Unit 1: What is Plagiarism?
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Preventing Plagiarism in the Classroom
Unit 2: How to Use Plagiarism Detection Software
What Do I Know Now?
During this course, you will complete reflections about plagiarism. First, you will write an entry in this journal about what you already know about plagiarism and how you think it affects your classroom.
Click Hereto access the journal!
What Is Plagiarism?
In its simplest terms, plagiarism is the act of taking someone else’s work or ideas and trying to pass them of us your own. However, there are different forms that plagiarize can take and it is important to be familiar with all of them. Here are the main types of plagiarism to be on the lookout for in your classroom.
Copy and Paste Plagiarism:
Any time a sentence or significant phrase is listed from a source without the use of quotation marks and referencing the original source.
Word Switch Plagiarism:
This type of plagiarism takes place if a sentence is taken from a source and a few words are changed around. This is still plagiarism if credit is not given to the original source.
Metaphor Plagiarism:
Metaphors are used either to make an idea clearer or give the reader an analogy that touches the senses or emotions better than a plain description of the object or process. Metaphors, then, are an important part of an author’s creative style. If a student cannot come up with their own metaphor to illustrate an important idea, they need to give credit to the original source of the metaphor, unless it is in the public domain.
Idea Plagiarism:
This can be one of the harder types of plagiarism to identify. If the author of a source article expresses a creative idea or suggests a solution to a problem, the idea or solution must be clearly attributed to the author. However, if the idea is common knowledge, or public domain, it does not need to be sourced.
Reasoning Style/Organization Plagiarism When an article is followed sentence-by-sentence or paragraph-by-paragraph, it is plagiarism, even if none of the sentence are exactly the same or in the same order as the original article. What is being copied in this case is the author’s reasoning style.
Why Do Students Plagiarize?
Why do students plagiarize? There have been many noted causes of plagiarism in research. The lack of time to study, the difficulty of an exam, the importance of good grades, and not preparing for an examine were identified as the some of the most common reasons to cheat according to students. However, one of the most common reasons behind plagiarize may in fact be a lack of understanding of what plagiarism truly is. Not understanding academic integrity has been noted as a key reason that students plagiarize. It has been specifically noted that the distinctions between quoting, citing, or paraphrasing, while giving proper credit to the original author, are lost on many students. Plagiarism can happen inadvertently by students because they do not have the necessary skills or knowledge to avoid it.
Watch the video below for further information on why students plagiarize!
Reflection
Write a list of reasons why students may plagiarize in your classroom and provide your rationale behind your answers. Post it to the discussion board and take a look at what other educators believe the issue is in their classroom. Keep the list you make handy! You will be using it again in a later module!
Click Here to access the discussion!