1. Student plagiarism: deterring it, detecting it, dealing with it
Jude Carroll, Oxford Brookes University

2. This is my plan for this lecture……
-Defining plagiarism. What kinds of student plagiarism are a problem in 2007? […..in Belgium?]
-An approach based on learning, not on punishment. A holistic approach is needed to deal with plagiarism.
I will describe what is needed in a holistic approach. We must
- teach students the necessary skills
-design programmes and design tasks to limit copying
- ensure effective detection
- agree how much plagiarism makes a ‘case’ for action
- match the level of plagiarism with the consequences
Appropriate policies are central to a holistic approach. I will make some recommendations for policies for 2007 plagiarism.

3. Defining plagiarism
[translation] ‘Plagiarism is any identical or lightly altered use of someone else’s work (ideas, texts, structures, images, plans etc) without adequate reference to the source’
KU Leuven, 2007

4. How can work belong to others?
‘lightly altered …someone else’s work …adequate reference of the source’
What is ‘adequate’? What sources need reference?
How can work belong to others?
How much do I alter to make work mine?
‘work’ What is that?

5. What explains our interest in student plagiarism?
Academics give credit for learning
Learning is demonstrated by understanding
Understanding is demonstrated by change (in you or in the work)
So……
No change, then no understanding
No understanding, then no learning
No learning, then no credit

6. Do KU Leuven students understand what plagiarism is?
Students must understand the implicit and tacit assumptions in the definition
Students must link the idea of plagiarism to their own everyday decisions as students……
Students must discuss and explore their ideas (and their false ideas)
Activity: Which are plagiarism?

7. Transparency……….
The reader must know what the [student] writer is doing with sources, with others’ ideas
Students need to learn to show credibility and to borrow authority

8. ‘If the person marking your work cannot tell whether they are marking your work or someone else’s work, that person might wonder, ‘Is it plagiarism?’
You create a false assumption for your assessor if you borrow others’ work (published or unpublished) and do not say right there in the text where it comes from.’

9. Misunderstanding what we mean by ‘learning’ leads to plagiarism
Copying from other students
Copying from books, from the internet, from previous work
Collecting chunks of text from the Web and sticking them together
Hardly changing the original author’s words or changing them in superficial ways
[Students bypass any evidence of understanding]

10. Poor use of citation rules leads to plagiarism
-Some text quoted, some not marked as quotations
-Some text cited correctly, some lifted but not cited.
- Paraphrasing that sticks too closely to the original text

11. Wrong decisions and actions lead to plagiarism
-Submitting the same piece of work twice
-Sharing work with fellow students who then use it to ‘do their own work’
-Over- use of editing & proofreading
-Sub-contracting work which seems ‘not important’
[Marker is not sure whose work is being judged]

12. Misconduct and cheating leads to plagiarism
-Paying someone; buying an assignment
-Finding it (or most of it)
-Copying most (or all) and hiding the fact
-Handing in someone else’s answer or work
-Lying about your contribution to the group
-Deliberately disguising your breach of the rules

13. Acting relies on more than understanding……..
“Ok, here is an assignment. How do I do it? ……..
Can I find the answer?
Has someone already answered this? Has a fellow student done it?
How hard is it? Can I do a good answer? Is it worth spending the time?
How much time will it take? If I do it, what else will suffer?
If I fake it or copy it, will I be caught?
If I am caught, what are the likely consequences?”
Most students do the assignment.
A growing number answer with plagiarism, intentionally or unintentionally.

14. Most worries about plagiarism are about misconduct & cheating Most cases of plagiarism come from misunderstanding and poor use of the rules of citation and attribution Q: Are university policies designed to deal with the small number of deliberate cheaters …. or the large and growing number of unintentional cases?

15. Dealing with plagiarism requires a ‘holistic’ approach
Understanding ‘the rules of the game’
Teaching students the skills
Designing out easy copying; designing in apprenticeship
A range of detection strategies
Agreeing ‘How serious?’ [High, medium, low?]
Agreeing what proves a case
Procedures that do not punish whoever spots it
Fair, consistent, defensible penalties

16. Discussion activity
How holistic is your university?
Where are the strengths?
Where are the gaps?

17. “
I told them about plagiarism so they definitely know about it but I still get it.
What’s wrong with them? ”

18. ‘Teach students the skills they will need.’
If I told you how to play cricket, could you play it?
Could you play it well?
What would you need to be a good cricket player?

19. Analysing
Evaluating
Paraphrasing and summarising
Structure
‘Mining’ texts to support opinions
REFERENCING
taking apart; creating & answering sub-questions
making judgments about value, reliability, authority
others’ words and ideas
what order to put things in; subheads, paragraphs
Using others’ authority

20. Focus on course design and task design
find it?
fake it?
make it?
do it?

21. designing out easy cheating
designing in practice
Induction
Diagnosis
Skills development
Feedback
Practice
designing out easy cheating
Novelty - context/format
Specificity - local, recent, personal, individual, unique
Higher-order cognitive skills*
Assess the process
Authenticate the author
YES: rank, justify, choose, revise, interpret, analyse, invent, plan
NO: knowledge (eg. ‘describe, state’), basic understanding (‘explain’).
NO: generic application

22. Influencing decisions 5: Use a wide range of detection strategies.
electronic
manual
Proactive
‘Should I look carefully at anyone’s work?
Using a commercial tool
(Urkund, Turnitin, etc)
Matching exams and coursework
Viva xx%
Meta-writing task
Keeping the order of submission
Reactive
‘Is this really the student’s own work?’
Advanced Google search
‘Properties’ function
checking formatting,
Using a commercial tool (Urkund, Turnitin etc)
changes in language
Changes in referencing
Changes in formatting, word processing
Off the topic
Too advanced language or content
Inappropriate words, content

23. ‘Detection’ is a process…..
suspicion
action
investigation
confirmation

24. Final stages: dealing with cases
How much evidence?
Classifying the seriousness
Matching penalty to the level of breach
Keeping records
Monitoring and learning from data