Understanding plagiarists and preventing plagiarism

Caleb OwensFiona White

School of Psychology

Origins of plagiarism

› Figure 1 from Perry (2010)

by

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Negligent Plagiarism

Dishonest Plagiarism

Categories and motivations of plagiarists

› Dishonest Plagiarists:

- Student personality characteristics (Williams et al. 2010)

- Abuse (rather than use) of technology- Understand but attempt to defeat similarity detecting software

› Combat with:

- Serious penalties for plagiarism- Demonstrations of similarity detecting software- Assignments requiring novel responses (Research Based)

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Categories and motivations of plagiarists

› Negligent Plagiarists:

- Poor time management- Misunderstand referencing conventions- Have difficulty writing and paraphrasing- Misunderstand the nature of Universities- Misunderstand their role at University- Abuse (rather than use) of technology

› Combat with:

- Education: writing, attitude, authorial identity- Assignments requiring novel responses (Research Based)

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Responses to plagiarism

› Time management- Online Resources developed by Faculty of Education and Social

Work

- http://sydney.edu.au/education_social_work/current_students/assistance_forms/first_year/time_management.shtml

- The Learning Centre

- http://sydney.edu.au/stuserv/learning_centre/help/time/ti_manage.shtml

- Counselling and Psychological Services eBooks

- http://sydney.edu.au/current_students/counselling/get-help/ebooks.shtml

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Attitude and authorial identity

› Students need to understand that when they think and write they are not merely concerned with reporting facts in a journalistic style, but are contributing to knowledge as an independent author.- See Elander (2010) “authorial identity”

› Universities are perceived initially by students as bigger schools where facts are handed down by authorities. This perception leads to a desire to reproduce with minimal input.

› Research based teaching gives us the opportunity to change such attitudes completely.

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Attitude and authorial identity

› In Psychology (and many sciences)

- A unique study designed by active researchers is conducted in tutorials with students as participants

- The results from that are given to students- Students write up the research as if they are the

researcher› Which specific study was this study based on?› This specific study is not identical to any previous research. Lots of

research has been done on context and learning and generalization of learning; but this study is unique. That is why questions like “What do I need to write about?” simply do not make sense. You participated in a unique and brand new study, you have been given the actual results – and now you can be the first in the world to attempt to make sense of its findings and their implications.

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Writing and paraphrasing skills, understanding text matching software

› Exemplar based teaching (watching the tutor mark and write)- Examples of previous research reports made available to students

(essential with our assessment policy anyway), but…

- Exemplars are marked by tutors in front of students

- Exemplars from one grade are transformed/re-written by tutors in front of students. A Credit paper becomes an HD in front of their eyes

› Interactive writing (students write in-class)- Students are given a resource sheet and asked to paraphrase, quote,

and write original material from it

- After each exercise students switch seats OR software sends their writing across the room, and the tutor then instructs students on how to mark the writing.

- All elements of writing can be taught: citation, paraphrasing etc.

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Using and not abusing technology

› Resources to teach research skills- Library modules on search engines (PsycINFO; Web of Science)

- Interactive online quizzes testing research (and other writing skills)

› Efforts to teach students the way similarity detecting software works- Students are given and encouraged to use the free software “Wcopyfind”

- students can teach themselves proper paraphrasing

- students take responsibility checking their work

- Writing tutorials finish with a submission to Turnitin- The limitations of Turnitin are explicitly discussed

› Students (and teachers) need to understand- Similarity detecting software does not detect plagiarism (just similarities)

- Where similarity detecting software does not detect a match this does not mean that the non-matching sections are 1.Well written and 2.Not plagiarised.

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References

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Contact: Caleb Owens (caleb.owens@sydney.edu.au) and Fiona White (fiona.white@sydney.edu.au) for more information on the materials we designed to improve writing and reduce plagiarism.

Allow students to see Originality Reports

› NO Classroom exercise on Turnitin and/or comprehensive information

Major assignment submitted to Turnitin

Tutors and Coordinators see and interpret originality reports

A new source of information is found and uploaded to Turnitin

Supplementary notes on Turnitin

Allow students to see Originality Reports

› YESInformation about Turnitin – how to interpret output

Major assignment submitted to Turnitin

Tutors and Coordinators see and interpret originality reports

Student sees originality report and alters matching sections (and feels assured)

Major assignment submitted to Turnitin

A new source of information is found and uploaded to Turnitin

Supplementary notes on Turnitin

Allow students to see Originality Reports?NO› Advantages:

- Students motivated to learn how to write, and reference, and paraphrase

- As new sources of plagiarism are found they can be investigated further

› Disadvantages:

- You have to fully educate your students as to how the software works

- Extensive documentation in UOS outlines and/or

- Hands on experience with Turnitin in the classroom

YES› “Advantages”:

- No plagiarism is detected!

- No admin surrounding plagiarism!

› Disadvantages:

- Students must all be trained to interpret Turnitin output!

- Students’ assurance in no matches may be misguided (i.e. The source of their writing may not be uploaded until after their ‘check’)

- If they have not learnt how to write for themselves, the moment at which they do get disciplined has been moved forward to later years when plagiarism is treated more seriously, or just to other units of study

- Students assume non-matching parts are ‘good’

The overwhelming advice here is to keep students well away from Turnitin output except in a tutorial context where they are being taught to write and understand how the software works. At most if Turnitin output is to be made available it must be at the early DRAFT stage of the assignment (separate from final submission) where the limitations of Turnitin are explicitly explained.

Supplementary notes on Turnitin