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: UCLA Dealing with Plagiarism — Portal.
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: Sources and Citations at Dartmouth.
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- 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.
- Inappropriate Collaboration
- Make sure to specify
to students what constitutes appropriate collaboration in your course,
and the consequences of engaging in inappropriate collaboration.
- Syllabus
- Include in the
syllabus for the course the faculty statement on academic integrity, what action you will take in responses to instances of
academic dishonesty, and what the possible consequences will be.
