Plagiarism and
Student Writing
Christina C. Corsa
What is it?
• Addressed in the student handbook under the
category of “Academic Integrity”
• Defined by the following concepts
– Submitting someone else’s work as your own
– Fabrication of facts and submitting this work as
factual
– Copying of work from another student
– Resubmitting work from another class
– Allowing another student to use your work
Sutton Memorial High School: Student/Parent Handbook 2007-2008,
page 8 and Sutton Middle School: Student Handbook, page 32
The Modern Language
Association terms
plagiarism as
“intellectual theft”
(Gibaldi 66).
Why is this a big deal?
• Plagiarism is effectively stealing
• There is a “…tie between our writing
and our sense of self—a tie that…
[influences] the idea that a piece of
writing could belong to the person who
[writes] it” (Gibaldi 68).
School Mandated Repercussion
• “Any student found guilty of cheating or
plagiarism will automatically receive a zero
for the assignment and will be referred to
the administration for disciplinary action.”
• Other consequences:
– Repeated offenses may jeopardize academic
credit
– Denial or ejection from NHS
Sutton Memorial High School: Student/Parent Handbook 2007-2008,
page 8 and Sutton Middle School: Student Handbook, page 32
Plagiarism from the Internet
Information taken from the
internet and not properly cited is
plagiarism
• Pictures
• Audio clips
• Movie Clips
How do you find it?
• When grading, note areas that don’t
match the given student’s typical writing
style
• Sudden elevation in vocabulary,
sentence structure and ideas
How do you find it?
• Changes in font style and colors
–“All hail, Macbeth!”
• References to outside sources—pay
attention to the Works Cited page
• When in question of something,
look for it on the internet yourself
How do you find it?
See Dracula example
• “It was the commercial imperialism of
Jonathan Harker’s firm that allowed the
Count to enter into and corrupt the British
way of life.”
• “invasion of civilization by the forces of
barbarism and demonism” (Brantlinger
230).
• Check the Works Cited page
Prevention: What are the options?
Web-based, school-wide resource
–Turn It In
• Online submission site that
compares student work with online
sources
Prevention: What are the options?
School wide employment of proper
MLA standards and expectations in
regard to all writing assignment and
projects
– Use of MLA Handbook and IIM
resources
– Requirement of a Works Cited/Works
Consulted page whenever research is
performed
MLA
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers: 6th Edition
–Helpful chapters
• Chapter 4: The Format of the
Research Paper
• Chapter 5: Documentation:
Preparing the List of Works Cited
MLA
Online Resources Help with
Formatting
http://www.citationmachine.net/
http://easybib.com/
InfoTrac
Consistency in our
expectations of
student work will
only help in the
long run!
MLA Education
– Ideally, the school will have a modified
version of this guide ready for the 20082009 school year
• Examples of how to include parenthetical
documentation in student work
• Examples of how to list sources in a Works
Cited/ Consulted Page
• Example of a properly constructed, MLA
standardized essay