Working on Plagiarism

Plagiarism, or the copying of others' work for the purpose of passing it off as ones own, is an issue in classrooms both from the perspective of instructors and students.  Instructors believe that it is important for students to complete their own work in order to grow but do not always expend a lot of energy teaching students about how to avoid plagiarism.  Students, particularly students from cultures outside of the United States or Western Europe on occasion need specific instruction on how to recognize and avoid plagiarism.  Finally, instructors also must model good behavior by using proper citations for images in powerpoints, referencing inspiration or books used in lectures, as well as inspirations for the classroom syllabus.

How can we better instruct our students on how to avoid what in some cases may be accidental, though in other cases is intentional?

The University of Maryland, University College provides an excellent tutorial on avoiding plagiarism and includes a variety of accepted citation methods (Chicago, APA, MLA).  With a flash player, participants can click through an interactive version of the tutorial or you can read through the text by clicking on links referencing "the basics," "quotations," "paraphrasing" and more.  There is also a brief explanation about "why it matters!"

If you're looking for research on a web-based method of teaching students about the topic, you might consider downloading Maria Earman Stetter's article, "Teaching students about plagiarism using a web-based module," published in the Journal of Further and Higher Education, Volume 37, Issue 5, 2013.

Indiana University's School of Education has online tests for undergraduate and graduate students with ten questions asking students to recognize plagiarism.  Hints on plagiarism definitions (including "sneaky plagiarism") can be accessed as well!  Success on these tests means answering 9 out of 10 questions correctly, so pairing such a test with instruction in the classroom is likely more apt to lead to learning on the part of students.  If you (or your students) don't do well on a sample test, try Indiana's "recognize plagiarism" page.

Finally, for a quick introduction to cultural attitudes about plagiarism, check out slides 7-9 in this presentation from Butler University's Opal Bartzis.

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