Plagiarism: A Practical Guide for Academic Staff

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Plagiarism A Practical Guide for Academic Staff

• Learning Teaching
• Enhancement Unit

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Session Structure

• Fundamental principles
• Online resources
• JISC project
• Designing out plagiarism
• Auditing your own practice

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Fundamental Principle Inform Actively

• No one told me the most common, successful
  legal defence
• Present information actively and on more than one
  occasion
• It isnt enough to provide students with a
  definition of plagiarism and leave it at that
  Induction sessions arent enough
• Spell out penalties for students
• Discuss forms of plagiarism in detail
• Set students exercises use Turnitin on webct to
  check
• Explain academic context and practice

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Fundamental Principle Uniformity

• Variation in practice undermines confidence in
  the system and makes institutions vulnerable
• Staff must be made aware of the Academic
  Regulations/institutional practice and must act
  accordingly
• Staff who give students preferential treatment
  must be warned against doing so Compassion
  towards one is discrimination against another
  (natural justice notwithstanding)

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Put another way

• DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU DO

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Dont make assumptions

• Students have very vague notions of
• Learning outcomes (what they are and what they
  are for)
• The link between learning outcomes and assessment
• Assessment criteria
• By discussing these with students you can
  introduce positive notions of scholarship and
  originality. Unless students are inducted how
  will they understand conventions and practice?
• Will help to counteract the negative messages
  about plagiarism (and your students will
  understand more about their module)

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The legal test

• Civil not criminal Thus a case brought without
  the ability to cite an original text should be
  strong enough to satisfy the requirements of
  civil law
• JISC report, p29
• On the balance of probabilities not beyond
  reasonable doubt

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The developmental process
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A suggested minimum

• Year 1, Semester 1 1 hr initial workshop (using
  staff from LTE Unit and their materials, perhaps
  see later slide) in a compulsory module and
  Turnitin software on webct
• Year 1, Semester 1 Short top-up session before
  the first major assignment remind students about
  the basics (bibliographies, referencing, quoting
  etc so that core information is fresh in their
  minds). Someone from LTE Unit can come and give a
  talk
• Year 1, Semester 2 1 hr workshop on plagiarism
  and penalties (using LTEU material perhaps see
  later slide)
• Year 2 Top-up session
• Year 3 Session dealing with lengthier
  submissions and plagiarism
• All years Sessions on different forms of
  plagiarism (source code, composition,
  choreography etc)
• LTE Unit contact Adrian Chapman

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Sessions devised by the LTE Unit for general use

• Session 1 (1 hour)
• Year 1
• Awareness-raising
• Interactive
• Forms of plagiarism (a definition/detection
  exercise)
• Active plagiarism
• Plagiarism and the Academic Regulations
• Case Studies
• We provide generic handouts and a Powerpoint
  slideshow

• Session 2 (1 1/2 hours)
• Any year
• More sophisticated session discussing actual case
• Mock Student Review Committee comprising students
• Students must agree on action and justify their
  action
• We provide generic handouts and a Powerpoint
  slideshow
• Under development
• Specific dissertation session
• Session for non-native English speakers

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Internal documents

• Dont forget to use How to theres a section on
  plagiarism (and citations, essay writing and
  bibliographies)
• Guidelines for the Student Review Board when
  hearing cases of Academic Misconduct (Paul
  Hodges)
• Guidelines for staff on dealing with plagiarism

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Reading more widely

• Evan and Gill, Universities Students. Read
  Chapter 6 Keeping the Rules. Generally a good
  introduction to the legal basis on which
  universities (should) operate.

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Software for detecting plagiarism

• Google search is simplest
• Cross checking essays with a wordbank on webct
  www.turnitin.com
• Follow the link on webct

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PAS (Plagiarism Advisory Service)

• URL www.northumbria.ac.uk/jiscpas
• Started in September 2002
• Generic advice but wont get involved in
  particular cases
• Educational development material for use with
  students in preparation (will be on website)
• Plagiarism detection software is part of service
• 31 institutions/1/2 million students registered
  (inc. Oxford, Aberdeen and the OU)
• Enquiries from the US, Australia, New Zealand,
  the Russian Federation

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Exactly what does the software do?

