|
Other CTER 4 White Papers |
| Access |
|
Controversial Issues Can you rely on online services and software for detecting plagiarism? But even if plagiarizing isn’t it still wrong? Why should we be concerned about plagiarism? How can plagiarism be avoided? What are some additional resources regarding the issues of Free Speech Plagiarism How can I counter student's reasons for plagiarism? What other types of lessons are there to teach my students about plagiarism? Are there any other ways to help students avoid plagiarism? What other student resources are there? Are student contracts beneficial? Papermills How do students locate essays on the Internet? How do students find essays on topics? Is information used from a papermill considered plagiarism? Software What problems should I look for when using plagiarism software? |
||||
|
|
||||
| Can
the new plagiarism (technology supported) be beneficial to teaching
practices?
Benefits may be found in an attempt to combat the new plagiarism. Because the new forms of plagiarism may include copy and pasting information into a paper or purchasing a paper online, teachers need to rethink the writing they assign. Certain assignments, like those that require a regurgitation of the facts lend themselves to plagiarism. The following sites offer a unique opinion of plagiarism and how it may benefit educational practices.
In Praise of Plagiarism
Prevent Plagiarism with an outcomes approach http://www.eddept.wa.edu.au/centoff/cmis/eval/technology/usenet/pplagiarism.pdf
Can you rely on online services and software for detecting plagiarism? Even though online services and software for detecting plagiarism are helpful and convenient they to can be problematic. The following sites describe some problems that may occur with these resources.
Turnitin.com, a Pedagogic Placebo
for Plagiarism
Not everyone agrees that plagiarism is cheating. In fact it is an accepted practice for newspaper writers to pick up pieces of a story from the AP and include it in their article without reference. So why is it emphasized so in academics?
In Praise of Plagiarism
The University of Tasmania conducted an evaluation to determine the difference in plagiarism and cheating to develop academic dishonesty policies and procedures. The following site is a preliminary report published by the committee. The report makes a distinction between plagiarism and cheating.
Academic Misconduct (Plagiarism)
- Preliminary Report
But even if plagiarizing isn’t it still wrong? Not everyone agrees with this point of view. Here are some dissenting opinions about plagiarism and copyright. The first was written by John Perry Barlow, lyricist for the Grateful Dead, and cofounder and executive chair of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The Economy of Ideas Against User Interface Copyright Plagiarism: a misplaced emphasis Intellectual Value Copywrong Who owns knowledge? Sold Out The Right to Read: A Short Story
The answer to this question may seem simple. Plagiarism is most simply using another's work without giving credit. Even though it seems simple enough there are always differences of opinion as to whether a work was plagiarized. The following site, Is it Plagiarism?,(http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/isit.html) details an incident that occurred in December 1999. A parent sent a message to Doug Johnson about plagiarism. He posted the question to LM_NET. He asked teachers how he might respond to the letter he received from the parent. He posted the original letter and all of the responses on this Website The of teacher responses clearly shows that even something as simple as the definition of plagiarism will not be interpreted the same way by any two teachers.
Avoiding Plagiarism, retrieved from the World Wide Web, August 2, 2002, http://sja.ucdavis.edu/avoid.htm
Why should we be concerned about plagiarism? You are cheating yourself when using
someone else’s work. How can plagiarism be avoided?
Plagiarism.org, retrieved from World Wide Web August 2, 2002, http://www.plagiarism.org/faq.html
If I submit
a paper for one class and then submit the same paper again for
another class, can I correctly be accused of plagiarism?
What are some
additional resources regarding the issues of Free Speech?
Freedom Forum
Free Speech Movement
Digital Archives |
||||
|
There are many reasons why students
plagiarize. Sometimes plagiarism is intentional and at other times
it is not [1]. Unintentional plagiarism frequently
occurs because a student does not have writing or research skills.
