Plagiarism and ELLs

More to the Issue than Meets the

Eye

Michael Krauss

Shocking Statistics

• Surveys in U.S. News and World Report:

– 80 % of high achieving hs ss admit to cheating

– 51% of h.s. ss did not believe cheating was wrong

– 95% of those cheating said had not been caught

– 75% of college students admitted cheating

Copyright and Plagiarism

• Protects authors of “original works”

• Can be literary, dramatic, musical,

artistic, other intellectual work

• No © needed

• Can be published or unpublished

• Presto, like magic, copyright is created

Copyright and Plagiarism

• Without permission from © holder one

can’t:

– Reproduce copies of the work

– Create derivatives

– Distribute copies

– Perform the work publicly

– Display the work publicly UNLESS

Copyright and Plagiarism

• You follow “Fair Use” (What is that??)

• “Squishy” – 4 factors considered:

– Purpose: For profit? No? Educational?

– Nature of the copyrighted work?

– Amount of work used compared to whole

– Effect of use on value of copyrighted work

Copyright and Plagiarism

• Generally. . . using materials for class

paper or presentation = Fair Use!

– No need to get permission

– But you must properly cite source for

text or media

– If you don’t = Plagiarism!

What is Plagiarism?

• Turning in someone else’s work as your own

• Copying words or ideas without giving credit

• Failing to put quotation marks around

quotes

• Giving incorrect information about a source

What is Plagiarism?

• Paraphrasing without giving credit

• Copying so much of a work that it is

not really yours (whether you give

credit or not)

Preventing Plagiarism

• Make students aware of what plagiarism is

• Let them know it’s a “strict liability” offense (no

intent required)

• Let students know the serious consequences

• Help students learn the academic skills needed

• Provide resources to help students cite correctly

From My Experience

– Plagiarism caused by culture of ELL:

• Books and authors are the experts, not students

• Helping a fellow student in need is not optional

• Memorizing and reciting verbatim is respected

• Plagiarism is treated less seriously in home country

• Internet sources are viewed as belonging to everyone

From My Experience

• Plagiarism caused by lack of ELL

knowledge and L2 skills:

– Students lack background knowledge in topic

– Students lack reading ability to comprehend

– Students lack oral ability to discuss reading

From My Experience

• Plagiarism occurs due to lack of ELL

academic skills:

– Students lack ability to take notes

effectively

– Students lack ability to summarize

– Students lack ability to paraphrase

– Students don’t know mechanics of citation

From My Experience

• Plagiarism occurs due to teacher

deficits:

– Not explaining ramifications

– Not guiding choice of student topic

– Not showing ease of getting caught!

From My Experience

• Plagiarism occurs due to teacher

deficits:

– Not conferencing with students

– Not using process approach to writing

– Not following through on announced

penalties

Helpful Tools

• Arcadia University Plagiarism Tutorial

http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plag

iarism/

• Google – copy and paste a suspect phrase.

http://www.google.com

• Son of Citation Machine

http://citationmachine.net/index2.php

Helpful Tools

• Creative Commons - Youtube introduction http

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P-bQB8zUSo

• Photo Pin – Access Creative Commons images http

://photopin.com/

• Fair Use Checklist - Kenneth D. Crews (Columbia

University) and Dwayne K. Buttler (University of

Louisville).

http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/files/2009/10/

fairusechecklist.pdf

References• Columbia University Libraries/Information

Services - Copyright Advisory Office

http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/

• Penn State University Library - Copyright and

Plagiarism

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/lls/students/usin

g_information.html

• Plagiarism.org http://www.plagiarism.org/

index.html

• Purdue OWL - Documenting Electronic Sources

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/584/