Plagiarism and the Internet Workshop Agenda: Introductions The Problem Tools to Help Class...

Plagiarism and the Internet

Workshop Agenda:IntroductionsThe ProblemTools to Help

Class Development(With plenty of breaks and exercises mixed in)

NOTE: Please ask questions as we go & if you need to use the facilities or grab a snack feel free

Steve GarwoodINFOLINK

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Part 1:

The Problem

Cybercheats - Q&A (data from 1998 Who’s Who in American High School Student’s survey)

AnswersAlmost everybody does itFairly CommonPretty RareNever HappensNo Answer

Question: How common is cheating at your school?

Responses21.8%60.9%16.5%0.4%0.3%


Answers

Cheated on a quiz or test

Copied someone else’s homework

Plagiarized part of an essay

Used Cliff’s or Monarch Notes to avoid reading a book

None of the Above

Question: Which of the following have you done?

Responses

39.6%

66.7%

13.2%

28.9%

19.5%


Answers

Competition for good grades

Didn’t seem like a big deal

Didn’t think I’d get caught

Not interested in the subject

To get into a good college

Question: If you have cheated…why?

Responses

55.6%

53%

23.6%

28.9%

14.4%


Answers

Very difficult

Somewhat difficult

Not very difficult

Easy

Question: How easy would it be for you to obtain test questions or answers at your school?

Responses

14.9%

25.5%

28.2%

30%


Answers

I was caught and punished

I was caught but not punished

I was not caught

Question: If you have cheated what happened?

Responses

6.2%

6.4%

95.1%


Answers:

To steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own

Question: What is Plagiarism?

…So that I do not get accused of Plagiarism the above was taken verbatim from page 888 of Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 10th edition.

Make sure students know…don’t assume

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Terrible Timmy’s Tale

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Timmy’s Homework Assignment:

Write about 500 words on:

The Theme of Madness in Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

(Note: This is all of the assignment, no source requirements, no research instructions, etc. Think of it as a

first paper assignment.)

Other areas often seen at the library: biomes, literature terms, global warming, drug abuse/treatment, pros/cons such as driving age, voting age, biographical assignments…

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Timmy ponders how to do his assignment

Library? – No

-I’d have to get out of my chair

-I’d have to get my mom to drive me

-The books I need will be all checked out anyway

-Those surly librarians are mean

-It’s too cold/hot

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One of those Term paper sites? – Hmmm, maybe.

Note these are free sites and all had Hamlet essays - most with bibliographies:

http://essays.terrashare.com/

http://www.netessays.com/

http://www.schoolbytes.com/

There are more…

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Some notes on the free sites:

Content: Submit one/Get onePlenty out there (Students posting to web)Very much like fraternity test/paper filesSome papers good/some stink

“Ethics”: Some are blatant (go ahead…sue…they’ll love you)

Ownership: Many of these sites are owned by the same persontherefore lots of repetition

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One of those Term paper sites? – Hmmm, maybe.

Note these are pay sites some of which will write an original paper :

http://www.geniuspapers.com/

http://www.cheathouse.com/

http://www.termpapers-on-file.com/

http://www.papermasters.com/

There are more…

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Some notes on the pay sites:

Money: SubscriptionSome pay by page

Guarantees: Some will guarantee the grade

Content: Some prewritten/some individualizedCollege kids will do anything for money

“Reminds me”:Of the ads in the back of Rolling Stone

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Search Engines? – Let me try that first. I’ve heard that Google

is pretty good.

CybercheatsTimmy searches Google

CybercheatsTimmy sees novelguide.com info

CybercheatsTimmy copies and pastes to Word

Cybercheats Timmy adds fluff and a fake citation making work his own.

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Is Timmy alone????

NOPE…Remember…

“4 out of 5 high achievers surveyed in 1998 admitted to cheating on school work according to Who’s Who Among American High School Students and more than ½ of those said such cheating was “no big deal”, and practically none got caught.”

Actually Timmy might be less terrible THAN typical

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Is there a way to catch Timmy????

