I used to take plagiarism seriously; even worse, I used to take it personally. If you are the type of instructor who makes it a business to track down the source of a plagiarized text in order to prove that a student is a plagiarist, then you’re probably finding, in the age of Google and Turn It In, that catching a plagiarist can be a pretty easy job.
The same tools that make it easy to locate sources of plagiarized texts, however, are the same tools that are making it easier for students to plagiarize. Some papers are even constructed by cutting and pasting information from internet sites, and in extreme cases, the student will keep the original html formatting in their papers, not bothering to change the font, color, or line spacing of the lifted material. The internet is also a host to companies that will offer to write or sell papers to students.
In my discussions with faculty members, I try not to spend too much time discussing plagiarism for two reasons. First, plagiarism is not going to go away, and I would rather that faculty walk away from my sessions with ideas of how to make their classroom and teaching more innovative. Second, I think that how we deal with plagiarism is oftentimes touchy and personal–there’s a taboo surrounding the measures that one could take and the measures that one actually takes when confronting or not confronting a student who is inadequate in the area of attribution.
I feel strongly, however, that not confronting a plagiarist will ultimately thwart the student’s ability to develop crucial communication and critical thinking skills.
My method of dealing with plagiarism isn’t the best, I’m sure, and it’s certainly not fool-proof; however, I’ve so often been asked how I go about confronting inadequate attribution that I feel compelled to list my steps here.
1.) Don’t take it personally. The student is not throwing your teaching back in your face, as it were. The student might be suffering from feelings of inadequacy, fear of writing, fear of English, or other feelings that we, in our capacity of instructors, aren’t able to relate to. Of course, the student might also just be trying to get an easy way out of an assignment or just waited until the last minute, only to discover that the work involved in the assignment was too much for one all-nighter.
2.) Don’t spend your time commenting or marking up a paper that you suspect is plagiarized. It’s a good idea to hand back the plagiarized paper with the rest of the class’s papers with a little note. What you want to say is up to you, but I find it best not to use the “P” word.
3.) Always give the student the benefit of the doubt. I always tell myself to assume that the student just didn’t know better, even if the paper is an article on the internet. I ask the student to talk to me after class or during office hours, and I go over citation and attribution with them personally. Some of us might feel that we don’t want to deal with the situation, that sending the student to the Writing Center for a lesson in attribution would be less awkward, but having this lesson straight from the instructor is really the best way to let to student know about the seriousness of the issue. Besides, the student has already been caught, as it were, and probably doesn’t want to face someone else–it’s embarrassing and shameful.
4.) In some cases, when I am able to find the source of the plagiarism on-line, and depending on the case, I will staple the print-outs to the student’s paper with a note that says, “Sally, could you please go through your paper and properly attribute what you’ve written here and then resubmit it? I’ve printed out the sources to make it easier for you to cite the websites in your paper and the web addresses in your Works Cited page. I think you’ve chosen a good topic, but I’m interesting in seeing what YOU think here.”
5.) If a student does it twice, well, then I might consider the measures that I could take, but students, I find, generally don’t do it again.
Jenny, you’re very kind… I bet that Walter Benjamin was as well.
I think it’s important to discuss these issues in class, in detail, before giving out assignments. Of course, that depends on the class, the subject, and the assignments. When I taught the American history survey at Baruch, I had at least one plagiarist per term, despite devoting significant time to discussing the rules of attribution. They were usually extreme cases of copying and pasting… one was an extra credit book review assignment ripped from the web, and in another, the student handed me half a chapter from Irving Howe’s World of Our Fathers… when I gave him a chance to redeem himself, he copied and pasted again… after I called him on it, I never saw him again.
The point of my comment, beyond relaying the sheer audacity of some of our students, is that we can head off the minor cases that evolve from confusion by structuring assignments that require pointed analysis related to what’s going on in class, and by discussing in detail the ethics of scholarship. There are legitimate gray areas around plagiarism where teaching is important and necessary. That, to me, is less of a problem than the black and white areas represented by the lengthy copy and paste. Responses should be scaled to the severity of the offense, and should usually, as Jenny notes, require more work. Students who copy and paste whole assignments or large chunks of them, though, show contempt for their teacher, their classmates, and the entire educational enterprise, whether they consciously intend to or not. One doesn’t need to take such acts personally to return the contempt.
Reply to Luke
Unfortunately it’s the lack of common understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and the inconsistent responses of instructors that are part of the problem. Conversations among instructors at the same institution are essential. Here’s a link that points to ways that schools have developed common language and understanding among their faculty: http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/ethical/ - “click on the Template for a Plagiarism Policy. There are also other resources about the ethical use of information.
Reply to debbie
My metod of trying to deal with plagiarism is to include a few long paragraphs about it in the syllabus that I hand in to students. Also, in that very first session of the semester, when we are getting to know each other and I introduce my course, I also talk about plagiarism. I try to scare them ( just a tiny little bit) by talking about a few internet sites that detect plagiarism, so the students know I am familiar with more tan just the “on” and “off” switch on the computer. I also talk about stealing ideas, not just words– this seems to get their attention and suprises a few of them. But ofcourse, I still get papers copied in part from internet sites.
Reply to Agnieszka
These are great suggestions. I have had several experiences over the past couple of years where teachers have looked for support and advice on how to mitigate the proclivity of students to cut and paste.
As the very nature of information continues to change we must do a better job of learning with our students. It’s not just about the 3 R’s anymore. We need to develop learning environments where students learn to locate, assess, harvest, manipulate and communicate knowledge.
Changes in our world demand changes in our schools. As teachers we can choose to make a positive approach to dealing with our students (as you have chosen to do with these guidelines) as opposed to a negative mindset where it becomes a constant battle between members of the learning community.
Reply to Jeff Whipple
There’s so much to talk about here — I’d be happy to participate in any session the Institute might like to organize on the subject. But for the moment I just wanted to mention that in addition to the more educationally oriented things you do when you encounter plagiarism, please, please, please send the name to Ron Aaron in the Office of the Dean of Students. The point is not to punish the student: Ron’s role is very much educative, not punitive. We ask you to report so that we can keep track: you’re entitled to teach the student where s/he has gone wrong and let her/him redo the paper, but we’d rather not enable the student to plead ignorance the next time around.
Reply to Dennis