1. Plagiarism Advisory Service
Dr Fiona Duggan
25th October 2006

2. Background Pilot projects in 2001 Regional Seminars
Contracts for Advisory and Detection Services
First national licence

3. Issues Access to a wealth of electronic resources
‘Consumerist’ and strategic attitudes to education
Widespread confusion / ignorance of referencing and citation mechanisms

4. And Essaybanks aimed at GCSE, A level and University students
‘Cut and paste’ plagiarism
Student work selling on eBay

5. What do they have in common?
Shakespeare
Martin Luther King
Princess Michael of Kent

6. Reasons / Excuses Concept of ownership not yet developed
Oral tradition of sharing resources
Cryptomnesia

7. Student perceptions Definitions unclear
Negative rather than positive association
Not seen as relevant beyond course

8. Staff perceptions Tuition isn’t necessarily their role
Identification involves extra work
Lack of support

9. Strategies Electronic plagiarism detection The technological solution
Holistic approach
‘Head in the sand’ approach

10. Most effective approach
Utilises technology within a holistic framework
Is consistently applied throughout the institution
‘Tackles the illness not just the symptoms’ PLAGUE (2002)
Involves librarians!

11. Technological approach
Range of software products available
Detect collusion, cut and paste plagiarism, source code plagiarism
May require some form of electronic submission

13. Is it plagiarism?
The report does not distinguish between properly cited text and unacknowledged sources
High instance of text matches may not always indicate plagiarism
Judgement of plagiarism remains with lecturer

14. Can only be effective
If placed within the context of an information skills/literacy strategy
Is complemented by referencing & citation and study skills tuition
Linked to good assessment practice

15. So need to look at
How students are informed about plagiarism and collusion
When students are informed about plagiarism and collusion
Where the key messages are reinforced

16. The good news is that by facing the challenge of this situation we might be forced to help our students learn what I believe to be the most important thing they can learn at university. That is just how the intellectual enterprise of scholarship and research really works.
Hunt, Russell (2004) Whose silverware is this? Promoting plagiarism through pedagogy. Plagiarism: Prevention, practice and policies conference abstracts. Northumbria University

17. Plagiarism Advisory Service