DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

  

STRATEGIES TO REDUCE PLAGIARISM

 

5 D's PLAGIARISM:         1. Define          2. Deter         3. Dialogue

www.plagiarism.org            4. Defend         5. Discipline

 

Classroom Application

  1. Distribute campus and/or CUNY policy on literary theft
  2. Provide plagiarism information briefly or in detail
  3. Assign students to preview a Plagiarism Prevention site or video as part of the course work.
  4. Distribute Writing Program Administrators Council (WPA), American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), or other explanatory citation materials.
  5. Discuss the definition and types of plagiarism which have resulted in assignment or course failure and academic expulsion prior to giving class assignments.
  6. Include a policy for using sources and giving academic credit in the course syllabus.
  7. Know what content is readily available online before creating an assignment.
  8. List the penalties and repercussions for plagiarism in the assignment or syllabus
  9. Direct students to use technology filters to check their work prior to submission.  (SafeAssign, Turnitin)

Improve the Design of the Assignment

  1.  Provide tips for students to use in research and draft writing.  (Example:  Paraphrase =  P, Quote = Q, Own Words = M, Common knowledge = C)
  2. Provide the specific sites to be used for researching the assignment (i.e. scholarly databases available through the CUNY online library system). Indicate which sites are not acceptable and why.  (NO: Daily News, Wikipedia, hospital pamphlet, www.answers.com, etc.)

     3. Create a scheduled sequence for the assignment steps.   Example of a Research        Assignment: 

       a. 2nd week:          Brief brainstorm by each student on their choice of topics

       b. 3rd week:           Submit a topic    (3 × 5 cards, online)

       c. 4th week:           List the research sites  and any readings being used   

       d. 5th week:           Oral presentation on status of the assignment

       e. 6th week:           Present a simple outline

       f. 7th week:            Return outline with suggestions

       g. 8th week:           Submit a draft of the work to a tutor or to a writing center                                            personnel

       h. 10th week:         Allow class time for small groups to discuss their work

       i. 12th week:          First due date for paper:  submissions returned with a                                                  tentative grade

       j. 14th week:         All papers due

       k. 15th week:        Final Graded papers returned   (or not—as the syllabus                                                 indicates)

 

   4. Provide online discussion board

       a.Students keep an online research log   (omit “c” listing research sites, topics)

       b. Provide online journal notes weekly     (omit “d” oral presentation)

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Other Strategies

 

1.        FORMAT:

Require a particular format, font, font size and margins.  Students who download materials from source documents will have to convert their ‘literary theft’ to your requirements.  If the source is a PDF file, for instance, they will have to recopy it—at a minimum.

 

2.       ESTABLISH QUOTE LIMITS

Require a specific number of quotes from each resource.  “Use three quotes from each source to support your paper.  The quotes should be limited to 3 – 4 sentences long.” Various citation guidelines state that no more than 20% of your paper should consist of direct quotes; if it does, it may be considered a “plagiarized paper”.

 

 3.       SUBMISSION

Require papers to be submitted electronically.  Bootlegged papers may show evidence of forgery and original content source link.

 

 4.       ROTATE ASSIGNMENTS

Change the nature of the writing assignment each semester or annually to prevent wholesale copying and essay recycling.

 

 5.        THEMES

Establish a different ‘literary theme’ each semester so that students approach the subject in a new way.

Example: If architecture is the subject, one semester’s theme could be ‘in the Bronx’ and another semester, ‘20th Century architects”.

 

6.        TEAM ASSIGNMENT

Assign the paper to class teams of 3 – 5 students with a collaborative communication vehicle (Google Group, Wiki) to use.

Organize the paper so that individual work is visible as well as the team result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sourced and Compiled from: 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.