Best Practices for Reducing Plagiarism

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Best Practices for Reducing Plagiarism

• Jill Newby
• Information Literacy Team
• UA University Library
• March 22, 2005

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Cheating 101

• Paper Mills
• http//www.academiclibrary.com/
• Yahoo Term Papers
• Internet makes it easy to copy paste
• Encyclopedia Britannica Online
• Article from Academic Search Premier

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Best Practices

• Have a Class Discussion about Plagiarism
• Why is it important for students to understand
  why plagiarism is an important issue?
• Provide opportunities for students to learn about
  plagiarism and how to paraphrase and cite
  information correctly
• Online Tutorial Western Michigan Univ. Library
• Examples of incorrect correct paraphrasing
  Indiana University Writing Tutorial Services
• Discuss the penalties for plagiarism
• Include a policy statement on your syllabus
• Refer to the UA Code of Academic Integrity
  http//studpubs.web.arizona.edu/policies/cacaint.h
  tm

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Best Practices

• Create meaningful assignments that support course
  objectives
• Create clear parameters for assignments
• Work with librarians to design effective library
  research assignments.

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Best Practices

• Dont assume students know how to find, evaluate
  and cite sources correctly
• Provide time/activities in the syllabus for
  students to engage in information literacy topics
• Provide time/activities to help students learn
  how to evaluate sources
• Provide resources for correctly documenting
  sources

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Best Practices

• Focus on the Research Process
• Use sequenced assignments for thesis statement,
  pre-writing article search, outline, drafts,
  annotated bibliographies.
• Support students in identifying topics early
• Support students in synthesizing information
• Provide examples of good research papers with
  correct citation formats.

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Best Practices

• Provide Frequent Feedback and Assessment
• Have a clearly defined grading rubric
• Use student peer-review for drafts
• Have students write about their research/writing
  experiences research log

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Best Practices

• Be knowledgeable about detecting plagiarism
• Ask for sources and drafts of writing
• Use a Search Engine
• Type in a phrase using quotations
• telephone was only a convenience
• Use commercial detection services last
  resort?

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Best Practices

• Penalize those that plagiarize
• Determine appropriate level of penalty
• Notify the Dean of Students Office621-7057
• Complaint form and informationhttp//dos.web.ari
  zona.edu/uapolicies/

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Resources

• WPA Statement on Defining and Avoiding
  Plagiarismhttp//www.ilstu.edu/ddhesse/wpa/posit
  ions/WPAplagiarism.pdf
• Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism (Library
  site)http//www.library.arizona.edu/library/teams
  /InfoLit2000/plagiarism.shtml
• Citation Guides
• http//www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/index.html