Plagiarism Resources for Faculty

Readings and resources | Tutorials for your students | Issues to consider | Ways to avoid plagiarism | Proactive tips from other faculty | Low tech tools: the assignment | Signs to look for if you suspect plagiarism | Searching for suspect passages |Online tools

Readings and resources

These sites outline issues, ideas and suggestions for dealing with plagiarism.

Plagiarism: What It is and How to Recognize and Avoid It
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml

Preventing and Detecting Plagiarism
http://www.millikin.edu/staley/plagiarism.html

Preventing Plagiarism
http://www.uah.edu/library/turnitin/facultypreventplag.htm

Resources for Combating Plagiarism
http://www.ualr.edu/copyright/?ID=3

Strategies for addressing and preventing plagiarism
http://www.seattlecentral.org/faculty/kmicha/plagiarism/index_files/frame.html

Student Cheating, Plagiarism (and Other Questionable Practices), the Internet, and Other Electronic Resources
http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/WomensStudies/plag.htm

“Student Plagiarism in an Online World”
http://www.prism-magazine.org/december/html/student_plagiarism_in_an_onlin.htm

(See References for additional information)

Tutorials and resources for Students

These sites point to presentations, tutorials and videos that help to educate students about plagiarism.  You may choose to direct your students to them, or show the tutorials as part of your class discussion.

Interactive video
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/libs/robeson_lib/flash_presents/text_plag.html

Avoiding Plagiarism
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/research/r_plagiar.html

Avoiding Plagiarism: Mastering the Art of Scholarship
http://sja.ucdavis.edu/files/plagiarism.pdf

Helping Students Avoid Plagiarism
http://www.umuc.edu/ugp/ewp/plagiarism.html

How do I know what plagiarism is?
http://library.udayton.edu/faqs/howto/plagiarism.php

Instructor's Guide to the VAIL Plagiarism Tutorial
http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip/vail/faculty/instructor_guide/

How to Recognize Plagiarism
http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/

Is It Plagiarism?
http://library.umf.maine.edu/plagiarism/is_it.html

Lemonade Tutorials: Plagiarism
http://www.coedu.usf.edu/~dorn/Tutorials/plagiarism/plagiarism.htm

Plagiarism Court
http://www.fairfield.edu/x13870.xml

You Quote It, You Note It
http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/

Issues to Consider

• Uniform university policy; departmental, school, or college policies
• Variety of penalties depending on severity
• Variety of application of penalties & policies
• Time involved in detecting
• Time involved in pursuing action

Ways to avoid Plagiarism

• Discuss plagiarism policies and penalties with students
• Point students to tutorials, or conduct practice paraphrasing exercises
• Create assignments that direct students away from topics or papers that may be reproduced in other situations
• Look for specific signs within the assignment
• Use full text searching if you suspect misconduct

Proactive tips from other Faculty

• Discuss and define plagiarism with students before the assignment.  Make sure that consequences and detection methods are discussed.
• Discuss the topic of paraphrasing and how to do it. Students who don’t understand what they are reading have more difficulty paraphrasing.
• Discuss how using the style guide helps them to avoid plagiarism.  Not using a citation style exactly (formatting) should not be seen as bad as “Copy & Paste Plagiarism.” (Cohen, 2005)
• Encourage the use of the style guide and be open to questions.  This may mean having a notation for difficult citations; students make their best attempt and indicate they had difficulty with the instance.
• Make students aware of the institutional/ departmental policy and its consequences
• Be aware of the paper mill sites and discuss them with your students.  Indicate you know they exist and could be randomly or individually checking with them for student papers.

Low tech tools: the assignment

• Assign a personal slant to essays, or add this as a component of the assignment
• Concentrate on the process of the written assignment; drafts of the process or personal discussions will help you gain a sense of the student’s process, ideas and style.
• Adjust the assignment to topics discussed within the textbook or class discussions.  Have students include these ideas within the paper, or address them in context.
• Have students address a local or current problem in its context of the course ideas/ topics
• Use specific topics instead of general
• Ask students to turn in research notes, or journal as part of assignment
• Make sure students know the difference between group projects and plagiarism, and how you would like them to document group discussions/ explorations.

Signs to look for if you suspect plagiarism

• Odd formatting changes
• Out of date references in list
• References in a different style than assigned
• Topic off course of the assignment
• Paragraphs not of the same writing style or voice
• Out of date context, discussions of non-current events in the present tense
• Web addresses in the text that look like a link
• Finding similar phrasing in more than one paper for the same assignment

Search for suspect passages

• Academic Search Premier or other full text databases
• Electronic Journal Center
• Google, and other search engines
• Check for paper titles on paper mill sites
• Use a free search service
• Use a fee based service

Online Tools

Sites that PROVIDE papers:

• http://www.a1-termpaper.com/
• http://www.schoolsucks.com
• http://www.oppapers.com/
• http://www.freepapers.com/
• http://www.123helpme.com/
• http://www.cheathouse.com
• http://www.duenow.com
• http://www.schoolpaper.com
• http://www.ivyessays.com
• http://www.planetpapers.com
• http://www.screwschool.com

See also Coastal Carolina University site for more listings: http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/mills2.html

Sites that DETECT plagiarism:

• Search Engines:  google.com (*check several search engines; msn.com, yahoo.com, aol.com, altavista.com, etc.)
• Full text databases (Academic Search Premier, etc.)
• Pay sites: Turnitin.com

References

Cohn, Ellen R. and Charles J Ansorge. TLT Group. “Partnering with Students to Avoid “Cut and Paste” Plagiarism.” http://www.tltgroup.org/LTA’s/ltaw/lta32.htm. 10/19/05.

Leland, Bruce. Plagiarism and the Web. http://www.wiu.edu/users/mfbhl/wiu/plagiarism.htm. 10/19/05

Penn State University. Cyberplagiarism:  Detection and Prevention.
http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/cybrplag. 10/19/05.

Rocklin, Tom. Downloadable Term Papers: What’s a Prof. to Do?
http://uiowa.edu/%7Ecenteach/resources/ideas/term-paper-download.htm. 10/19/05.

Simmonds, Patience. 2003. Plagiarism and cyber-plagiarism: A guide to selected resources on the Web. C&RL News, 64(6).
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2003
/june4/plagiarismcyberplagiarism.htm. 10/25/05.

University of Alberta Library. Detecting Plagiarism. http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/plagiarism/detecting.html. 10/20/05.

University of North Carolina.  ITS Center for Instructional Technology. Plagiarism:  Faculty Resources.
http://www.unc.edu/cit/guides/plagiarism/faculty.htm. 10/20/05.

 *Also thanks to the suggestions and ideas of the faculty of Stark and Trumbull Campuses who participated in a forum to discuss plagiarism at KSU Stark Campus, Oct. 28, 2005.