Ideas for Preventing or Handling Plagiarism
generated at workshop on Oct. 26, 1999
There is no "quick fix" for the plagiarism problem, but the following ideas might help.
To reduce the incidence of plagiarism:
Give unique assignments, requiring use of recent sources, or other specific source requirements (e.g., 2 periodical sources, 2 books, and 2 online sources).
Require students to hand in notes, early drafts, and photocopies of sources; make these requirements part of the grade for the final paper.
Discuss what plagiarism is and give examples of it (e.g., demonstrate acceptable and unacceptable paraphrase, show some of the poor quality papers available on the Internet, etc.).
To detect plagiarism when you suspect it:
Create a "cloze" passage from the student’s paper by deleting every fifth word; then ask the student to fill in the missing words. Excessive hesitation or a large number of errors points to plagiarism.
To handle plagiarism when you are certain it has taken place:
If the student admits to the plagiarism, the instructor has discretion in how to deal with it. Possibilities include requiring resubmission of the assignment, giving a failing or lowered grade for the assignment or the course, or involving division chair, advisor or Dean of Student Services.
If the student denies liability, the case must be referred to the Dean for hearing.
~compiled by Beth Kupper-Herr