In this case yes. Since Timmy was lazy and didn’t try to change the work he got very much.

A “phrase search” in Alta Vista, Google or a MetaSearch engine will find his work. More about this in a lil bit

However…more enterprising Timmy’s will be hard to catch…

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Types of “Plagiarists”:(Is this plagiarism to you?)

• The Mega Copier

• Patchwork Partier

• The Omiter

• Source Faker

• Super Paraphrasers

• The Author (for others and himself)

• The Purchaser

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Exercises – The Problem!

30 Minutes - GO!

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Part 2:

Possible Solutions

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• Teach the research process not just the “hows” but the “whys”

• Go Ahead…ask them if they know “why” they should do something

• Use research paper tutorial sites that you like. Kids like the web, might as well use it.

My favorite is…

Working with Students

CybercheatsInternet Public Library’s A+ Site

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• Let students know that you know about those paper mill websites. Then do actually check some of them out.

• Students will be less likely to submit a paper that they know you may have seen on the web, or that a classmate might also submit (this happens all too often)


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• Go a step further and take students to one of the sites, review a weak paper with students and analyze its failures. They will learn something about writing and also see that what’s available for downloading may not impress their teacher


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• Alternately, teach the class to use the papers on the web as sources for their OWN papers (along with other web sources)

• Now and then on the reference desk, I’ve actually used the cite list from one of these papers as hopeful leads (e.g. Papers on Pearl Jam or Tupac)


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• Teaching citations:Trouble with citations is often the

reason for plagiarism…if you get points taken off for bad cites…why cite?

• Make it easy:

The MLA and APA books suck!

If I ever wanted to see a student back at my desk…I just gave them those manuals


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University of Albany’s “How to Cite”Each guide is very short & fairly complete

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• If nothing else copy relevant pages out of the APA and MLA books or make handouts with the frequently used sections. Keep them at the desk or at least bookmarks the “important” pages.

• Thru college and 5 years of grad school I think I used about 15 pages of the APA book, but I used those 15 pages all the time.


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Heck why not do it online – NoodleTools This was great when it was free…

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NoodleTools How Much you ask?

Students - $8 per year

Teachers - $60 per year

School <250 - $100 per year

School 250-1000 - $200 per year

School 1000-4000 - $300 per year

Not bad for MLA and APA

CybercheatsEasyBib.com This was great when it was free too…

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EasyBib How Much you ask?

EasyBib – MLA Only – Free

EasyBib Pro – MLA & APA - $6 per year

Bib4School – use to be $900 per year…they’ll deal on the price.

Not bad for MLA and APA

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Citation Machine If it’s free it’s for me!

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• And before I forget, make sure students know what plagiarism actually is. It’s a big concept, break it down. Give them something to compare it to that they’re familiar with – Maybe Hip/Hop’s reuse of lyrics, beats, etc?

• Make sure they know the penalties for plagiarizing others work. Many schools do not have specific guidelines. If you don’t they might “win” even if you catch them.


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Tips for Teachers

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• Be careful to give specific, non-generic instructions for papers. Specificity makes it harder to cheat.

• Timmy’s teacher didn’t do this

Tips for Teachers: Some reminders

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• Get writing samples. Comparing past work to new work can help catch plagiarized items.

• Timmy’s teacher may have done this.


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• Watch the process: Get drafts, use peer groups to evaluate, have drafts submitted with assignments.

• If Timmy’s teacher had done this, he could not have just copied and pasted from the Web. At least not as easily as he did.


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Instead of traditional writing assignments…

• Change the format (skit, interview, news story)

• Make comparisons

• Create a game (20 questions, jeopardy)

• Write a letter to your biographical person

• Color code citations to Works Cited page

• Writing Sample – No Warning, no books, color paper handed out in class

• No such thing as a “cheat proof” assignment

• Mix formats


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Tips for Teachers: Some final tips

• Be a good example – following copyright

• Talk to other teachers have a set definition and practice for plagiarism

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• Check for unusual formatting or formatting that does not match what you require. In particular, check for website printout page numbers or dates, grayed out letters and unusual use of upper/lower case and capitalization.

