CHEATING & PLAGIARISM ON THE INTERNET Susan Hurst Business Librarian

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM??  “To put forth as original to oneself the ideas or words of another.” American Heritage Dictionary  “With proper attribution, to quote another’s thoughts and words is appropriate; plagiarism, however, is cheating…” Kenneth G. Wilson  “If you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many, it’s research.” Wilson Mizner

SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM  “Thirty-six percent of the sample admitted to having plagiarized material,…” while “only 3% admitted to have been caught plagiarizing.” (Roig, 1997)  Another study found “…75 percent of students admitted to some kind of cheating, either on a test or in written assignments.” (Burnett, 2002)

UNINTENTIONAL PLAGARISM  “Didn’t know it was wrong.”  Thought if it was already on the Internet, it was OK to copy (i.e. public domain).  Not sure how to properly cite materials.  Felt they were “paraphrasing.”  Can’t remember or find the source.

INTENTIONAL PLAGIARISM  Pressure from deadlines, grades, ambition.  Why “reinvent the wheel”?  Everyone else does it.  Don’t think they’ll get caught.  Easy to do.

WAYS TO PLAGIARIZE  Use a paper from someone who took the class previously.  Buy or copy a paper online  Full-text databases  Online journals & newspapers  Internet web-pages

EXAMPLES OF PLAGIARISM  Quoting directly with no “quotation marks”.  Paraphrasing without giving credit to the original source.  Use of a graph, image, or chart without crediting the source.  Inclusion of a statistic or fact that isn’t “common knowledge”.

CITING SOURCES  Why cite sources? cknowledge.html cknowledge.html  Guidelines for Citing Sources  Online Style Guides  Plagiarism Quiz tem1.html tem1.html

WAYS TO PREVENT PLAGIARISM  Unique assignments & paper topics  New assignments each semester  Teach research methods and citation styles  Discuss plagiarism & penalties in class  Have students turn in drafts of work, or bibliographies before the assignment is due.

THIS MIGHT BE PLAGIARISM IF….  The paper is “too good” or seems similar to something you’ve read before.  It includes esoteric or specialized vocabulary.  The writing style seems markedly different than previous work or varies within the paper.  It includes citation styles or footnotes not typically used (e. g. legal bluebook style footnotes).  Also look for “grayed” out text, web addresses at the top or bottom of the pages, references to images etc. that are not there, all old references.

WAYS TO DETECT PLAGIARISM  Be familiar with your students’ writing styles & abilities.  Look closely at the papers, including the bibliographies.  Use Google or other search engines to search for suspicious phrases.  Check online databases including Academic Search Premiere, JSTOR, & Lexis-Nexis. These are linked from the Library Home Page

Plagiarism Detection Sites   Online service that checks students work against previously submitted papers, term-paper sites, web pages and full-text databases.  Prices range from $120 annually for 1 instructor to $950 for a department up to $9,380 for the entire university. Currently, Miami does not subscribe.  Instructors can submit individual “problem” papers or require all students to submit their work. The latter can also serve as a deterrent.

PENALTIES FOR PLAGIARISM  Official Response –2003/04 Student Handbook Part V. - Academic MisconductAcademic Misconduct  Other possibilities :  Speak with the student, see what they say.  Discuss the situation with the department chair.  Penalties can include failing the project, or failing the class. Second and third offenses can result in suspension & dismissal from the university.

FURTHER RESOURCES  Resources on Miamilink subj.php?category=Plagiarism subj.php?category=Plagiarism  Resources from Turnitin.com me.html me.html  Contact Susan Hurst, Business Librarian