Students may not understand the concept of plagiarism or how to
avoid it. Students may even have trouble recognizing the differences
between plagiarism and paraphrasing [2]. There
are many different methods to citing resources and student may
become confused.
|
||||
|
How can I counter student's reasons for plagiarism? It is usually better to have answers
ready for students before plagiarism starts. The following web
site provides many answers for students who believe plagiarizing
is OK.
|
||||
|
Even if students don't plagiarize they may not understand why they shouldn't. It might be because you or some other teacher told them it was wrong. Aside from the penalties they may face for being caught there are other reasons not to plagiarize. Discussing the reasons for not plagiarizing with students may be beneficial. The following sites provide interesting discussions concerning intellectual property issues.
|
||||
|
What other types of lessons are there to teach my students about plagiarism? Aside from in class discussions there are other whys to teach students about plagiarism. The Web offers many creative and unique ideas. The following are just a few.
|
||||
|
Are there any other ways to help students avoid plagiarism? Another way to help students avoid plagiarism is give students assignments that are less conducive to plagiarism and grounded in original thought. Make writing assignments cover local topics and current issues. Be sure to change paper topics yearly to prevent student sharing of old research papers. On a final exam, have students summarize their research work.
|
||||
|
What other student resources are there? There are many resources to help your students understand this issue. Many school districts as well as universities are addressing the plagiarism issue. The following sites may help your students.
|
||||
|
Are student contracts beneficial? Some schools and teachers have tried using contracts that specify what plagiarism is and how it will be dealt with in their classrooms or school. However, a biology teacher, Christine Pelton, at Piper High School in Piper Kansas used these contracts without much success. Her biology students and signed such a contract prior to the completion of a major assignment. Twenty-Eight of Pelton's biology students were caught plagiarizing in spite of the contract. The Piper School Board caved in to parental complaints stating most students did not understand what plagiarism was even though they signed the contracts [3]. Listed below are several examples of contracts.
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
A papermill is an Internet Website that students can access in order to search for essays on any topic in any subject area. Many sites are free but many sites charge by the month or by the page for students to have access to essays written by others. Some sites state explicitly that the use of the essays is only for information and some do not make any claims relating to the contents of the Website. Some sites even pay for submissions to add to their contents of essays in all subject areas.
|
||||
|
How do students locate essays on the Internet? It is actually very easy for students to locate information on any subject using search engines such as Yahoo, Netscape, or Google. Just entering the keywords "student essays" produces thousands of links to sites that offer essays for free or for a charge.
|
||||
|
How do students find essays on topics? Students can then search the site by subject area or enter keywords to find an essay that relates to the topic they are researching. For example, if they must discuss the reasons underlying the Civil War in the United States, they would enter "civil war united states reasons". On a free site, links to essays containing these keywords will then appear and students can read the essays. On a paid site, students would log in with a username and password after paying for the services. Students can then download the essays to their local machine or print the essays. The following are several examples of what is available to students on the Internet:
|
||||
|
Are there ways teachers and faculty members can recognize if a student has directly copied an essay from the Internet? One way to fight papermills is to use an online service or software program to detect plagiarism. Another way to effectively use papermills is to let your students know you are aware of them. Bring in a paper from one of the online sites and critique it in class. Try schoolsucks.com the papers are free and as stated in USA Today, you get what you pay for. Use the same paper to show students how easy it is to find their plagiarized paper online. There are a few services available to teachers to verify work completed by students. Two paid services that teachers or institutions can subscribe to are turnitin.com and eve2, Essay Verification Engine. These sites conduct searches and compare the submitted essay with internet materials. Though they do not claim to be able to search every Internet site, they do claim that their searches are complex. Another way is to use search engines such as Google to search for certain phrases that an instructor suspects has been copied from other sources.
|
||||
|
Is information used from a papermill considered plagiarism? Since the definition of plagiarism is:
If a student does not site the work with a reference in his/her paper or tries to turn the essay in as his/her own original work, then it would fall under the definition of plagiarism and would be subject to an institution's policies dealing with student plagiarism.
|
||||
|
Are students at the high school and the college level the only groups using the Internet for research? No, elementary students and professionals such as college faculty and members of the business community are also using the Internet for research and commercial purposes. Publication journals and supervisors can also use the Internet to verify original work by their authors and submitters. |
||||
|
|
||||
|
Is there any software that can help me detect plagiarism? In addition to online plagiarism detection services there are software programs that can help you determine whether or not a paper, software, or computer program has been plagiarized. Some of the software is free and others cost. A few examples are listed below.
|
||||
|
What problems should I look for when using plagiarism software? This article describes one student's problems with when using plagiarism software.
|
||||
|
References and Resources [1] Website, University of Alberta Libraries, retrieved from the web on July 10, 2002, http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/plagiarism/students.html [2] Website, Why do Students Plagiarize?, retrieved from the web on July 10, 2002, http://www.lib.odu.edu/research/Plagiarism/Whyplagiarize.htm [3] Website,
Cheating In the Heartland?, retrieved from the web
on July 12, 2002 CBS News | Cheating In The Heartland?
