1 Plagiarism seems to have got worse with access to technology. My students often copy and paste whole chunks of text from the internet.
You’re not alone – many teachers complain of this. The internet has brought us instant access to an extraordinary wealth of knowledge and content. But this has its downside. For students, it’s all too tempting to search online for content for an assignment, and then to copy it and hand it in as their own work. After all, why put in all the effort of writing something in a foreign language when somebody has already done a better version of it, and it is freely available on the web? Plagiarism has always existed, but the internet has made it a lot more tempting, and a lot easier.
2 Well, luckily for teachers, we know what plagiarism is – and that it’s bad!
Not necessarily. Plagiarism is a tricky area and it doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. Students (and teachers) come from a range of educational contexts, and understanding of what exactly constitutes plagiarism can vary. Although most of us agree that verbatim copying of content is plagiarism (and is unacceptable), a recent study1 found that teachers themselves can be ambivalent about whether unattributed paraphrasing of someone else’s work constitutes plagiarism. What’s the difference? For example, when I’m writing an article, I often make reference to and paraphrase other people’s ideas or research, but I need to ensure that I correctly attribute that work (as I just did for the study I mentioned above), rather than making it look like it’s my own original work. The key concept for students to understand is the difference between attributing ideas and work to others (quoting your sources), and passing that work off as your own (plagiarism). So plagiarism doesn’t only mean copying content verbatim, although this is the easiest form of plagiarism to spot. It can also mean not attributing sources correctly and making other people’s ideas look like your own. This may well be unintentional on the part of the student. Clearly, it’s important for students to understand the various forms plagiarism can take (see point 5 below for more on this).
3 How can I check whether a student’s work is plagiarised?
There are a number of plagiarism detection tools available; some, but not all, are free. You’ll find useful lists of plagiarism checkers in a blog post by Richard Byrne at http://goo.gl/Lblrcz and from Jennifer Scottson at http://goo.gl/xltbyr. As Byrne points out, many teachers simply copy and paste a chunk of text into Google when they suspect plagiarism. If that text is already out there in a web page or article, Google may well find it for you, so it’s a good first port of call.
4 My students think it’s fine to plagiarise if you can get away with it!
You need to discuss plagiarism overtly with your students. Often they haven’t been taught at school that plagiarism is not acceptable. They may have been using sources such as Wikipedia since primary or secondary school, but nobody has ever explicitly told them not to copy from these sites directly, or how to quote their sources. So the first step is to sensitise your students to the various forms of plagiarism, and to help them understand why it is unacceptable. You can also point out the consequences. For example, in high-stakes contexts where assessed work may lead to a certificate or degree, plagiarised work can lead to students being expelled from an exam – or even from an entire degree programme.
5 How exactly can I help my students become more aware of the issues around plagiarism?
Here are two activities to try out in class:
1 Have your students discuss the infographic at http://goo.gl/QxFO1z, which describes ten types of plagiarism. You could first ask them to put each type of plagiarism on a scale of 1 (not serious) to 5 (very serious) to encourage them to analyse their own attitudes to the different forms of plagiarism. Then encourage them to come up with a checklist of ways to avoid plagiarism in their own work. If you’re a teacher trainer, this activity could also be carried out with teachers as a useful sensitising exercise.
2 Have your students play the online game about plagiarism at http://goo.gl/ehMo45 in pairs. Produced by Lycoming College, this game leads the students through a number of scenarios in which they need to identify the correct action to take. This is a fun and educational way to help your students understand plagiarism and how to avoid it.
Like copyright and Creative Commons (see ETp Issue 93), understanding plagiarism and how to avoid it in the age of the internet is an essential skill for students of all ages. And it is our duty as educators to help them develop this understanding.
1 Lei, J and Guangwei, H ‘Chinese TESOL lecturers’ stance on plagiarism: does knowledge matter?’ English Language Teaching Journal 68 (1) 2014
Nicky Hockly is Director of Pedagogy of The Consultants-E, an online teacher training and development consultancy. Her most recent book is Digital Literacies, published by Pearson. She has published an e-book, Webinars: A Cookbook for Educators (the-round.com), and has recently co-authored Going Mobile, a book on mobile learning (DELTA). She maintains a blog at www.emoderationskills.com.
