Research Guides: Avoiding Plagiarism: Resources for Faculty

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What is plagiarism?

A definition: "Plagiarism is using some else's work - words, ideas, or illustrations; published or unpublished - without giving the creator of that work sufficient credit. A serious breach of scholarly ethics, plagiarism can have severe consequences: Academic professionals can face public disgrace or even be forced out of a position. In the business world, plagiarism leads to distrust and can significantly damage careers. Students risk a failing grade or possible disciplinary action ranging from suspension to expulsion."

Source citation: Stern, Linda. What Every Student Should Know about Avoiding Plagiarism. New York: Pearson Longman, 2009.

Plagiarism is against the law

Committing plagiarism is a violation of the SCC Student Code of Conduct and Washington State Law and can have serious consequences.

Cultural considerations

Cultural Differences in Plagiarism
From Turnitin; see additional sources referenced in this post.

Strategies for Preventing Plagiarism

Start by Educating Students

Provide an explicit definition of plagiarism (see example above).
Explain why it's wrong. (It shows disrespect for the creators of ideas. Students are cheating themselves by losing an opportunity to develop useful skills - writing, thinking, analyzing, organizing).
Note the benefits of citing.
Make the penalties clear.
See the "Recommended Websites for Your Students" box (left column) to find many excellent tutorials. Some of these have assessments or final documents that students can print to show you that they have completed the tutorial.

Preemptive Strategies

Create a learning environment where investigation and analysis are valued
Discuss problems students may encounter in the research/writing process and offer methods for dealing with them
Give students time to explore their topics thoroughly
Require process steps (topic, preliminary bibliography, rough draft, final annotated bibliography, final draft)
Support each step of the process (how to refine a topic, how to evaluate sources, planning guides, in-class activities, portfolios, annotated photocopies, reflective progress reports)
Provide list of specific topics to choose from
Use unusual topics or topics with a twist
Change topics regularly
Require specific components (specific mix of sources, one or more sources from past year, one or more sources that you specify, personal interview)
Require an annotated bibliography (summary, location, evaluation of usefulness/credibility)
Require oral reports of papers or a one-on-one office meeting
Require an in-class essay on what they learned from the assignment, problems encountered, research strategy used
Tell students that you will randomly check sources in bibliography
Have students hand in a copy of sources used.

Recommended Websites for Faculty

The following sites have been developed with faculty in mind. If you would like online plagiarism tutorials for your students, see the box below.

Avoiding Plagiarism - Handout
Teaching about Plagiarism
From p.org site, sponsored by Turnititn. The best way to prevent plagiarism is to educate students on how to properly conduct research, cite, quote, and produce unique and original work. Plagiarism.org contains a large array of recommendations for pedagogy and policy.
Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers
Comprehensive discussion of strategies of awareness, prevention and detection

Books in the SCC Library

Cheating Lessons by James M. Lang
Call Number: 371.58 LANG 2013
Nearly three-quarters of college students cheat during their undergraduate careers, a startling number attributed variously to the laziness of today's students, their lack of a moral compass, or the demands of a hypercompetitive society. For James Lang, cultural or sociological explanations like these are red herrings. His provocative new research indicates that students often cheat because their learning environments give them ample incentives to try--and that strategies which make cheating less worthwhile also improve student learning. Cheating Lessons is a practical guide to tackling academic dishonesty at its roots.

eBooks Available in SCC Library Database

Titles in the SCC Library's eBook Collection database: