Wednesday 1 August 2012

Plagiarism

Any teacher would agree that plagiarism is a big problem and only getting more and more common with the internet. There are lots of websites out there with information on how to catch and stop immigration. Rather than write another article on it, I've decided to give a few quick tips and links to other comprehensive websites on plagiarism.

The first tip to remember when discussing plagiarism is that while in some countries, like the UK and the USA, plagiarism is a horrible crime, in other countries like those in Asia or South America, plagiarism is not seen as something that bad. Some professors may indirectly encourage it. Professors that publish their own books may require students to memorize and regurgitate their information word by word, without teaching them how to use quotes properly. Students who are not able to directly quote professors may have points taken off. So when you're teaching about plagiarism, put yourself in their shoes.

The second thing you should do is teach them that stealing word or ideas is the same as stealing money.

Third, you need to teach your students how to create a bibliography. There are lots of sources out there about bibliographies, but perhaps OWL Purdue is the best.

Fourth, it you suspect a student of plagiarism, then you should calmly confront them. There are three good ways to check and see if a student has plagiarised. The first thing you can do is sit the student down and ask them simple questions about their paper. Usually a student will copy vocabulary words without even knowing what they mean. Pick the hardest words and ask them to define them. Another thing you can do is to tell them to give you a verbal summary of what they've written. Lastly, try asking for a written summary. That way you can compare what they handed in before and what they're doing at the moment in front of you.

Fantastic Websites for Plagiarism

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