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Laura Harper
EDIT 6263
Chapter 5 Article Review
2/25/2013
Chao, C., Wilhelm, W. J., & Neureuther, B. D. (2009). A study of electronic detection and
pedagogical approaches for reducing plagiarism. Delta Pi Epsilon Journal, 51(1), 31-42.
Article Summary
Plagiarism has been a topic of concern in academic journals for over sixty years, and the
rate of plagiarism instances has been steadily increasing especially in the form of copying text
from online resources. There are several contributing factors to the rise in plagiarism including
students having an indifferent attitude towards plagiarizing, lack of consistent accountability or
enforcement from teachers and professors, student procrastination, and ease of student access to
a large variety of electronic sources through databases, search engines, and Internet sites that
contain complete papers on a variety of topics that can be bought or copied. Because it is easy
for students to copy and paste portions of these electronic resources into their own papers,
plagiarism has become a growing problem among students. An additional factor that was the
focus of research for this article was students’ lack of knowledge about plagiarism and how to
correctly paraphrase and cite resources.
The authors proposed that plagiarism is often unintentional. Students have not been
adequately or consistently instructed on how to avoid plagiarism. Usually students are given a
student code of conduct or told not to plagiarize, but they are not given explicit instructions on
how to paraphrase or cite resources. They also lack practice in developing these skills and
getting teacher feedback before being given a graded writing assignment.
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To test their hypothesis that students who receive proper instruction and practice with
paraphrasing and citing resources will have lower instances of plagiarism in assigned writing
projects, the researchers conducted a quasi-experimental research design to monitor three levels
of plagiarism instruction. The study’s participants included undergraduate and graduate business
majors. Three groups were created. The control group was given the college’s student code of
conduct and asked to identify several types of plagiaristic behaviors and email those to the
professor at the beginning of the course. When their writing project was assigned, students were
reminded not to plagiarize. Students in the second group were given examples and basic
instruction on paraphrasing and citing resources along with access to the Perdue University
Online Lab website. The second group was also shown an example from a paper submitted with
the Turnitin program to familiarize students with the program and as a negative example. The
third group received the most in depth instruction on plagiarism including a graded practice
exercise where students paraphrased a couple of paragraphs which were then graded by the
professor. This final group was also shown a negative example of student work using the
Turnitin program which was discussed in class.
Based on results from student papers being uploaded to the Turnitin.com website and
reviewed by the professors for accuracy of the program, the control group had the most instances
of plagiarism. The two groups that received instruction and were given examples of plagiarism
had significantly lower percentages of plagiarism, although, there was not a significant
difference between the two experimental groups. Overall, the researchers determined that their
hypothesis of giving detailed instructions and examples of what plagiarism entails to students
will help lower instances of plagiarizing was correct and that students often plagiarize
unintentionally due to lack of knowledge or experience.
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Personal Reflection
With the increased emphasis on using information texts to support and encourage
learning at the elementary school level, I believe that plagiarism needs to be addressed at an
earlier age than high school or college. I agree with the authors that instructing students in how
to correctly paraphrase and cite resources using concrete examples and practice exercises is an
important step in lowering the escalating rate of plagiarism seen at the high school and college
levels. By waiting until students are in high school or college to address plagiarism, teachers and
media specialists are unwittingly deemphasizing the seriousness of students copying someone
else’s work and claiming it as their own because students have already gotten into bad habits.
Teaching how to paraphrase, take good notes, and cite resources needs be an integral part of
teaching children how to incorporate resources into their writing, and it needs to be demonstrated
early and often. If simplified versions of these skills are communicated to children when they
first begin writing, they become a natural part of the writing process leading to less confusion
and lower occurrences of plagiarism as the students mature.
Technology use such as programs like Turnitin.com can be a useful tool not only as a
way to determine if students are plagiarizing, but also as an instructional tool to demonstrate how
not to plagiarize. Students can use plagiarism software for practice exercises on paraphrasing,
quoting and citing resources and can submit their papers to these programs before turning them
in for a grade. Student gain familiarity with the software and understand better how their papers
will be monitored for plagiarism so it becomes a learning tool for them and not seen just as a
punishment.