Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Academic Honesty Promoting the Legal and Ethical Use of Information by Secondary School Students

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Academic Honesty: Outline of Presentation 1. What’s the Problem? 2. Plagiarism in a High Tech world (the how and why) 3. Defending against Plagiarism 4. The Best Defense: The Proactive Approach –Rethink the very nature of research assignments and the purpose they serve in the curriculum. –Emphasize the research process and the learning of lifelong information literacy skills. –Structure writing assignments to reduce plagiarism. –Build a common understanding of academic honesty. –Model academic integrity.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports What’s the problem? In a 2000/2001 American high school study, “ 74% of the respondents admitted to one or more instances of serious test cheating and 72% admitted to serious cheating on written assignments. Over half of the students admitted they have engaged in some level of plagiarism on written assignments using the Internet.” Center for Academic Integrity

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports What’s the problem? In a study of 4,500 secondary school students, Donald McCabe found: 15% have submitted material obtained, in large part, from a web site or internet paper mill 52% have copied several sentences from a web site without citing the source 90% of students who plagiarize from the Internet have also plagiarized from written sources Center for Academic Integrity

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports What’s the problem? Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty have always existed. However, today: Technology has made it so easy to plagiarize. Academic dishonesty – in its many forms – is a common occurrence. Plagiarism has become a game of cunning. The integrity, ethics, and morality of our students are at stake.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Plagiarism: Then and Now Old Plagiarism Students: copied from books, encyclopedias, journals; misrepresented citations or bibliographic entries; exchanged or purchased essays. New Plagiarism Students: copy from one or more electronic sources; download material from the Internet without acknowledgement; locate essays in another language and then put them through translation programs.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Plagiarism: Then and Now Old Plagiarism required time and effort to locate and copy; papers still had to be written or typed; required personal contact. New Plagiarism copying and pasting is quick and effortless, providing instant gratification; text fonts can be changed with a simple keystroke; requires no personal contact, creating a sense of anonymity.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Three Variations of Plagiarism Unintentional –poorly developed literacy skills and poor understanding of acceptable documentation procedures Intentional –deliberate attempt to achieve ‘high end’ results with ‘low end’ effort Invitational –nature and scope of certain types of assignments encourage students to merely “hunt, gather, replicate” (Tom March)

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Why Students Intentionally Plagiarize stress of a heavy workload and the competition for high marks poor time management and planning skills lack of understanding about concepts and ethics of intellectual property lack of confidence in their own research and writing skills project has no meaning for them - they are just “getting it done”

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports The Clues The paper, project or presentation: is just too good for the student’s level of understanding, knowledge and/or skill; is consistently better when work is done at home rather than in class; contains poorly written paragraphs at the beginning and end, and high quality work in between; sounds familiar; is suspicious in terms of appearance or topic

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Become Informed Become informed on cheat sites and different methods of plagiarizing in the high tech world: Do your own reading concerning high tech forms of academic dishonesty (See Resource List for Teachers) Investigate Internet sites available to assist educators in preventing and identifying plagiarized work. Visit electronic paper mill web sites to familiarize yourself with essay retrieval methods.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports The High Tech Defense Use a comprehensive search engine (Google, Dogpile, Altavista, alltheweb) to locate possible sources of questionable papers Type in a phrase from the essay or the essay title Search full-text online subscription databases (EBSCO, Electric Library, Proquest) Type in a phrase from the essay or the essay title This could take hundreds of hours per class assignment Install filtering software to block out cheat sites This could create a false sense of security, as students can access cheat sites elsewhere

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Higher Tech Defense Here's a Plagiarism site where you simply copy/paste text into it and it lets you know the site the material was taken from: Join for free, upload the word docs and you'll hear back within 24 hours. An amazing service with full reports.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports However “Catching Internet cheaters is not the best answer. It’s a lot like doing an autopsy. No matter how terrific the coroner is at determining how or why a person died, the damage has been done. Bringing the culprit to light won’t change that. Preventing the problem is a much better approach.” Cut and Paste 101: Plagiarism and the Net

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports The Best Defense: Be Proactive 1.Rethink the very nature of research assignments and the purpose they serve in the curriculum. 2.Emphasize the research process and the learning of lifelong information literacy skills. 3.Structure writing assignments to reduce plagiarism. 4.Build a common understanding of academic honesty. 5.Model academic integrity.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Research Assignments I Rethink research assignments. Structure them so that they: are examples of authentic learning emphasize critical thinking skills emphasize creative thinking emphasize metacognition so that students can think about the “what” and “how” of their learning We CAN structure assignments so they are meaningful and cheat proof

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Research Assignments II Focus on time (e.g. write an obituary for a civilization, change a historical decision and predict the possible consequences. Change format (e.g. debates, simulations, role plays, trials, newspapers, editorials) Incorporate technology (e.g. TV talk show, PowerPoint, web pages) Create a game (i.e., with rules similar to Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit, Survivor) Create visual products (e.g. dioramas, models) Create a Webquest Rethink Traditional Research Products

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Research Assignments III Explain why the French Revolution was inevitable. TO You are a merchant living in Paris in Explain why you support the French Revolution. Explain and describe the relationship between Anne Frank and her mother. TO Write a letter as Mrs. Frank to Anne, explaining the problems you are having with her. Change Point of View in Traditional Assignments

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports The Research Process I Identify meaningful steps within the structure of each assignment Use an assessment scheme giving appropriate weight to process and product Assess the research process at various stages Teach students the meaning of plagiarism, intellectual property, and copyright.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports The Research Process II Teach students how to use quotations and paraphrasing effectively and how to cite sources correctly. Require students to submit a research portfolio of notes, sources, and drafts along with their finished product. Use your school’s Student Research Guide as the standard.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Structuring writing assignments to reduce plagiarism I Evaluate both the research process and the product. Make sure there is adequate resource material for topics to encourage research success and eliminate student frustration. Personalize assignments by incorporating an interview, a visit, an opinion component, or an authentic application.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Structuring writing assignments to reduce plagiarism II Monitor a working bibliography as the assignment progresses. Require an annotated bibliography during the first part of the research process. Keep samples of student work for comparison. Require rough notes and drafts to be submitted with final essay.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Structuring writing assignments to reduce plagiarism III Have students do a “metalearning reflection” for major research assignments. In this exercise, students reflect on their personal research experience--what strategies they used, what confused them, what skills they have acquired, how they managed time, etc.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Academic Honesty Policies Use the Academic Honesty Policy, created by some boards as part of their Code of Student Behaviour. Establish a school-wide policy of Academic Integrity, including consequences for cheating, if a Board policy does not exist. Apply the policies consistently in your school.

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports Model Academic Integrity Two ways you can model Academic Integrity in the classroom are by: - complying with Canadian copyright regulations when photocopying print materials - showing only videos for which public performance rights have been purchased

Ontario School Library Association: Curriculum Supports References Material for this presentation was adapted from the following sources: Ann Lathrop and Kathleen Foss. Student Cheating and Plagiarism in the Internet Era. Lisa Renard. “ Cut and Paste 101: Plagiarism and the Net”, Educational Leadership, Dec. 1999/Jan Suzanne Preate. Internet Plagiarism. Syracuse University Library Please refer to the handout “Academic Honesty: a Select Resource List for Teachers” which is an annotated listing of books, journal articles and web sites which can be used as teaching resources.