“Not Another Plagiarized Paper!": Strategies for Helping Students Avoid the Plagiarism Trap Patricia Becker-Johnson, Teacher Education Kate Mangelsdorf, English (Rhetoric and Writing Studies)

We know why students plagiarize… Students are deceitful Students are lazy Students can’t write The English Department isn’t doing its job

Why Students Say They Plagiarize I’m desperate I need an A in this class I don’t understand how to document sources I don’t have enough time I didn’t think anyone would really read my paper

Our Responses to Plagiarism Emotional Responses * Disappointment * Anger * Betrayal of Trust * Insult  We focus on detection, not instruction

Complicating “Plagiarism” Postmodern concepts Cultural assumptions Situational differences Accidental Deliberate

“Plagiarism”: Postmodern Assumptions Is there new information out there to be found? Bakhtin (1981) argues words do not belong to a single individual… Every word spoken or written draws on ideas of others Newton: to see farther we must stand on the shoulders of giants

“Plagiarism”: Cultural Assumptions Individualistic cultures  Truth derives from original insight  Authors own their own texts (capitalism)  Intellectual property laws

“Plagiarism: Cultural Assumptions Communal Cultures  Truth derives from the group  Texts are communally owned  Using words of others is sign of respect  Memorization of respected texts

“Plagiarism”: Situational Differences Speechwriters Ghostwriters Boilerplate language Collaborative workplace writing Mission statements SACS verbiage

“Plagiarism”: Accidental Students don’t understand why citing sources is important Students don’t transfer what they learned in first-year composition to other classes Students forget because they don’t write very often Students think only English teachers care

It’s Not Easy to Correctly Use Sources! Cognitive challenges Linguistic and rhetorical skills Knowledge of the discipline

Cognitive Challenges You need to... Understand what you’re trying to say Understand what the source is saying Understand how your idea connects with the source’s idea

Linguistic and Rhetorical Skills You need  Strong vocabulary to paraphrase  Sentence skills to integrate ideas  Textual knowledge for cohesion

Disciplinary Knowledge You need to be able to  Identify common knowledge and jargon in the field  Identify knowledge unique to the source  Understand citation system in the field  Know how to cite ever-changing digital sources

“Plagiarism”: Deliberate “The unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work.” – Dictionary.com (based on Random House Dictionary) Academic dishonesty: Submitting another person’s work as your own

How Students Plagiarize Cut ‘N Paste Online journals from library databases and various internet texts Several sources Sentence, paragraph, or the whole paper Sudden shifts in tone and vocabulary Fake citations

How Students Plagiarize Recycle Used Paper Internet paper, friend’s paper, student’s own paper Re-format Use “find” and “replace” to update Fake citations

How Students Plagiarize Digital Paper Mills Hundreds of sites Thousands of topics Charge by the page or paper Papers written to order

Other Peoples Papers.com “Isn't this plagiarism? No. If you hand in a paper from this site or any other you are committing plagiarism. There is nothing wrong with publishing papers on the internet. Can I get caught using this site? If you are cheating there is always a chance you will get caught. Teachers know about this site so think twice before handing in a paper you did not write. Do teachers know about this site? Yes. Teachers all over the world know about this site. They can't stop us, but they can catch you.”

Techniques to Combat Plagiarism Assign major paper in parts…work on drafts Model how YOU combine other’s work with your own The assignment is a process that is continually being built upon Do not recycle topics semester after semester

Activity How can you help your students avoid the plagiarism trap? Deliberate plagiarism Academic dishonesty Accidental plagiarism

REAP: Read, Encode, Annotate, Ponder 1. Read the Text 2. Encode into your own language 3. Annotate by writing the message down 4. Ponder; think about it

REAP: Read, Encode, Annotate, Ponder Show students examples of annotations in actual content area’s writing

GIST: Generating Interactions between Schemata and Text Start off by showing students how to paraphrase one sentence at a time Add another sentence to be paraphrased Combine with previous paraphrase into one sentence Finally, paraphrase entire paragraph in one sentence

I-Chart Topic: Subtopic: What I Already Know: ResourcesImportant Ideas Interesting Related Facts: Key Words or People: New Questions to Research:

Resources to Fight Plagiarism Google

Resources to Help Students Online writing lab at Purdue University: owl.english.purdue.edu UTEP Dean of Students Office: Studentaffairs.utep.edu (click on “student conduct”) Refworks (online citation system): libraryweb.utep.edu (click on “Library Services,” then “for students.”

A Word from Our Sponsor: UTEP Office of the Dean Step 1: Paper, test, assignment receives an “I” Step 2: Send Dean of Students a letter detailing offense with appropriate documentation Step 3: Dean of Students will contact student in question and meet with them Step 4: Final decision will be made by Dean of Students: Instructor and Student will be notified by letter