Preventing, Detecting & Dealing with Plagiarism
A Workshop Coordinated by the Oberlin College Library
January 10, 2002

Summary of Small Group Discussions on Pedagogical Issues

Notes taken by Jan Cooper, Barbara Prior, Suzanne Gay, and Jim Helm; transcribed, edited, and organized by Cynthia Comer

General Strategies

All syllabi should state what types of writing assignments are required and when they are due so students can take courses that don't all have major papers due at the end of the semester.

State course requirements for citation, style, etc. in the syllabus.

Provide a rigorous introduction to research skills and information literacy, including plagiarism and correct citation form in the new First Year Seminars.

Standardize writing courses across the college so that they all include the research process, citation form, and education about plagiarism.

Develop an honor code statement that applies to papers and other written assignments.

Writing Assignments

Establish clear criteria for what's expected for assignments.

Develop a multi-step process approach to writing, using a series of incremental assignments (e.g., topic ideas, outline, bibliography, sequential drafts), with students handing in the different parts, not just the final paper. Possibly grade each step. This shows that process and product are both important. The disadvantage is that more assignments to grade means more work for instructors. This is easier to achieve in smaller classes.

Ask students to turn in working outlines early in the composing process (but make sure they know they can change the outline as their writing progresses).

Ask students to submit descriptions of what they intend to write about before the assignment is due or along with their finished paper, e.g. an abstract explaining their objectives and why they wrote the paper as they did.

Require a minimum number of sources/citations.

In paper assignments, ask students to extend or comment on what was said in class discussion--this can't be created by term paper mills because they lack the context.

Group/Collaborative Learning

Ask students to read each other's drafts and answer specific questions about them for each other, then email the instructor about how things went. Another way to incorporate peer review of this sort is to ask students to write a 1-2 page response to each other's drafts and print out 2 copies of it, one for the writer and the other for the instructor.

Have students work in small groups to critique each other's papers or edit each other's work.

Ask students to discuss sections of their papers in progress (e.g. the thesis, the introduction, the analysis of a primary document) in small groups.

Collaborative learning through group assignments is helpful, although there are problems with grading: Should the work be ungraded? Group graded? Should students cite the whole group?

Other Kinds of Assignments

Ask students to fill out initial getting-to-know-you questionnaires that ask about their experience with documentation and paper writing and what they're worried about in writing papers. This can enable the instructor to locate students who may need to be put in a special group to address skills in documentation or lack of confidence in paper writing.

Ask students to reflect in writing on how they wrote the paper and how their ideas changed in the process of writing. This could be submitted as a self-evaluation or an addendum not associated with evaluation.

Have students write a process paper, in which they reflect on their projects or assignments.

Use class readings of professional articles to discuss how different sources of information are created and issues of citation.

Have students keep reading journals, which gets them writing about the ideas they will use later in papers.

Give students a range of written assignments, including in-class writing, so that cases of plagiarized papers will be more evident to the instructor.

Ask students to submit photocopies of the articles they used in their research along with their paper.

Ideas for Teaching and Discussion

Give content feedback during the early stages of writing a paper due later in the semester.

Explain to students the purpose of an assignment, and that their result doesn't have to be brilliant or highly original; this encourages internal motivation in students.

Teach the mechanics that are part of the research process--citation, record-keeping, note-taking, etc.--as some students may not be well-grounded in those techniques.

Provide instruction on proper citations, especially internet sources. First Year Seminars would be a good setting for this type of instruction.

Explain why plagiarism in wrong, and the negative consequences it has for the student; they will not learn to think analytically on their own, and it could lead to a life-long habit of being a "cheater."

Provide an opportunity for rewriting a paper that has already been graded.

Design assignment questions carefully to prevent students from going off too far in different or unexpected directions.

Teach the differences in primary and secondary sources.

Arrange a "majors meeting" and discuss with students issues of plagiarism particular to that discipline.

Additional Resources

Invite a librarian to present a session on research sources and proper citation.

Ask the Rhetoric and Composition Program for writing tutor help for handling the rough drafts (helpful for larger classes).

Other

Use an answer key (or an equivalent) to teach students self-correction (i.e., compare their own work to a model).

Tailor an assignment exactly, or have students write only on specific topics. Providing narrow and specific topics for assignments can discourage lifting material off the Internet. The disadvantage is that selecting and refining a topic is also a desirable skill students need to learn, but won't get if topics are provided to them.

For research projects that use lab or field techniques, have students submit written reports at each stage.

Be aware of new techniques for potential cheating or plagiarism…for example, a student who uses a laptop for in-class exams or closed-book assignments will have access to spellcheck and other tools.

Be aware of the value of trusting students and conveying this in your stated expectations.

Link issues of plagiarism to a particular assignment, therefore if library staff are invited to lecture on getting information in the course's subject matter, students have a greater imperative to listen and can immediately work on developing the skills covered.

A future topic is how or whether students should acknowledge assistance received from others, such as librarians, writing tutors, other group members, etc.