- Chat with students about taking information from the internet without getting the writer's permission.
- Provide ample opportunities, with rubric, for identifying reputable and questionable internet sites. (Like the exercise we had to do in ICT class.)
- Provide ample practice in paraphrasing information.
Students need to be taught these activities otherwise they will always have problems with plagiarism.
However, I am seeing that struggling readers will have problems with the paraphrasing aspect. I am therefore seeing the need and importance for teaching "Main Ideas." What do you think?
Please feel free to add additional guidelines to prevent student's plagiarism.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that main idea should be a necessary part of our students’ instruction. It is hard when students do not have a good grasp of main idea to organize writing task successfully. Also the key in getting our students not to plagiarize other people material is how instruction is done. Many of us as teachers are guilty of giving students project to do at home with no guidance. We might tell them what we want in the project but we do not teach them how to do the write up. We need to start early in teaching them how to write without plagiarizing. In teaching them to do so, they will have little or no problem as they continue to write at an advance level.
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts are so valid, as we live in a society with a culture that encourages plagiarism in all forms. As educators, we have the opportunity to teach our students about the negative effects of plagiarism, and also develop in them the literacy skills that negate such a practice.
ReplyDeleteThis culture of plagiarism is very evident at university level, leading to the use of software that can detect its presence. I find TURNITIN software to be very useful and informative, as it makes you aware of how words, maybe innocently used, can be interpreted, especially if they are not cited. The end of plagiarism begins with us as teachers and educators in the field, as we effectively communicate the reading and writing processes to students.
Hi Esther,
ReplyDeletePlagiarism is a type of academic cheating that is so prominent in education. We need to have academic integrity which is a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility in order to avoid plagiarism. Some ways to curb academic cheating are:
- Establish and implement an academic integrity policy.
- Seriously punish cheaters according to the academic integrity policy.
- Ban electronic devices in examination rooms.
- Develop multiple modes of assessment so that grades are not determine primarily on tests.
- Change examination questions as often as possible.
- For multiple choice examinations, use alternate forms.
- Make sure you are in the examination room at all times.
- Seat students randomly in alternate chairs.
- Take action if you observe "wandering eyes".
- Make students feel as though they can succeed in your class without having to resort to dishonesty.
- If you suspect students of cheating or plagiarizing material, confront them directly.