Effective Practice with Safe Assign Margaret Adamson & David Walker University of Dundee 19 March 2010

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery Charles Caleb Colton ( )

Definitions Defining plagiarism is central to dealing with it (Gary K. Clabaugh & Edward G. Rozycki, Preventing Cheating and Plagiarism, 2nd Edition (2009) Oreland, PA: New Foundations Press ) Problems with definitions: the practice of presenting thoughts, writings or other output of another or others as original, without acknowledgement of their source(s) (University of Dundee Code of Practice on Academic Dishonesty) "the appropriation or imitation of the language, ideas or thoughts of another author, and representation of their work as one's original work." (Random House Dictionary)

Policy At what level should this originate? Academics keen for clarity from the top, particularly on sanctions Most institutions policies are very general Stick to the policy!

Implementation Used across all Schools Formative/diagnostic use Administrative use only Summative use Write Attributes

Issues Woolly PolicyIn cases of plagiarism it is important to try to distinguish between those in which failure to follow standard conventions of citation and ascription indicate ignorance, carelessness and/or ineptitude and those in which there is evidence of dishonesty What is the intervention level? What is the status of submissions?

Safe Assign D.O.U M. Detector of Unoriginal Material

Features Fast processing and results Inclusion of specific resources Instructor submit Re-processing of reports Saving of reports Detection against current and previous students work Facility for students to view own results

Interpretation Sentence matching (percentage of a sentence that is not original) Overall matching (average of sentence scores) Matching Plagiarism! The system flags both quotations and citations Below 15% - minimal checking Between 15% and 40% - too much quoting? Over 40% - excessive unoriginal/copied material

An Example Quickly scan the example essay and decide roughly what score you would give it How easy was it to come to a decision? What further information would you have liked?

Issues Copying (timing issues – the system regards the first assignment to be submitted as the original) Assignment Design (e.g. higher scores are to be expected if students are writing on the same topic) Input on Referencing (students must have received adequate warning and guidance on appropriate referencing) Awareness of cultural issues Self plagiarism Sanctions (must be clear and in line with policy) Submission Guidance (do not include bibliography, essay title, cover sheet) Anonymity

Assignment Design Think about how you would design an assignment to minimise the chances of plagiarism

The most important element Human intervention Taking responsibility for dealing with plagiarism

Plagiarism: Pernicious Plague or Preventable Pest?