• Notice any jargon or advanced vocabulary or sentence structure.

• Look for short papers…8.5 x 10.5

• Reference the original assignment. Are any portions of the assignment completely left out? Do any portions read like they were "added on" to the paper? Is it the correct type of paper, e.g. descriptive, position, first person, narrative?

• Review the bibliography. Is the correct citation style used? Is the citation style used consistently? Does it match the sources referenced in the paper? Are works included actually referenced?

Working with Teachers: Detection Tips

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Working with Parents


Answer:

63%

Question: What percentage of parents said their child NEVER cheats?

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• Let them know about the severity of the issue (especially that it’s not just the “bad” kids).

• Let them know of your academic honest policy and penalties for breaking it.

• Make them aware of technology and websites that students “can” use for academic dishonesty (Filters/History).

Getting Parents involved – Make parents aware

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Simple things to do in the library/media

center/technology center

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• Make the citation process as simple as possible, have simple guides available (not just on online sources), bookmark relevant sections of the APA and MLA books, put a citation site on your LAN…

• Put simple quick flyers or posters near LANS, printers and photocopiers, explaining plagiarism and penalties…”Don’t throw it all away…”

• Use a minute of that BI time to talk about plagiarism

Simple things library/tech center staff can do…

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Get ‘em: Before and After (Tools to catch the cheaters)

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Movie Time? (If time allows)We’ll talk about what went wrong after

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• Do you have one?

• Have you read it? Has anyone else? Have the parents? students?

• How was the policy written?

• Is it ever enforced?

Academic Integrity Policies

What makes a good speed trap?

• Consistently there

• Surprising when people aren’t paying attention

• Enforceable

• Actually “hits”

• Understanding the wrong action taken

• Others do your work for you (other cars slow down)

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• Asking your parent or a friend to suggest changes or corrections in your written essay

• Asking your parent or a friend to rewrite your essay, making all the changes or corrections for you

• Asking your parents or a friend to help you search the Internet for information for a report

• Reading someone else’s term paper and then writing your own using some of his ideas and copying part or all of his bibliography

• Writing a report as a group and then each person writing a report that is just a little bit different to hand in

• Listing books in your bibliography that you didn’t read

• Copying sentences or paragraphs from the encyclopedia for your report without using quotation marks or footnotes

• Hiring a tutor to help you write better

Are any of these Plagiarizing? Do all staff agree?

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• Be aware of how to do phrase searching in several search engines.

• “” is your best friend as it will let you do phrase searches in 99% of Search Engines.

• Use a middle line from a paragraph not introductions/conclusions

• Keep up with search engine developments with:

www.searchenginewatch.com

Get ‘em

CybercheatsKnow your resources (Pay Screener) $250 + .60 per student

CybercheatsKnow your resources (Pay Screener) No Ebsco, Gale, etc. at this point. But does cover Proquest

CybercheatsKnow your resources (Pay Screener) Used to be Plagiserv.com (Free)

CybercheatsKnow your resources

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Exercises – Tools to help!

30 Minutes - GO!

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Exercises – Create your own class…

Examples:

Hip-Hop

List on Chart

Write a paper on Plagiarism

Ad Campaign

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Conclusion and Resources

Cybercheats – Q&A

Don’t Forget…

• Items in Print…Plagiarism the old fashioned way is back in style.• The invisible web – Databases and other non-indexed sites.• Sites like Questia – which just won’t die.

Getting them one way doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get ‘em.

Greatest thing in your favor…laziness

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Hmmm, lastly, how much of this presentation do you think was taken from the web?

See any citations?

Well I couldn’t not cite (here they are):• Timmy’s Tale is mine• Besides that everything else is in the handouts

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Cody (my dog) says: This presentation available at:http://www.stevegarwood.com/classes

Plagiarism and the Internet Workshop Agenda: Introductions The Problem Tools to Help Class...

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