• Document submission and comparison software
• Compares all documents submitted and compares
  them all with the unrestricted Web
• In theory could compare every essay submitted in
  the UK with every other essay (dissertations can
  be submitted too)
• Originality report Grades submissions from Hot
  (heavily plagiarised) to Cool (not plagiarised)
  and provides original sources for comparison
• Will be free to UK HEIs for the first two years
  then a charge will be made (c. 5k max)

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Web resources for aspiring plagiarists

• List of 150 sites at www.coastal.edu/library/mill
  s2.htm
• Popular sites are
• www.essaycrawler.com
• www.revise.it
• www.study-area.com/student
• www.schoolsucks.com
• Authoring services
• www.customwriting.com
• editmypaper.com
• Jim, the friendly research assistant
  www.friendlyjim.com
• Buthoney pots are predictable

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Designing out plagiarism 1

• Changing assessment frequently is the best method
• Reconsider learning outcomes
• Analysis, evaluation and synthesis not
  regurgitation
• Make information gathering/literature review a
  learning outcome

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Designing out plagiarism 2

• Create individualised tasks
• Assess process and contribution
• Use formative tasks as checks (but you dont have
  to assess them) i. short submissions in advance,
  ii. literature reviews in advance, iii. student
  learning logs, iv. plans, v. drafts
• Group work i. signed logs, ii. online
  collaboration with audit trail

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Designing out plagiarism 3

• Integrate assessment tasks
• If assessment tasks are cumulative and linked
  its more difficult to use material from
  elsewhere
• Set a range of tasks within an assignment to test
  process

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Example

• Original assessment for Baroque Performance
  Practice (Music Year 2/3)
• Essay To what extent can one perform
  authentically?
• Problem Limited number of sources and
  intentional/unintentional plagiarism. Also its
  tedious to read the same essay 30 times

• Revised assessment
• Read three position papers on authenticity (so
  theres no mystery about the theoretical sources)
• Attend concert or listen to CD (personalise data)
• Write review discussing the concert/CD from an
  authentic perspective

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Designing out plagiarism 4

• The Meta Essay (under control conditions)
• Why I structured the essay in this way
• Which sources were particularly useful
• How I would do it differently next time
• What I learnt from writing it
• Random vivas
• In-class tasks

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Audit your own practice Student awareness

• What information is given to students?
• Is it presented actively?
• How often is it presented?
• Is it presented in different situations?
• Are they aware of the consequences of their
  action? publicity aids prevention
• Report on plagiarism through the Programme Annual
  review

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Audit your own practice Staff awareness

• Are staff aware of the Academic
  Regulations/institutional practice?
• Is there evidence of inconsistency? What have you
  done about it?
• What are your strategies for embedding plagiarism
  awareness in programme design?
• Related issues the needs of particular student
  groups - plagiarism is part of their culture
  - what are you going to do to address problems?

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Bibliography/Webography

• Appleton, J. and J. Carroll (2001) Plagiarism A
  Good Practice Guide, JISC/Oxford Brookes
  University. Download from http//www.jisc.ac.uk/pl
  agiarism/start.html
• Carroll, J. (2002) Handbook for Deterring
  Plagiarism in Higher Education, Oxford Oxford
  Centre for Staff and Learning Development. Just
  published. There is a companion website
  http//www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/4_resource/
  plagiarism.html. Order the handbook directly from
  the OCSLD http//www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsd/
  4_resource/books/bordf.html
• Carroll, J. and L. Steffani (2001) A Briefing on
  Plagiarism. Goto www.ltsn.ac.uk, click on
  Projects then Assessment
• Evans, G. R. and J. Gill (2001) Universities
  Students, London Kogan Page. Chapter 6 Keeping
  the Rules is relevant
• JISC Plagiarism Project www.jisc.ac.uk/plagiarism
  
• JISC submission site www.submit.ac.uk
• JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service
  www.northumbria.ac.uk/jiscpas