“Academic misconduct is dishonest or unethical academic behavior that includes, but is not limited, to misrepresenting mastery in an academic area (e.g., cheating), failing to properly credit information, research or ideas to their rightful originators or representing such information, research or ideas as your own (e.g., plagiarism).” — University of Connecticut, Student Code, Appendix A
What is plagiarism?
Plagiarism can be a deliberate action, in cases of downloading or purchasing pre-written essays; or accidental, when a student paraphrases incorrectly or assumes that because the information is online it needs no attribution. Presenting the same paper in two or more courses without the explicit permission of the instructors involved is also considered a form of academic misconduct. Recycling papers addresses various ethical issues, including “self-plagiarism, ” providing individuals with an unfair academic advantage, and undermining the objectives associated with a particular assignment.
Why do students plagiarize?
- Lack of research skills. Many undergraduate students do not know how to search for academic sources or use journals and periodicals.
- Confusion about how to properly cite sources, including inexperience in distinguishing between a paraphrase, summary, and “common knowledge.”
- Lack of understanding of plagiarism, copyright, and public domain. Students assume that material from the Internet can be used without citing it.
- Ethical misconceptions which focus more on high grades and career aspirations rather than education and the learning experience.
- Poor time management and organizational skills that lead to procrastination and last minute attempts to put a paper together.
- Cultural differences among students who assume that copying is acceptable.
Preventing plagiarism in the classroom
Instructors are advised by the Office of Community Standards to “take reasonable steps to prevent academic misconduct and to inform students of course-specific requirements.”
- Include an “Academic Misconduct” statement in your syllabus, including clarification of any specific style/format requirement for the course and how you intend to handle violations. Instructors are required to include a link to the Policy on Academic, Scholarly, and Professional Integrity and Misconduct on their syllabi.
- Discuss plagiarism and utilize class time to encourage students to paraphrase and summarize as an exercise in developing their own ideas.
- Plan a session to familiarize students with search options from library databases and print resources. Students can also acquire research skills by working with a library specialist.
- Provide guidance on citation styles and preferred formats and encourage students to visit the writing center to learn how to paraphrase and summarize accurately.
- Avoid generic assignments that are easy to search online and lead to essays from paper mills. Test your topic by searching it on a popular search engine to see what papers and resources are available.
- Assign short writing assignments early on so that you can familiarize yourself with the students’ ability level and writing style.
- Alleviate time management issues by asking for assignments in stages, for example, a thesis statement, outline, bibliography, draft and a final product. Refer students to the Assignment Calculator which provides deadlines necessary to complete assignments on time.
- Include a point value for accurate citations of any materials used.
- Require that references be dated within the last five years or less since many pre-written papers are typically dated.
- Assign a research log so that students may documents their research strategy, indicating the library databases used, search strategy, and usefulness of the resources.
- Require a variety of appropriate sources, including the library’s print collection, scholarly articles from specialized databases, and reputable web pages.
- Require students to include a sentence at the top of the assignment stating that they are aware of the Student Code and and have not violated it.
Tools to recommend to students
- Understand Citations, orientation guide to citations, integrating sources into a paper (quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing), citation styles & management, reading citations, and an interactive tutorial.
- Understanding Plagiarism, a tutorial from UConn Library
- Citing Sources, a UConn guide to introduce citing MLA, APA styles and more
- ZoteroBib, an online citation generator
- Assignment Calculator, interactive tool that provides a timeline for writing
- Research QuickStart, guidance on common questions and needs in the research process
- Research Now, guides to help you develop your research skills
Detecting plagiarism
- How to recognize plagiarism from Indiana University
- Unusual formatting, layout, and use of multiple fonts
- References with missing or incomplete citations
- Rambling essay, containing a few related paragraphs and extensive use use of jargon or advanced vocabulary
- Frequent changes in terminology and style signal cutting & pasting
- Dated or obscure references not readily available in the UConn Library or local libraries
- Writing voice is considerably different from the student’s regular voice.
Tools for faculty
- SafeAssign is available on campus through HuskyCT and can serve as a strong deterrent to plagiarism if students are aware of it. The software has limitations in searching for materials from numerous subscription-based databases and print resources.