Plagiarism in the online environment

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http://beyondtheclassroom.wikidot.com/sarah-johnston

@t_eloise Dr. Eloise Tan, Learning Innovation Unit, Dublin City University

LI502: Assessment and Feedback in the Online Environment


Plagiarism and the online environment


OverviewWhat is plagiarism?Plagiarism and online culture Why do students plagiarise?Preventing plagiarismDetecting plagiarism


What is plagiarism? Your perspectives

What is plagiarism?: Chat box

Have you encountered it?: yes/no poll

What is plagiarism?: DCU definition

“Dublin City University defines plagiarism as follows: it is the deliberate act of taking and using another person’s work as your own. It includes absent references, reproducing the work (even with small changes) of another, taken from books, journals, articles, TV programmes, the Internet, lecture notes and so on. It also includes self plagiarism, i.e. submitting own work for more than one assessment, copying another person’s work, with or without his/her consent. Also included is collusion where a group of people collaborate or collude to present an assessment or a substantial part thereof, when the examiner required individual research and outcome.”

DCU Plagiarism Policy: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/plagiarism.pdf


Do you include a statement on plagiarism in your syllabus? Yes/No


What is plagiarism?: Examples Submitting someone else’s whole work Copying sections of someone else’s work without

referencing it Paraphrasing someone else’s work without referencing it Buying work from “Cheat sites”: essay banks and

bespoke assignment services Self plagiarism: resubmitting the same piece of work

more than once Fabricating research results Collusion ** Plagiarism is not exclusive to text, it can be visuals as

well

Have you experienced confronting a student about plagiarism? Talk button


Why is plagiarism important to us? Academic integrity – giving due credit to

authorsAcademic conventions – citing and

referencing are strongly valued in the academic community, induction for students into research skills

Learning – if students are copying then they aren’t learning (or are they?)

We value originality (or do we?)


The relationship between plagiarism and the online environment

Is plagiarism in the internet age ‘new’?


Related to last webinar: Social,

collaborative activity rather than an online repository of information



No… but… Internet makes it easy to copy and pasteFile sharing, proliferation of informationRemix culture: “To combine or edit

materials to produce something new” http://www.everythingisaremix.info/watch-the-series/

With online courses, how do we know WHO is taking the course? (See Palloff and Pratt, p.46)


Web tour: Statistics on plagiarism http://www.plagiarism.org/

plag_article_did_you_know.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/

education/02cheat.html?pagewanted=all


Webquest: Take 5 minutes to see what online resources exist for students to plagiarise in your discipline


Cheat sites: essay banks and bespoke services

Taylor, M. & Butt R. (2006) Q: How do you make £1.6m a year and drive a Ferrari? A: Sell essays for £400

Market for online plagiarism estimated to be worth £200 million.

“The owner of one online organisation says he employs 3,500 specialist writers who have written more than 15,000 essays for students wanting a leg-up in university courses. The company made £90,000 in one week in May and the owner has a Ferrari and a Lamborghini in his garage.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/jul/29/highereducation.education

Cheat sites: essay banks and bespoke services

‘Write My Assignments’ is a Wicklow based company that is centered on educational progression….Your assignment will be completed by a postgraduate mentor who has completed your specific course which ensures an understanding of what is required to achieve optimum results. “

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/item/20589-write-my-assignments-an-o

http://writemyassignments.com/

Why do students plagiarise?

Chat box / Talk button: Discuss why you think students plagiarise in your discipline.


Why do students plagiarise?

Ignorance: Lack of understanding of academic requirements/citing and referencing

Pressure/lack of timeCultural differencesTo improve marksCan get away with itOverassessed

NoteFirst years:

Generally have never had to paraphrase or summarise

Have never read a scholarly article/journalHave never traced an idea or theory through

the literatureHave very little disciplinary knowledgeHave never used an academic libraryCannot be assumed to have critical thinking or

analytical skillsTend to copy for accuracy – often lose sight of

what is theirs and what is from other sources(Adapted from University of Minnesota)


Prevention vs. Detection


Preventing plagiarism? (1): Raising student awareness Inform students of plagiarism policy Tell students that their work will be checked for

plagiarism Let students know that you are aware of essay writing

services etc Provide guidance on academic writing and on

citing/referencing:DCU ‘LETs’ tutorial: http://www.library.dcu.ie/lets/index.htm


Make sure they knowYou may need to explain plagiarism in

detail, preferably with examples of good/bad practice

Use positive reinforcementGive guidelines with each assignmentUse Turnitin as a ‘Health Check’ rather than

a ‘Gotcha’ mechanism


Assessment type Consider alternatives to the ‘essay’: e.g: Portfolios,

presentations, blogs, poster presentation, online journals, student created audio/video podcasts etc…

When using essays consider if you set up your assessment to look for critical original thinking, or primarily for collation of information.

