Edee Edwards, Dan Fraizer, Rachael Naismith

1
CUT and PASTE and RUN
Plagiarism in the Global Electronic World

• Edee Edwards, Dan Fraizer, Rachael Naismith
• Springfield College
• 1/2007

2
WHAT is plagiarism?

• Intentional - Knowingly presenting anothers
  material as their own
• Unintentional - Unknowingly misusing a source of
  information by incorrectly citing a source or not
  distinguishing clearly between the writers words
  and those of the source

3
How common is plagiarism?

• Psychological Record survey, 1997
• 36 of undergraduates have admitted to
  plagiarizing written material
• 3 admitted to getting caught

4
WHY do they do it?
Many reasons! Better grades Competition Laziness
Time Pressure Thinking they cant get caught Not
really understanding what plagiarism is
5
WHAT are the consequences?

• Possible consequences of plagiarism include
• Failure of a paper or class and,
• per Springfield College Student Handbook
• Formal disciplinary hearing
• Warning
• Probation
• Suspension
• Expulsion

6
How are students personally
affected? Students feel bad about doing
bad. Students feel guilty getting unearned
grades. Praise for stolen ideas feels
awful. Students dont learn important
content. Students dont learn important research
skills. Karma, karma, karma.
7

WHO has to teach students what plagiarism is
and how to avoid it? WHO has to detect plagiarism
and take punitive action? WHO is
responsible???? EVERYONE - the faculty,
student and administrator has a responsibility

8
Faculty should support students by

• Raising initial awareness
• Holding conferences with students
• Presenting appropriate models
• Giving clear statements of criteria for
  evaluation of writing and
• encouraging documentation of the process of
  writing

9
Students must take responsibility

• Students must be willing to learn to gather and
  evaluate sources and learn to cite them
  appropriately in consultation with instructors
  (information literacy).

10
Administrators role

• Administrators should write clear statements of
  policies and expectations for research, provide
  support, and allow faculty more opportunities to
  provide individual attention and to pursue
  faculty development related to writing.

11
HOW do faculty detect plagiarism?

• Unusual formatting
• Unusual or different writing styles
• Frequent changes in terminology
• Use of advanced vocabulary
• Way off topic, containing a few related
  paragraphs used to connect the paper together

• References with missing citations
• Students can't summarize paper
• Students can't provide material
• Adapted from Shelley Roseman, U. Conn. Stamford

12
Search tools

• Search tools usually cannot search journal
  databases or books.
• They can search material from the Public Web
  (e.g., by using Google) or from student papers
  that they archive (e.g., Turn It In).
• Use with caution! They can miscue they may
  find phrases or sentences but not evidence of
  deliberate cheating.

13
Specific plagiarism search tools

• Turnitinhttp//turnitin.com/static/home.html
• Various licensing options. Costs !
• Searches Internet (more than 2 billion pages
  updated at a rate of 30-40 million pages per
  day) Maintains a file for every student paper
  ever submitted to Turnitin.
• Google
• Usually the most useful. Search for unique
  keywords or phrases (five or six words in
  quotation marks). Searches the widest range of
  sources, is free and easy.

14
What can students do to avoid it?

• When researching and notetaking, students can
  mark material clearly as something they will
  quote (Q), something coming from a source (S), or
  something they themselves have said (ME).
• When paraphrasing or summarizing students can
  write their own summary of the material without
  looking directly at the original as they write
  it, and then checking their version against the
  original.
• When quoting, students can put the name of the
  author near the quote, limit their use of quotes,
  and choose only the most appropriate quotes to
  cite.

15
What teachers can do to discourage plagiarism

• Require that students document their research
  processes. What materials can we ask students to
  submit?
• A research log, progress reports, drafts
• Annotated bibliographies
• Photocopies of sources
• A reflective essay on what they learned
• Require students to submit papers electronically

16
What teachers can do to discourage plagiarism
(cont.)

• Create assignments that teach students to cite
  reading materials effectively
• Build in incremental deadlines
• Ask students to start with an inventory of
  everything they know about a topic
• Use Manhattan to document evidence of early
  student writing on a topic
• Intervene early

17
WHERE to Get Help Tools to Help FacultyTools
to Help Students
18
WHERE to Get Help Tools to Help FacultyTools
to Help Students
19
Final Words