Today’s Hot Topic Question comes from George, who asks:
How to avoid plagiarism online?
How to check for plagiarism when the students submit their work?
Research shows that around 75 percent of students are engaged in some form of plagiarism online. So what are the ways to prevent this situation? Here are some strategies that will show online teachers and trainers how to avoid plagiarism online.
Watch this 4 minute video to learn how:
Here is the summary of the video:
- Provide definition of plagiarism to your students and give concrete examples- often they do not even know what plagiarism is
- Set time limits for student activities including tests and other high-stakes assignments
- Assign various types of work often in a semester to establish a track record and have various means of assessment
- If you use an LMS, randomize your tests, so different students will have different orders of items on their quizzes
- Ask students to provide you with a writing sample at the beginning of their semester so you have something to compare to
- Make things that are hard to control, such as online quizzes, to be a small part of the final grade, using other forms of assessment that measure deeper knowledge more valuable.
- If you have a synchronous class- have some quizzes done during class.
- Some programs show you how to check for plagiarism online, such as Turn-It-In, which acts as a way to check.
- Tell students about the consequences of cheating
10. Create written contracts
NOTE: Cheating is not only the responsibility of the student. Online instructors must maintain open communication w the students and provide timely feedback.
How to check for plagiarism?
There are several signs of cheating you can look for in the students’ work:
~ mixed formatting of the text. Use of different citation systems (MLA vs APA)
~ url address or some other marks of the web-based text left on the paper.
~ weird formatting that results from cutting and pasting from the web into a Word doc
~ are all parts of the assignment covered?
~ does the written style of the paper change?
~ is there verb agreement (with nouns and tenses)
~ does the style match to the students’ written sample?
~ is the bibliography complete?
Hopefully with these techniques you can avoid plagiarism in your online classroom.
What are your strategies for plagiarism prevention? Share your thought in the comments below!
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As a student who has completed his doctoral proposal and has had experience with this issue, be certain that what you write is in your own words! For a long while it was said simply that by giving credit to the author was good enough. However, plagiarism happens when you use an author’s text exactly as it has been originally written. How does one avoid plagiarism? One way is by actually reading that which you plan to use in your paper. This way your ‘TurnItIn’ score (which is widely used by many schools-especially Walden University) will be much lower! As a grade school educator, this has become an issue for learners who use the internet to research. (Another story for another time perhaps). Nonetheless, your voice is what is required and sight after in your writing and oral presentations! Enjoy!
Hello Marina,
These are exceptional tips.
A four part strategy I use, which is very effective and empowering: 1) Define plagiarism in the Course Syllabus, 2) Organize small group activities that result in students discussing contemporary examples of plagiarism, 3) Facilitate small and large group discussions where students define plagiarism in their own language, and finally 4) Ask students to sign a Anti-Plagiarism Contract, which was developed using their own words. When possible, I include their actual words to help make it very real for them.
And one very important step that some forget to do is provide students opportunities to learn and practice how to cite and paraphrase. This is a learned skill and you cannot really speak about plagiarism without providing students with the tools to properly cite.
I hope that expands this very important discussion.
This is an incredibly effective strategy- I think making students participate in discussing what plagiarism is and evaluating real-life examples of it is the key! Thanks so much for sharing!
Our school has a good approach to plagiarism. The first time a student is observed to have plagiarized (we use Turnitin for report verification), the lead teacher is made aware of the situation. From here, the lead teacher will call and discuss the assignment with the student (or Skype) and clear up what happened. Often, the student is panicking because of deadlines and know what they did was wrong, or is getting frustrated with an assignment (a good thing for us to know– alterations can be made) but in other instances the student is unaware of what constitutes plagiarism (or what plagiarism even is) so it opens up a great dialogue for a teachable moment. The student is then asked to re-submit. For the second offense with plagiarism, based on the efforts put into the very first incident, the conversation is repeated, but the student is given a zero on the assignment and reminded again of the school’s plagiarism policies. The third time around, the student is VC’d with their facilitator and a discussion is encouraged about whether the learning environment is suitable for the student’s needs.
Nice approach, Kyla. I wish all schools used the same strategy!
I found this video helpful. I used to think that student would not cheat because cheating only hurts themselves and why pay for an education if you are not wanting an education; however I have come to believe that some students will cheat if given the opportunity. I really like the contract idea.
Thanks, Susan! I hope that most students won’t either. Are we idealists???:-)
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I just stumbled across your excellent blog via the Sloan-C LinkedIn group, which I just joined.
The discussion of online plagiarism brought to mind a fascinating study published in the June 2011 issue of JOLT (The Journal of Online Teaching and Learning – http://jolt.org): “The Impact of an Honor Code on Cheating in Online Courses”.
The researchers conducted several well-designed tests to determine whether or not online students would “self-police” after signing a pledge of academic integrity. The effectiveness of such pledges in traditional, face-to-face settings has been well-documented in other studies, so the authors wondered how an honor code would influence students in either a blended or strictly online environment.
I won’t give away the results (I’d probably misrepresent them anyway); you should go read them yourself (http://jolt.merlot.org/vol7no2/loschiavo_0611.htm) . But I will share my own takeaway from the study: an academic honor code, online or otherwise, is almost worthless without some “human touch” or social authority to enforce it.
You can read my blog post on the subject: http://social.rollins.edu/crummer/edtech/2011/09/01/will-an-academic-honor-code-prevent-online-cheating/
Thanks for the discussion!
Chris
Thank you, Christopher! I really appreciate your resoucres. Thanks for generosly sharing your ideas here! Great links!
Learning-centered courses and colleges would make learning more important than grades – ie a focus on intrinsic goals of exploration and learning vs the extrinsic goals of earning grades and credits. When we design courses that focus on grades and credits then learning is a happy accident. When we design courses that focus on grades and credits we make it clear to students that learning is not the real goal. So, students , being rational beings, work rationally to get that grade and get those credits.That work does not involve learning. So, what we are doing without very much realization is encouraging cheating and we are then shocked, SHOCKED when it occurs? But a focus on grades and credits is easier for faculty. The development of learning centric courses and learner centered faculty is hard work… so like our students we too tend to take the easy route…
Thank you so much. Bernard. This is an amazing post! I really appreaciate you sharing your wisdom with all of us!
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have truly enjoyed surfing around your weblog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing for your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!
Thank you so much for your kind words. I post every Wednesday. If you subscribe to my blog you will also get some special reports that I only reserve for my list! Welcome aboard!
FYI…as much as we try, we will not be able to prevent plagiarism, only deter it. I’ve been using Turnitin for several years, and whileTurnitin reports a similarity score, even a high similarity score does not indicate plagiarism. Plagiarism is a conscious effort to deceive by passing off someone else’s work as one’s own. In my experience, after grading ~20,000 graduate student online assignments, most students either do not know how or when to cite in accordance with APA. That’s where enlightening online students as to the difference between “paraphrasing” a source and “quoting” a source. Most students are very proficient at cutting and pasting from other sources without the proper citation, and it is very difficult to prove plagiarism. That said, it’s no excuse, so I let my students know the difference and grade accordingly. If a student lists a source that is “substantially similar” to published sources without the proper citation, then I let it be known their grade would be lowered accordingly. Making students aware of the consequences of improper citation deters the vast majority, but you will always have some students that plagiarize…it is what it is. When the students are well informed of the consequences and that “you can run but not hide from Turnitin”, it goes a long way in deterring plagiarism.
Thank you so much, Jolly! I am very impressed with your experience and I am so happy that you share your insights with us here.