For example, Discuss the differences between democratic and autocratic leadership styles in management studies.

Could become… ?


Assessment type Group work: consider allocating marks

towards the process (editing, contributing, sharing, reviewing).

Related to social learning reading: are you assessing for process or product?


Assessment design

Involve students in assessment design Avoid using the same assessment year after yearRequest drafts, lists of sources, progress reports

etc in advance of the assessment‘Personalise’ assignments: ask students to draw

on their own experiences o/ select a personally relevant topic

Give each student/groups of students unique data sets or contexts

Avoid designing assessments where there is one correct answer

Avoid designing assessments that simply ask students to “describe’ or ‘explain’: ask them to: critique. justify, evaluate, interpret, invent, create, revise etc.


How can we improve these assignments?

Group task: Create a 20 minute presentation on the Irish banking crisis

Essay: 2500 words on the history of Irish education


Detecting plagiarism

Warning signs:

A sense that something is just not right Inconsistencies in writing style Inconsistencies in font/layout Very high standard of work, or changes in the standard of

work American spellings/phraseology Citing sources that are not available locally Out of date sources (on topical issues) Lack of non-Irish examples, irrelevant examples Failure to answer the question Student absent from all/most classes, or has not participated

in class activities, yet submits a ‘perfect’ assignment

Detecting plagiarism

Provides a more objective view on plagiarismCompares a student’s work with Internet

sources, journal articles and other students’ work

How does Turnitin work?

Student assignment

Originality reportAssignment compared with database:•Web•Journals•E-books•Other student assignments

How can Turnitin relate to: Principles of effective online assessment (p.30)Learner-centred Encourage self reflectionInclude rubrics for discussion / assignments

/ collaborationEncourage self and peer assessmentContextual and aligned to learning

outcomesInclude learner input


(Palloff and Pratt, 2009, p.47)

“Rather than using the tools punitively, having students run their own work through the software and then using the report generated as a teaching tool”


AvoidanceThe goal is to enable students to

demonstrate what they know/understand

Make it harder to plagiarise

Good citing and referencing are skills that must be learned – they are not automatic

Try to ensure that inadvertent plagiarism is minimised so that anything that looks like plagiarism is deliberate


Tips: Research Papers(1)Have students submit their bibliography in

advance of the paper An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books,

articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.

(www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill28.htm)

This could even be an assignment in its own right or the first part of a two-part assignment

Try to incorporate thinking/opinions in assignments


Tips: Research Papers(2)Oral presentation/markingAssign papers less than 6 pages (Paper mill

lower limit!)Restrict sources to a small number Add a ‘personal’/’tailored’ section worth a

few marks on its own but as a determinant of understanding and of final grade

Have a number of staggered deliverablesUse a research log/journal


Tips: Research Papers(3)Change topics regularlyTry to specify topics narrowly in the early

yearsUse debating techniques – takes sides on

something quite localIncorporate current affairs/media

commentary, local/national mattersRequire papers to be mapped to topics

being studied


Tips: Research Papers (4)Use detection techniques up front:

Ask for photocopies of sources quotedSay an oral interview may/will be used to

finalise marksSay students will be chosen randomly for

interview/oral presentationAdd a small number of personalised

questions which can only be answered if the work was done by the student


Some useful demos: turnitin Turnitin Training videoshttp://www.youtube.com/user/

TurnitinAcademy?feature=watchUsing Peer Mark (Peer assessment) through

Turnitinhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=GvvjcBGFS-4


Current Featured Resource on Moodle

www.plagiarismadvice.org


Questions?


Education

Plagiarism in the online environment