| May 31, 2002 17:46:09 Academic Misconduct
(Plagiarism) - Preliminary Report, retrieved from the World
Wide Web, August 2, 2002, Accountability Form,
retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 Against User Interface
Copyright, The League for Programming Freedom, retrieved
from the World Wide Web, August 1, 2002, The Antidote to Plagiarism PDF
retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 Avoiding Plagiarism: Discussing
Plagiarism retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 Battling Plagiarism in the Internet
Age retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 BigNerds.com, retrieved from
the web on July 21, 2002 Cheating In the Heartland?,
retrieved from the web on July 12, 2002 CBS News | Cheating In
The Heartland? | May 31, 2002 17:46:09 ChuckIII.com Chuck IIIs College
Resources, retrieved from the web on July 21, 2002 Class Contract for Dr. Meyer's
Class, retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 Compose, retrieved from the
web on July 29, 2002 Copyright and Plagiarism Lessons
retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 Cyber Essays, retrieved from
the web on July 21, 2002 English Rocker Claims Green Day
Plagiarized His Song... retrieved from the web on July 29,
2002 Essay, A Culture of Plagiarism?
retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 Freedom Forum, retrieved
from the World Wide Web, August 2, 2002, How to avoid plagiarism on your
website, retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 JPLEG Detecting Software Plagiarism,
retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 In Praise of Plagiarism,
Ross Hunt, revised May/June 2002, retrieved from the World Wide
Web, August 2, 2002, Is it Plagiarism?, Comments
gathered from LM_Net in response to a parent question, hit posted
by Doug Johnson. Retrieved from the World Wide Web, August 2,
2002, List of assignments that help
prevent plagiarism, retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002
Online Plagiarism: How to Prevent
It, How to Detect It, retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002
Papers 4 Less, retrieved
from the web on July 21, 2002 Plagiarism retrieved from
the web on July 29, 2002 Plagiarism: a misplaced emphasis,
Brian Martin, Published in Journal of Information Ethics, Vol.
3, No. 2, Fall 1994, pp. 36-47, with minor editorial changes.
Retrieved from the World Wide Web August 1, 2002, Plagiarism and Intellectual Dishonesty,
Yukon College Library, retrieved from the web on July 29,
2002 Plagiarism on the Net retrieved
from the web on July 29, 2002 Plagiarism and the Web, retrieved
from the web on July 29, 2002 Plagiarism: What is it, how to
recognize it, and how to avoid it, retrieved from the web
on July 29, 2002 Plagiarism: What Is Wrong and
How To Avoid It? Plagiarize? I'd Never do That!
retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 Prevent Plagiarism With An Outcomes
Approach, retrieved from
the World Wide Web, August 2, 2002, Raising Good Citizens for the
Virtual World retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 realPapers.com, retrieved
from the web on July 21, 2002 The Right to Read: A Short Story,
Richard Stallman, This article appeared in the February 1997 issue
of Communications of the ACM (Volume 40, Number 2). Retrieved
from the World Wide Web, August 1, 2002, Scholarly Publishing, Peer review
and the Internet, Peter Roberts, First Monday, retrieved
from the World Wide Web, August 2, 2002, Sold Out, James Boyle, Originally
published in the New York Times, March 31, 1996. Retrieved
from the World Wide Web, August 1, 2002, School Sucks,
retrieved from the web on July 21, 2002 The Straight Dope: Was McDonald
land plagiarized from the old HR Pufnstuff? retrieved from
the web on July 29, 2002 Student Contract on Plagiarism
and Academic Dishonesty, retrieved from the web on July 29,
2002 Suggestions for Preventing Plagiarism,
retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 What is plagiarism? Retrieved
from the web on July 29, 2002, What is Plagiarism at Indiana
University? retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 What Steps to Take When Your
Work Is Plagiarized retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 Whose is it, anyway? retrieved
from the web on July 29, 2002 Why do Students Plagiarize?, retrieved from the web on July 10, 2002, http://www.lib.odu.edu/research/Plagiarism/Whyplagiarize.htm Why Not Plagiarize retrieved
from the web on July 29, 2002 Writing History: From Students
to Scholars retrieved from the web on July 29, 2002 |
||||
|
Julia Jeffreys Vicky Romano August 2002 |
||||
|
|
||||
| © Copyright 2002 by tgrant, jjeffreys, vromano, & kschlappi. Permission to reproduce and distribute for non-profit purposes granted. |
