Plagiarism
This is only my second 5 week term teaching online. I am looking for any and all advice regarding online teaching. I have recently discovered several students plagiarizing their work from Wikipedia. I gave a warning and requested that they re-write the information in their own words. This did not go over well with more than half the students. I actually had one student refuse to re-write their work.
I know the schools plagiarism policy. However, I don’t want to loose the interest or trust from the students.
Any words of advice would be greatly appreciated.
Erin,
Like you I see both content and critical thinking as primary matters. The best is critical thinking at a high level of competence within the content, of course. Getting some students to express their own thoughts can be challenging. Keep up the good fight.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
I fight with plagiarism more than I would like, but I don't think it's meant maliciously, in many cases. What I tend to find (in person and online) is that many students are terribly concerned with coming up with the "right" answer, and are afraid to provide their own thinking for fear of it being incorrect.
One technique I use is to stress that I'd rather hear what each individual has to say than hearing a word-for-word reiteration of an encyclopedia article. Content matters, but critical thinking matters more.
Hello,
I have noticed that if I post the school plagiarism policy in the class introduction as well as send it out to all students via email at the beginning of each term there are far fewer instances of plagiarism. If one does occur after this I tell the student that it looks like they may have submitted their notes rather than the actual paper and ask them to get the final draft to me as soon as possible. I will also remind the student of the policy regarding plagiarism and give them a chance to redo the work in their own words without any late penalties; it seems that most cases are due to students feeling the pressure of making the deadline. Most of the time the student is more than happy to redo the work and from that point on there are no more issues. If the problem continues or the student denies the plagiarism I encourage them to use the TurnItIn software before submitting their final draft.
I have found that by treating the students with respect, giving them the benefit of the doubt and allowing for a resubmission the students feel more respected, are less defensive and in the long run submit better, more thoroughly researched work.
Thank you,
Nancy
Robin,
Respecting the intellectual property rights of others is something we find ourselves teaching in undergrad and graduate courses, alike. Thank you for sharing your strategy/process.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
At the start of the class either post or discuss the topic and provide clear examples of it. List any web sources which you feel should not be used as references, like Wikipedia. I teach in two graduate programs and at this level students should have a good understanding of how to properly use their references and sources of information. However, there are students who don't and they need to get some clear guidelines on what constitutes plagiarism. We have tools to help the instructor identify possible violations of academic honesty and the university has a very strict policy. I go over the policy and the tools during the first week of class. Generally the first time the student has a violation, I use that as a learning opportunity to help the student better understand what they did wrong, how to avoid it in the future and why it is a serious mistake. If the student does it a second time, depending on how serious it is, I'll deduct points from the assignment and counsel them again. If it continues I report it. Some students really don't understand the proper use of reference material and I want to make sure when they finish my course that they do.
Raymond,
The scenario you described indicated the usual outcome (my experience and close colleagues) when the student is provided a straightforward description of the problem and an opportunity to remedy. Your means of handling the situation was perfect. However, the 80/20 rule often comes into play where 80% of your time is spent with 20% of the students who do not respond in the "usual" manner. Relying on the institutional policy and adhering closely to the instructor responsibilities is a key component for successful outcome with the students. Very good. Thanks.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Hello Reyna,
I have run into this problem myself and it can be frustrating and difficult to deal with in some cases. Definitely note and enforce your institution's policy on Plagiarism. The institutions policy should guide you in how to address this. I had a student who did a significant amount of copy/paste directly from several websites. I sent a private email to the student, outlining the plagiarism policy, pointed her to the written policy online and gave her one opportunity to make immediate changes to the document she submitted and resubmit a correct, revised version. In addition, I made sure to notify her that any further incidences would be addressed at the administrative level. In this case, the student remedied the problem and had no further breeches of the policy.
Reyna,
We are glad things are looking up. Thank you for your participation and encouraging feedback.
Thank you all for your feedback. I actually got the majority of my students in the next term. The students that did plagiarize are no longer doing the copy/paste. The few conflicts I did have with the students was worth it. Their papers are written better than ever.
Thanks again for all the advice.
Reyna
Aprilan,
Two points about your post are master teacher techniques:
1) setting specific clear boundaries
2) provide the guidance to get it right
Sometimes instructors will do the first without fully engaging in the second for complete follow-through. Enforcing the boundaries (policy) consistently with professional judgement is a must. The guidance to 'teach how' is where the professional teacher can really have an impact and truly help the student. Thank you for sharing your expertise.
Reyna,
Stick with the schools plagiarism policy. Give them an initial opportunity to re-write the information or to give proper credit where credit is due. Also give them some boundaries on how to re-write the work. For instance:
Direct quotes or definitions should not be longer then 20 words.
First answer the required questions in a bullet format, then re-write the question into the answer and form a complete sentence.
Those students who refuse to re-write their work do deserve to be marked down for plagiarism. I have also found that they are the less motivated students. Remind them that by copying and pasting some other persons work into their assignments that they are learning nothing. They might as well save the money they are spending on education for other uses. These students will need constant reminders of why they decided to return to school, the benefits of completing the program and help with their confidence. Quite possibly they feel their writing skills are not up to par and may be intimated by the assignment.
Hello Reyna,
One of the best things you can do for your students is to enforce the plagiarism policy consistently and equitably for any and all students. This will actually enhance the students' trust in you. Additionally, you can help the student see how he/she might feel if it were his/her IP that had been plagiarized.
