Using collaborative efforts to teach students about plagiarism Bozena Barbara Widanski, UC Clermont College & Debra Courtright-Nash, Ferris State University

Continued Collaboration Chemistry - Composition Chemistry Training Literature Review Composition Chemistry Training Research Proposal Lab Work Peer Review Rewriting Presentation Conference Writing Central Structure of our Collaboration

Continued : The Tasks We Asked Our Students to Complete Organic Chemistry Laboratory Students Conduct a review of literature in fall quarter, with training Develop a hypothesis Test that hypothesis in lab Give a presentation Write a journal article Submit the article for review Revise the article Give a presentation on their project in Organic Chemistry lab Composition Students Learn the format for articles Watch a presentation by Organic chemistry students on hypothesis and experiment Conduct a peer review on the Organic Chemistry articles Write a peer review response to an Organic Chemistry student’s article

Continued Defining plagiarism in UC Clermont syllabi 1. Submitting another’s published or unpublished work, in whole, in part, or in paraphrase, as one’s own without fully and properly crediting the author with footnotes, citations or bibliographical reference. 2. Submitting as one’s own, original work, material obtained from an individual or agency without reference to the person or agency as the source of the material. 3. Submitting as one’s own, original work, material that has been produced through unacknowledged collaboration with others without release in writing from collaborators.

Continued Avoiding Plagiarism Requires Knowledge of legalities Knowledge of conventions of the field Understanding of rationale for both Motivation to observe the rules and conventions

Continued Legality: First, it is important to understand the definition of Fair Use: Fair Use is when a person uses limited amounts of information for illustration, commentary, or exemplification in opinion pieces, for educational use or for transformative purposes (that is, to create something new)

Continued Convention: Teaching students proper documenting within the text: Any time that information from a source is included in the text, it should be documented with a number that corresponds to the reference page The reference page and documentation should follow standard guidelines for ease of access If possible use more than one reference per piece of information One reference may be cited two or three times within the introduction

Continued Convention: Documenting alone does not prevent plagiarism True, any time we use information from a source, we should document. However, even if one documents, one should put the information from the sources in his or her own words If one does use exact words, one should always use quotation marks.

Continued Beyond documentation: A person should ask the author or publisher’s permission to use information when: Using large amounts of information, especially exact words Using entire tables, graphs or other such specific pieces of data Using photographs or videos Using information for reasons other than educational

Continued There are excellent sites that explain Fair Use further: Like: The University of Texas Web Site: property/copypol2.htm#test Nolo’s Legal and Business Books, Forms and Software Site: ectID/C3E49F67-1AA FE5C119B5806

Continued Additional Tasks We Asked Organic Chemistry Laboratory Students to Complete in Writing Project Attend a library research presentation Write articles’ summary Participate in an online session on documentation Take on line quiz about plagiarism

Continued How should a person paraphrase or summarize a source? Which of the following is NOT fair use of information? A writer should probably request permission if they plan to:____________________ If one plans to use a photograph from the internet in his paper… Some questions from quiz:

Continued Assessment of year: All students were able to complete quiz about plagiarism successfully. Most of the students felt that they learned a lot in this course and gained the experience in writing scientific article while avoiding plagiarism Students realized the importance of proper documentation and fair use of scientific article.

Continued Some ways to increase the awareness of plagiarism among undergraduate students: Let the students watch the powerpoint presentation Give them a quiz Ask them to visit the web sites on plagiarism Provide them with the examples Give the students a writing project

Continued Unique Strengths of Using Collaborative Efforts to Teach Students about Plagiarism: English, Chemistry, and Library Faculty can give different perspective to the concept of plagiarism On-line learning can increase understanding of plagiarism Peer-review of students’ writing can encourage student teaching student about plagiarism