Planning Effective Writing Assignments
I teach several courses which require a writing assignment and just like the lesson stated it is very difficult to come up with effective assignments. With the access to information on the internet even some of my best students are tempted to plagiarize. I have found that some of my creative writing assignments produce their best work and allow me to critique their writing alone with little threat of plagiarism. I am wondering what others do to reduce the use of unnamed outside sources besides just the general code of conduct and threat of failure.
I had the same experience. It was very difficult to get to the bottom of the issue, and the professor was NOT happy.
Minerva ,
I love the fact that you have organized steps and that you present them to the students in an organized manner. You are not only showing what to do with the research paper, but how to organize time as well.
Shelly Crider
When assigning research papers in my composition class, I come up with recent topics(local, national and global) that have been in the news and put these topics in a paper bag.Each student will then draw a topic from the bag and research it. It forces them to read up on the topic, research relevant sources(a required number), and write a paper on the subject, as well as make a power point presentation to the class.They must submit their papers to a plagiarism check (available free on the internet)and attach this to their final submission.They also submit a thesis statement,an outline,and a Works Cited page that I grade individually before they turn in their final product.All these steps in the writing process pretty much assure me that I have helped them complete and improve their work before they turn it in, and that it was their own.
Tyler,
Sad, isn't it!! I believe I shared this earlier, but I had a student who plagiarized on a plagiarism question!!
Shelly Crider
I teach courses that involve diagnosing and problem solving what is going wrong with equipment, and sometimes I find that students will blatently plagiarize other studen'ts writing on their lab assignment.
Jerri,
This is so true. We as instructors definitely need to take culture and other demographic attributes into consideration.
Shelly Crider
I have had some success with dissecting the meaning of plagiarism with the students, prior to the assignments. It has been brought to my attention that many are plagiarizing without deliberate intent. For instance, a student with a cultural background did not know she was plagiarizing because it her country you were honoring someone if you were to utilize their words.
I never knew this, and she couldn't comprehend the disgrace. After coaching and feedback her assignments became more individualized!
She taught me a true lesson regarding communication and customs!
Kimberly,
In the discussion area, you can make a rule that the first post must be 75 words and to include citings.
Shelly Crider
I would also like to know this. I teach other classes that usually do not involve any writing assignments but I make sure to include a few. I have realized that the majority of my students do not know how to write, spell, use grammar correctly. And they do not know how to use sources, they always always plagarize.
Lauren,
I have known some English, writing classes, to have an assignment on citing such as...send a paper or two out and let students critique the paper, or just paragraphs.
Shelly Crider
