How Do I Help Students Avoid Plagiarism?
Do not assume students know what plagiarism is.
Teach, discuss, argue, and debate plagiarism and intellectual ethics.
Provide students with guidelines, examples, questions, and quizzes about plagiarism.
Have students begin writing from their own experience and knowledge.
Get several examples of a student’s writing before assigning a long paper.
Have students write short pieces, more often, rather than one long work.
Scaffold student’s writing with brainstorming, question generation, KWL, journaling, and webbing.
Provide students with meaningful feedback on their writing and their thinking.
Require multiple drafts, edits, and revisions, which may include peer and instructor edits.
Have students write for various, real, authentic audiences – not just the teacher.
Emphasize the persuasive nature of writing rather than the retelling of facts or events.
Use rubrics to set clear expectations for writing assignment, format, and style.
Avoid recycled, unimaginative, “formula” essay questions and assignments.
Assign topics that are creative, specific, and change every year.
Assign different types and genres of writing: letters, monologue, scripts, arguments and debates.
Have students write from another person or character’s point-of-view.
Model proper citation in your own instructional materials and handouts.
Questions and prompts
How are the rules and expectations for academic discourse different from everyday discourse? What is
the purpose of this discourse? What does attribution add to this discourse?
What does “intellectual property” mean? What is the difference between copyright and plagiarism?
Convince me. So what? What’s the evidence? Why should I believe this? What does that mean?
Elaborate on that. Break it down for me. Who else said this? What do others say? Where’s your support?
Back it up.
These web pages will help you understand and teach about plagiarism
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How to Avoid Plagiarism http://www.northwestern.edu/provost/policies/academic-integrity/how-to-avoid-plagiarism.html
This site from Northwestern University has good explanations and excellent examples of correct and incorrect citation.
Preventing Plagiarism https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/3/33/ This Purdue University site has clear guidelines,
strategies for avoiding plagiarism, and several practice exercises.
Preventing Plagiarism http://tlt.psu.edu/plagiarism/instructor-guide/preventing-plagiarism/ This Penn State site has short and
clear sections on Wholesale copying, Cut and paste, Inappropriate paraphrase, and When to cite.
Plagiarism: What it is and how to recognize and avoid it http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml This
page from Indiana University has some good examples and explanations of plagiarized text.
How Not to Plagiarize http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarize This site from the
University of Toronto has a bit different format – more of a “frequently asked questions” and answers page.
Plagiarism and academic integrity http://library.leeds.ac.uk/skills-plagiarism A 60-minuture tutorial on plagiarism,
paraphrasing, citing, and more.
Understanding Plagiarism http://education.indiana.edu/~frick/plagiarism/ This site at the University of Indiana-Bloomington
has an online plagiarism quiz and test.
Understanding Plagiarism Quiz http://www.esc.edu/academic-integrity/plagiarism/student-resources/plagiarism-quiz/ This
short, six slide Macromedia Flash quiz is from Empire State College, New York
Norman Public Schools Instructional Services Center
2014-2015