Strategy for Preventing Plagiarism

The first stop to preventing plagiarism in my course will be to thoroughly outline my expectations for honesty in both the syllabus, the course introduction video and in a brief exercise offered to students on the topic of plagiarism. For this, I will offer students a non-graded quiz where they can honestly answer and consider questions about what they know in regard to plagiarism. At the end of the quiz, any incorrect answers will be explained with the correct response for the scenario in question. In order to prevent plagiarism, students must know what to expect. My first course of action for scanning for plagiarism will be to check the format and accuracy of citations both in the body of text and in the coordinating reference list. If I detect any possible intentional or accidental plagiarism, I will contact the student with a private email or Screencast video and explain my concern and suggestion for fixing the issue.

 

Carnegie Mellon University (n.d.) states that, "Give students examples of how and when they should credit the work in their writing. This way they will have concrete cases to which they can refer if questions arise." Beyond that, the best strategy for creating an environment of honesty is to get to know my students. When students experience a feeling of social connection and trust where they know the instructor is directly invested in their work, they are less likely to intentionally plagiarize work with hopes of ‘getting away with it’. If I strongly suspect a larger body of writing is fully plagiarized, I will run the words through an online device tool that will match Internet sources to the words pasted. Preventing plagiarism in online environments is an ongoing challenge, yet with student involvement in an academic-integrity policy, statistics of cheating are greatly reduced.

Reference:
 

Carnegie Mellon University. (n.d.). How Can I prevent Plagiarism. Retrieved from

 

https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/instructionalstrategies/writing/preventplagiarism.html