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Show , Spring/Summer 2003 page 9 are not aware that there are multiple ways and different styles to make the correct citations to their work. "I think that I know what constitutes plagiarism and what doesn't. I don't worry about it too much because the professors don't seem to care," said Molly Valdez, a political science major. Time also plays an important role. The scenario is all too familiar to most students: two essay papers, two research papers and a midterm, all due at the same time. How do busy students keep up? Perhaps by stealing or plagiarizing another's work. But procrastination is no excuse for plagiarism; students need to comprehend the penalties that are involved with academic misconduct. Plagiarism is a growing problem, particularly with the Internet providing easy access to others' work. Some students think cutting and pasting is an easy way to finish a paper. Whether the student plagiarizes on purpose, forgets, or doesn't know how to cite sources correctly, it is "Help students during their first assignment. Explain what plagiarism is and what constitutes plagiarism. Make sure they know how to make the correct citations, and ask the students for examples." the professor's responsibility to explain the correct and proper way to cite sources. "The majority of my classes don't even ask for a citations page, and if they do, the instructor does not make clear what form the citations are to be in," said Rob Morris, a business major Many students don't understand that there are different ways to add proper attribution to their papers. Many students can easily write an essay or research paper, but some have no idea how to cite each source. "I only knew how give proper attribution to the books I used in my reports. It wasn't until I had a history professor explain to the class how to cite a variety of sources. She gave the entire class a handout with numerous ways to cite each source. It was so helpful," said student Julie Smoot. David Chapman, senior vice president for academic affairs, offered advice for professors. "Help students during their first assignment," Chapman said. "Explain what plagiarism is and what constitutes plagiarism. Make sure that they know how to make the correct citations, and ask the students for examples." From the Director: Preventing plagiarism I recommend a three-part approach to preventing plagiarism. First, role-model ethical writing behavior. This can be done when you don't know the answer to a question in class. In that case, you can admit you don't know, go find the information, and display the answer in the next class period in writing, including the references. Take that moment to show them how you took the original material and paraphrased it for them, and properly referenced the material. This also can be done by appropriately referencing your syllabus, when you cite a University document or begin with an interesting quotation. Define plagiarism for students; many are unclear about its many meanings. Second, set up the writing in your class so that it is impossible to cut and paste sections or even the whole paper from another source, or to submit one paper for several classes. Require sequential development of a paper, beginning with an outline, followed by a rough draft, followed by a more refined draft, etc., so that the student cannot simply steal a paper in its entirety from another source. Then, give written feedback and suggestions for improvement, as this can steer a paper away from an online version that they were planning to use and prevent the use of one paper for multiple classes. You can ask them to rephrase cited material, to prevent lifting a passage. Finally, require that they hand in previous outlines and drafts with each subsequent iteration of the paper, and compare drafts, to prevent an entire rewrite at the last minute that disguises stealing a whole paper. Third, make it clear what the consequences will be for anyone who is caught. I recommend placing the following statement right in your syllabus and reading it the first day: "The Student Code contains student rights in the classroom. The Code also specifies proscribed conduct, including cheating, plagiarism, and/or collusion, as well as fraud, theft, etc. It is my responsibility to enforce the Code, and it is the student's responsibility to read the Code carefully because you are responsible for the content, and will receive sanctions including receiving a failing grade for the course for violating one or more of these proscriptions." And you can attribute that to me. stephanie.1ichards0n@nurs.utah.edu ^ |