~ Dealing with Plagiarism ~

   DETECTION 

1. 'Smoking guns' - evidence that information was downloaded....

• dates, URLs in corners of pages
• misformatting (broken lines, weird symbols within text)

3. Copy & paste a suspect paragraph into www.findsame.com  or  use full-text search engine such as Google, Northern Light or Fast Search.

4. Check references - are they all old? Are they unusual (e.g. all from USA)?

5. Check prose style - consistency and appropriate for this student?

6. Use plagiarism detector:
www.plagiarism.com
www.plagiarism.org (free trial!)
www.wordcheck.com 

7. Discuss with student - ask them to 'explain in a different way' what they have written.

See also Jamie MacKenzie article…..
The New Plagiarism : Seven Antidotes to Prevent Highway Robbery in an Electronic Age http://fno.org/may98/cov98may.html

   PREVENTION 

Educate yourself
1. Understand why students cheat - usually last minute panic. 

• address time management by restructuring assignment & monitoring process.

Educate students
1. Do not assume students understand plagiarism - define & make penalties clear, discuss benefits of citations. 
Present it as an issue of fairness rather than arbitary rule.

2. Teach them how to properly cite, how to construct bibliographies
[see Bibliographies]

3. Take students to sites! 
a) Deconstruct an example to demonstrate its failings
b) Use them to teach students proper citation of electronic sources or how to evaluate sites/information
c) Use for an assignment on ethics!

Assignment design
1. Make assignment & its requirements unique.

2. Ask questions that require students to make answers rather than find them!

3. Assess the process as well as the product.

4. Require students to choose from a list of specified topics.

5. Specify number/type of sources to be used e.g. pathfinder or hotlist on intranet.

6. Require a bibliography with  up-to-date references.

7. Require a 'meta-learning' or evaluative response after assignment submitted, or include learning journal in task.

8. Use Blooms Taxonomy to set question.

Monitor process & progress
1. Check drafts before final assignment started.

2. Submit notes & drafts with final assignment.

3. 'Bibliography - draft - final copy'.

4. Require oral reports on assignments.

5. Watch students write; short conferences; check points.