Hello:
I am working on a paper as part of my certificate of advanced study project at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. My topic is teaching students in grades 6-12 to avoid plagiarism. I have decided to approach it from the standpoint of increasing student comprehension of what it actually means and why it should be avoided. However, what I am finding is that while students can define plagiarism, they are experiencing difficulty translating the definition to the work being turned in. In addition, it seems to be handled subjectively by teachers. What is your perception of this issue? Any insight you can share would be greatly appreciated!
Tamela Chambers
Replies
It may be of some use to you:
http://www.kn.att.com/wired/fil/pages/listpreventiau.html
Very important that the topics are not "fact finding".
They must have a need for synthesis.
Thanks Audrey!
I'm in a high school with grades 10-12, and this is a hot topic for us! I have a couple of observations. First, teachers have told me that they have not had to think about plagiarism, citing and related skills since college, so they are not comfortable teaching it. I'd say that this is the source of the "subjectivity" that you refer to. It's also an opportunity for us as teacher-librarians to step in and educate them (and their students).
Secondly, in working with students, there are often comprehension issues. So I would add a "how to avoid plagiarism" piece to your instruction. It sometimes helps to begin with a discussion of how to identify key ideas in a passage. Several years ago we developed a lesson in which students are given a short passage and guided through (1) identifying a relevant direct quotation, (2) writing a paraphrased version of the passage and (3) writing a summary. We include both successful and unsuccessful examples.
I have to add that we now use Ms. Abilock's NoodleTools, which gives the students lots of instruction and support. But really, we are talking about thinking and writing skills, and until kids develop the tools to do otherwise, they will often resort to copying as a way out when faced with a writing assignment.
Good luck!
@ Hilary, I have done the "how to" instruction as a student teacher and while the students can tell me what it is and correctly answer the multiple choice questions on the asessment tool I used, there was a considerable amount of disconnect between applying that knowledge when paraphrasing. In addition, I was also getting a lot of "what if I did____" in response to the ethical portion of the lecture. It almost seemed like the questioning was geared toward trying to elicit a response that would give them some idea of just how much plagiarism or copying they could get away with before it is detected! The students I worked with know about turnit.com and other websites that detect plagiarism from internet sources but it was quite eye opening for students to be asking about "what if they copied from a book"!
@Debbie
The morality component of this is issue is tricky. How do you effectively teach this as a moral issue when sometimes the punitive measures (getting an F, expulsion, etc) are not seen as that big of a deal to students? Saying "don't copy because it's the right thing to do" means very little to a student compelled to plagiarise because they have poor time management skills, lack confidence in their writing skills, etc. In addition, what constitutes as plagiarism for one teacher may not be that big of a deal to another. Seems like this may be a never ending battle...