even if they understand the need to cite, many are still trying to learn the differences between MLA and APA styles and when to use each one.

What to do if you suspect plagiarism

1. Check it out. Don’t accuse someone unless you are absolutely certain.
2. There are software programs, such as Turnitin, which allow instructors and students to “drop” entire papers in for checking, but these programs are not free and do no catch everything.
3. Google is a useful source. Pick out a few words, or string of words, in a paragraph and type those into Google as a search term. Often, if a paper or section of paper has been copied, it will show up.
4. Print documents for documentation.
5. Rather than accuse the student, ask for explanation.
6. Make a judgment about the severity of the issue and handle accordingly. Instructor options range from issuing verbal warnings to failure of the course and could include referral to the campus dean of student affairs for possible suspension or dismissal.

Prevent plagiarism

1. Have a plagiarism policy and address it in your syllabus.
2. Teach students when and how to cite properly. The library has tutorials available for APA and MLA and they will review papers for students. Spending 30 minutes going over this early in the semester can save hours of agony later.
3. Give specific writing assignments to discourage plagiarism. Instead of asking students to write about transformational leadership, ask them to write about a transformational leader they know and how that leader’s style affected them. By making it personal, you not only remove the opportunity to plagiarize, but you also aid the writing process by helping them internalize the topic.
4. Be available when students ask for guidance - show them how to cite and reference properly!

This tip was provided by Susie Pontiff. If you would like to learn more about Susie, visit her bio page.

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