Actions Instructors Can Take to Help Prevent Plagiarism

• Resources for Information on Plagiarism
  • It is important for students to learn how to write effectively and create theses that are based on the formulation of their own ideas. While most students understand that plagiarism involves using someone else's words and ideas without giving them credit, some students are confused about how to write about someone's ideas without using their exact words. UCLA has a collection of resources that deal with the topic of plagiarism. See: http://www.library.ucla.edu/url/referenc/plagiarism.htm. This link opens up a new browser window.
  • Make sure to specify to students what constitutes plagiarism in your course.
• Citing of Sources
  • Another topic that students may not be familiar with is how to cite their sources. Giving students instructions on citing sources when they are given their paper topics can avoid some of the problems with plagiarism. Dartmouth has a comprehensive site that covers the how and why of citing sources in papers and that may be a useful resource for your students. See: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sources/. This link opens up a new browser window.
  • Make sure to specify what kinds of sources you expect the students to use and supply a guide for how to cite a journal or an online source.
• Discouraging Plagiarism
  • Ask students to write a short summary of their search strategies, or a summary of one of the references used.
  • Require that students have copies of their references available should there be any questions, or require that they hand in their references with the paper, in addition to having a reference section in their paper.
  • Change the assignment each year to help with the problem of a generous prior year's class.