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

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

3. 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

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

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

6. “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

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

8. “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

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

10. “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

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

12. 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

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

14. 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

15. “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

16. 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

17. 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

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

19. 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.”

20. 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

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

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

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

24. 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

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

26. Resources to Fight Plagiarism
Google

27. 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.”

28. 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