Plagiarism and how to avoid it

1 Keele University International Postgraduate Students‟ Induction Plagiarism and how to avoid it Stephen Bostock and Mike Brough September 2005 2 Summary        What is it? Why is it a problem? How is technology involved? Why does it happen? International students‟ problems Keele‟s position Advice on avoiding plagiarism and collusion 3 ‘Plagiarism’  Passing off someone else‟s work or ideas as one‟s own, without credit  Literary theft, cheating, copying  The “unoriginal sin” (Colon 2001)  Including: • Plagiarising published/web sources • Colluding (not collaborating) • Fraudulent authorship 4 Where do you draw the line?1 1 2 3 4 5 A. Copying verbatim from a source without an acknowledgement. B. Copying a paragraph and making only small changes e.g. replacing a few verbs, replacing an adjective with a synonym. C. Cutting and pasting a paragraph by using sentences of the original but omitting one or two and putting one or two in a different order. D. Composing a paragraph by taking short phrases from a number of sources and putting them together using words of your own to make a coherent whole. E. Paraphrasing a paragraph by rewriting with substantial changes in language and organization; the new version will also have changes in the amount of detail used and the examples cited. F. Quoting an original paragraph by placing it in quotation marks with the source cited and discussing it in your own words. 5 Why is this a problem?  For the student • failure to achieve academic learning outcomes • treated as academic misconduct  For the teacher • a waste of time  For the institution • threat to reputation and value of degrees • QA, regulations, and legislative context 6 Technology • Electronic writing makes it easier to plagiarize • Web documents give more opportunity; cheat Web sites • Internet communication widens the geographical scope • But technology also aids detection 7 Collaboration and collusion  Collaboration is encouraged even in preparation for individual assessed writing: • Academic discussion, prewriting, sharing sources, peer review, copy editing  Collusion is shared work, claimed to be individual: • Sharing text • Sharing ideas/problem-solving that leads to the same answer • Technical editing, redrafting  Where to draw the line may vary with discipline and with assignment – check with your tutor.  Acknowledge any help you got including copy editing (this should be given in an „Acknowledgements‟ statement) 8 The JISC plagiarism detection service (PDS) [www.submit.ac.uk]  The PDS detects use of the web, collusion within and between cohorts, and published text books.  A demonstration web site open to all.  Guides for teachers and students are available.  Keele licenses its use; Schools use it to provide consistent good practice across the university.  Students should expect to have work checked without notice, either to investigate a suspicion or (occasionally) to screen a whole cohort of work.  We don’t want to detect it, we want to deter it. 9 10 11 12 Why do a few students plagiarize?       Poor writing skills, poor time management Unintentional bad practice through ignorance (in the past) Cultural differences More time pressure on some students; part-time working More pressure on some students to get a good qualification Intention to deceive (cheating) 13 International students  International students are (statistically) more likely to be caught plagiarizing. Why? • may have weaker English writing skills • may arrive with cultural assumptions that some plagiarism is OK • may have more time pressure through working in a second language  All these problems are also found in some UK/EU students 14 Keele’s position      Keele is a scholarly community with a culture of research and teaching. Plagiarism (and collusion) is serious misconduct. We (the University and the students‟ Union) want to raise student expectations of scholarly writing, providing guidance & teaching. Staff will set a good example in their own materials. Regulations and procedures are applied consistently across the University. Each School has an Academic Conduct Officer. Software supports the detection/confirmation of plagiarism or collusion.   15 Writing right  Ideas from other authors must have their source acknowledged – cited in the text and listed in the references.  Text/diagrams from other authors must be acknowledged – cited in the text and listed in the references.  Where plagiarism is found in assessed work, it does not just reduce the grade. There is no mark; it is academic misconduct. 16 References and reading 1. From Academic writing for graduate students by Swales and Feale, University of Michigan, 1993 2. Colon, A. 2001 Avoid the pitfalls of plagiarism, Writer 114 (1) p. 8 3. JISC Plagiarism project 2001 http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/faculties/art/inform ation_studies/Imri/Jiscpas/site/jiscpas.asp including A guide to good practice by Jude Carroll & Jon Appleton 4. Park, C. 2003 In other (people‟s) words: plagiarism by university students – literature and lessons, Assessment and Evaluation in HE 28 (5) 471-488 17 Web sites The Keele key skills package has a section on plagiarism http://www.learn.keele.ac.uk/lskills/TLTP3/ entersite.html Postgraduate induction materials http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/aa/landt/pg/index.htm Frequently asked questions on assessment: http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/aa/ regulationshandbook/faqs.htm#assess