Plagiarism - Do students know the full meaning?
I have found that many students do not realize when they are plagiarizing because they have not been made aware of the many situations they put themselves in with research and writing. Are your students aware of these various implications?
Sara,
Your recommendation of teaching the APA formatting in addition to plagiarism policy is something I've implemented in my own classes. I agree that it has helped the students significantly. However, I do not refer them to the APA manual and all the technicalities. I provide them with a few components that are required for my class and seems to have made a positive impact.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Hi Fred,
I've noticed similar situations in my schools. Student may be aware of the plagiarism policies, but there is a disconnect between knowing the policy and applying it to their coursework. I've found that some students will copy an entire page and feel it's not plagiarizing as long as they state the author's name. Other students will paraphrase work but not list their sources because they feel that since they've changed the words around, it's their own work. We need to teach students APA formatting in addition to requiring them to read the plagiarism policy.
Intellectual Property (IP) issues have become more complex with our new high speed communications tools developed in the past few decades. Many people (and companies) profit from questionable (if not outright illegal) uses of others' IP because of the speed and vastness of the electronic world.
Marcia,
Your stated concerns identifying some important plagiarism issues in education. 'Sharing' papers, songs, software, movies without appropriate payment is so pervasive that many students do not understand the impact until someone misuses their IP.
Group,
What are some effective techniques for the online instructor to enhance student understanding/awareness and help them choose to do the right thing?
I have seen plagiarism from students who are unaware of the fact that the things they see on the Internet cannot be “cut and pasted†and presented as their own work. Then, occasionally, I believe I have run into intentional plagiarism, and this has most often occurred when a student has fallen behind and submits several assignments at the last minute. My guess is that the lack of available time causes some students to intentionally plagiarize, hoping it won’t be caught.
A few times when I have looked at a plagiarized assignment, I will suggest ways that the student can resubmit the assignment, and the grade is a zero until they do resubmit. Some students are confused; they submitted something, so why didn’t they get any credit. There are several online sites that offer free papers, and I have had students occasionally submit one of these.
Plagiarism software worries me in that the students’ writing becomes the property of the software firm. The school pays to use the software, and then the students’ papers are used as part of the software company’s database.
I would like to see schools work toward other solutions. For one thing, using the same assignment over and over again, class after class, can end up with students using some online version of what used to be known as “fraternity files†where students borrow each others; papers.
Thank you for the feedback Tina! I will incorporate that in my courses. I think addressing the issue before it becomes a problem, is a better approach.
Cynthia
Hi Cynthia, at my institution we include a discussion in the course that discusses academic honesty and helps learners understand how to properly paraphrase and cite sources. It has helped deter plagiarism in our courses. Tina
I do not think that students know the full meaning of academic dishonesty. There is a diminished level of accountability in an online environment. Not having face to face contact with the instuctor makes it easier for students to take the liberty of trying to pass work as their own.
Errin,
In-service training makes sense to emphasize the importance of addressing plagiarism in every class and to build skill in giving feedback on plagiarism.
Chuck
Julie, I agree with your assessment. Most students have a poor concept of plagiarism until they are taught the full range of actions that might be plagiarism. Unfortunately, many instructors do not understand plagiarism, and many do not have a good, CURRENT comprehension of APA (or alternative formats) for citations and references. Many PhDs learned APA in a prior version, and while the basic definition of plagiarism has not changed, the rules for citations and references have changed quite a bit in Edition 6.
Chuck
I would have to agree with you. I just started teaching and have found that many do not understand what plagarism is or how to format their papers. I have done online learning for several years now and love it, so I am excited to teach the online courses as well. But once I went over in detail with the class what plargarism is and APA formatting I believe we now have it. It is just something that is not routinely taught I have come to find out.
We do both of those automatically as students submit. In our course management portal, the similarity to previously submitted work is given both for posts and for any attached files (provided they are in a supported format - primarily word processing documents). these scores are prominently displayed (in colors indicating the extent of the match - blue for very little, green for around 20 - 30%, all the way to red for 90%+ matching internet or prior submissions.)
While you might think this would cause students to pause, I see a few students submit what are essentially complete cut and paste from various sites - not just at the beginning of the course, but even after getting zero grades and warnings.
Oh, and we don't use just the score - it is one of several things that indicate where there may be a problem. The teacher (and possibly the department head, etc. if escalated) still makes the final evaluation.
I currently teach two IT specific courses. One is an introductory level course and the other is a senior level (400 level) course.
In the introductory level course, the students are often new or newly returned to college. Nearly every time, I find myself warning at least one student about plagiarism. In some cases, it is very clear that they have no real idea that simply copying someone elses work is wrong. I have seen papers that consist of a Wikipedia article simply pasted in - links and all. In other cases, the paper may be a series of unattributed quotes pasted from several sources.
I have yet to see a case of plagiarism in the 400 level course. I am not sure whether the students have learned better research skills or the worst offenders simply been flunked out.
An additional challenge for students is that different instructors may require different citation styles. For example, many English teachers prefer MLA over APA. It is difficult for a student to keep track of more than one citation style--it certainly was for me as a student.
I am finding that students are simply unprepared in terms of correct use of APA and other styles of academic citations. I have worked for schools that grant from Associate Degrees through Doctoral Degrees and overwhelmingly there seems to be an overall lack of knowledge on what constitutes plagarism. With most online learning happening at an accelerated pace, there is little time to walk students through, point by point, citation style.
It seems little is covered in secondary education, and in some cases collegiate levels, to prepare scholarly writing. I can recall this being an important pat of the curriculum when I was in high school but not in the past 10 - 15 years.
Hello Fred and colleagues:
I have note varied instances in my experience as well. In fact, the responses are also varied: some students are aware that plagiarism is unethical, and others simply believe that it may be worth attempting in order to save time on assignments. Other students do not possess the writing skills and are not motivated to seek assistance from sources outside the classroom to upgrade their research skills, so they submit work from others. Sadly, if they do not perform ethically and well in the classroom, that level of performance may prevent them from contributing to their organizations beyond the classroom.
Best,
Susan
My course also utilizes TurnItIn. At first I think the students are intimidated by it, but once they see the results they get they realize it is actually a benefit for them.
They get the opportunity to submit their rough draft through this site and then still have time to work on their final draft using the feedback they get
That is a terrific idea Stacey. Thank you so much for sharing it with the class.
Turn-It-In is such a neat tool. I really encourage my students to look at it as a tool to help them avoid plagiarism rather than a catch cheating device.
Hi There,
I so agree with what is being said here. I do believe that it is important that we guide students on how to avoid plagiarism. One strategy that I use is providing students with an example from a website that we might use a lot in the class. First, I show them the work copied and pasted (from that website), than I show them the work with just a couple of words changed around (which is what I commonly get), and than I show them info from that website that is properly paraphrased and cited. This really helps show them what plagiarism is, how to avoid it, and how to properly cite their work.
Thanks
Stacey Haug
