Managing student plagiarism in
2013:
complex issue, complex solution
Jude Carroll
Educational Development consultant
for University of Kent, January 2013
Key ideas
Effective management requires a shared,
holistic response: institution, teachers,
students
Plagiarism is a learning issue and an integrity
issue [but you need to focus on learning]
Management lessons have been learned:
same and different from 10 years ago
 Submits
 Of
 In
the work product
a named or identifiable person or source
a situation where originality is expected
 Without
product
 For
showing the source of the work
credit or benefit
“
“
Plagiarism occurs when someone
Fishman, 2010
What defines cheating?
intention
creating a false impression
seeking unfair advantage
more than just ‘breaking the rules’
In 2013, there are more ….
- more diverse students in higher education
- more opportunities to bypass the hard work of
learning
- more instances of deliberate cheating …
perhaps
- more coursework – type assignments
Is all this true here?
What’s changed about plagiarism (2001in
2013)?
some

From surprise to everyday event places

From being a student’s responsibility ( ‘be
honest’) to a shared responsibility for
strong academic values & scholarship

From print-based copying to electronic &
networked finding, sharing and copying.
What’s changed? (continued)

From assuming all plagiarism is cheating to
recognising a range

From individuals finding solutions to
having institutional policy

More marketing of ‘detection’ (sic)
software and much more commissioning
Cheating,
intention to deceive
Student knows,
makes a mistake
misconduct
Student does not
know the rules;
student breaks the rules
misunderstanding
misuse
A few unwelcome changes

creating fear in students (‘….haunted by
the specter of plagiarism’ Neville, 2010)

distorting students’ effort – moving away
from why we use citations to how they
are formatted
authority
I have chosen top people
You can be confident about what I write
validity
I have chosen reliable people
You can believe what I write
traceable
You can check what I write: is it correct?
recent
What I write is up-to-date and relevant
broad research
I have done a lot of research
I have looked for the best sources
using terms correctly
This is how people use this term in my subject
politeness and
community
We all work together to build knowledge. It is not just me who thinks
this.
Where to start?
1. Clear Definition [Knowing what….]
2. ‘Rules of the game’: induction, informing
students
3. Skills practice : [Knowing how]
4. Designing programmes & assessments to
discourage copying
5. Spotting it when it happens
6. Dealing with cases: fast, fair, defensible,
consistent
the holistic
approach
1. A working, understood definition
….There is more to plagiarism than copying
[….. There is more to stopping plagiarism
than saying, ‘No copying’.]
Students explaining why they copied:
“This person writes exactly what I think.”
“This person writes it better than I do.”
“This person writes English better than I do.”
“There is only one way to write this.”
“These are my own words. I copied them
myself.”
“These are my own words. I copied from a
book …. but I bought the book.”
More false ideas I have encountered
about copying
Copiers lack integrity.
Copying is always a bad way to learn
‘A 0% copying score on Turnitin is best’
If teachers stop students from copying, then
their work with students is done…..
Copying is ‘cultural’
What software can do to help with
restricting copying
Stopping students from copying
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Acknowledge students’ previous
experiences
Recognise language issues
Empathise with students’ unwillingness
to change
Provide many exemplars + force
students to interact with them
Practice, practice, practice
Penalties that reflect the reality
‘No copying’ leaves many students
confused
THE
‘Taking others’ work’ NO!
PLAGIARISM
PARADOX
‘Using others’ work’ YES!
Writing from sources’ YES!
using others’ work transparently
Differentiate what is ‘owned’ and what is not
2. Select what work needs acknowledgement
3. Understand how to acknowledge
4. Do the acknowledgement skillfully
1.
If I told you the laws
of cricket, would
you be a good
cricket player?
information
tools and
equipment
examples
Skills development:
motivating
reasons
Practice the
‘subskills’
What would it take
to become
a good
putting sub
skills
Practice
crickettogether.
player?
feedback
time
working with an expert to
aim high
feedback
practice
Last word on awareness + skill
Programme-level responsibility
Multiple points of information
Multiple means of ‘getting the message’


Requires interaction and discussion to
ensure understanding. Requires practice.

Important to distinguish between
knowing what to do & knowing how
Strategies for using [programme and]
task design to deter students from
plagiarism
An aside about deliberate cheating
It happens …. but how much?
 It is easier now than ever ….

 impersonation
 commissioning
 back
translation, usually linked to CCP
 ‘fooling’ Turnitin
and?
Spotting plagiarism?
Turning a blind eye?

So much to say about this issue!

On spotting: sharing skills, using a range
of strategies, using software well
On ‘blind eyes’: fair, trusted procedures
Procedures that do not hurt the
‘spotter’
Takes time and commitment to get it right

Anything you would like to talk about,
linked to detection (sic) software?
When to use it?
 How to use it?
 Limitations and strengths?
 Staff development issues

Last but far from least…..
You need to design procedures for handling
cases that are:
 not painful for the spotter
 capable of managing large numbers
 criteria-based (for severity, for setting
penalties)
Recorded
Analysed for lessons
Last word on managing plagiarism
Complex problem
 Unlikely to disappear
 Focus on learning, not on cheating
 Requires a systematic, joined up and
ongoing set of actions
In general, there’s more good news than
bad.
In later sessions, we will address the
procedures at Kent
