Using collaborative efforts
to teach students about
plagiarism
Bozena Barbara Widanski, UC
Clermont College &
Debra Courtright-Nash,
Ferris State University
Central Structure of our Collaboration
Collaboration
Chemistry - Composition
Chemistry
Training
Literature Review
Chemistry
Composition
Continued
Research Proposal
Training
Lab Work
Writing
Peer Review
Rewriting
Conference
Presentation
2003-2005: The Tasks We Asked Our
Students to Complete
Organic Chemistry
Composition Students Laboratory Students
•
•
•
•
Learn the format for articles
Watch a presentation by
Organic chemistry students on
hypothesis and experiment
Continued
Conduct a peer review
on the
Organic Chemistry articles
Write a peer review response
to an Organic Chemistry
student’s article
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Conduct a review of literature
in fall quarter, with training
Develop a hypothesis
Test that hypothesis in lab
Give a presentation
Write a journal article
Submit the article for review
Revise the article
Give a presentation on their
project in Organic Chemistry
lab
Defining plagiarism in UC Clermont syllabi
1. Submitting another’s published or unpublished
work, in whole, in part, or in paraphrase, as one’s
own without fully and properly crediting the author
with footnotes, citations or bibliographical
reference.
2. Submitting as one’s own, original work, material
obtained from an individual or agency without
reference to the
person or agency as the source of
Continued
the material.
3. Submitting as one’s own, original work, material
that has been produced through unacknowledged
collaboration with others without release in writing
from collaborators.
Avoiding Plagiarism Requires
•
Knowledge of legalities
• Knowledge of conventions of the field
• Understanding of rationale for both
• MotivationContinued
to observe the rules and
conventions
Legality: First, it is important to understand
the definition of Fair Use:
Fair Use is when a person uses limited
amounts of information for illustration,
commentary, or exemplification in
opinion pieces, for educational use or
Continued purposes (that is, to
for transformative
create something new)
Convention: Teaching students proper
documenting within the text:
• Any time that information from a source
is included in the text, it should be
documented with a number that
corresponds to the reference page
• The reference page and documentation
should follow standard guidelines for
Continued
ease of access
• If possible use more than one reference
per piece of information
• One reference may be cited two or three
times within the introduction
Convention: Documenting alone does not
prevent plagiarism
True, any time we use information from
a source, we should document.
However, even if one documents, one
should putContinued
the information from the
sources in his or her own words
If one does use exact words, one should
always use quotation marks.
Beyond documentation: A person should
ask the author or publisher’s permission to
use information when:
Using large amounts of information,
especially exact words
Using entireContinued
tables, graphs or other such
specific pieces of data
Using photographs or videos
Using information for reasons other than
educational
There are excellent sites that explain Fair
Use further:
Like:
The University of Texas Web Site:
http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectual
property/copypol2.htm#test
Nolo’s LegalContinued
and Business Books, Forms
and Software
Site:http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/Obj
ectID/C3E49F67-1AA3-42939312FE5C119B5806
Additional Tasks We Asked Organic
Chemistry Laboratory Students to Complete
in 2005-2006 Writing Project
•
Attend a library research presentation
• Write articles’ summary
• ParticipateContinued
in an online session on
documentation
• Take on line quiz about plagiarism
Some questions from quiz:
•
How should a person paraphrase or
summarize a source?
•
Which of the following is NOT fair use of
information?
• A writer should probably request permission
Continued
if they plan to:____________________
• If one plans to use a photograph from the
internet in his paper…
Assessment of 2005-2006 year:
• All
students were able to complete quiz
about plagiarism successfully.
• Most of the students felt that they
learned a lot in this course and gained the
experienceContinued
in writing scientific article while
avoiding plagiarism
• Students realized the importance of
proper documentation and fair use of
scientific article.
Some ways to increase the awareness of
plagiarism among undergraduate students:
•
•
•
•
•
Let the students watch the
powerpoint presentation
Give them a quiz
Ask themContinued
to visit the web sites on
plagiarism
Provide them with the examples
Give the students a writing project
Unique Strengths of Using Collaborative Efforts
to Teach Students about Plagiarism:
•
English, Chemistry, and Library Faculty
can give different perspective to the
concept of plagiarism
• On-line learning
can increase
Continued
understanding of plagiarism
• Peer-review of students’ writing can
encourage student teaching student
about plagiarism