Pulling the Plug on Plagiarism

A new workshop brings the message to students

by Susan Salter

A famous rapper sues a computer company for using his song in a TV commercial without his permission. A New York Times reporter is caught inventing interviews for his articles. Term papers are widely advertised for sale on the Internet.

Plagiarism (and its close cousin, fabrication) is a hot topic in society and in the schools. Citing a 1999 survey by Who's Who Among American High School Students, Carolyn Kleiner and Mary Lord of U.S. News and World Report state: "80 percent of high-achieving high school students admitted to having cheated at least once; half said they did not believe cheating was necessarily wrong — and 95 percent of the cheaters said they have never been caught."

Today's copy-and-paste, text-messaging technology has made cheating remarkably simple. The same high technology, however, is now in service to crack down on offenders, with software programs and Internet sites designed to ferret out stolen phrasing. Clearly, schools and universities are getting serious about plagiarism — but is there a more proactive alternative to catching students after the fact?

Message Made For Students

Employees of Thomson Gale believe there is. As part of their ongoing mission to provide community outreach, Thomson Gale's Ambassador Program created a presentation called "Demystifying Plagiarism." The free, one-hour workshop is aimed at high-school students, who regularly use print and online research for their papers and projects.

The workshop introduces students to the concept of intellectual property — the idea that someone's words, images and ideas can be as tangible as material property like a car or a computer.

To Colleen Tavor, plagiarism isn't just an academic issue — it's an affront to her profession. As manager of independent contractor administration at Thomson Gale, Tavor provides editors with legal and professional guidelines in contracting with the thousands of freelancers who contribute to the company's authoritative reference works. The liability inherent in a charge of plagiarism — not to mention the loss of reputation to the company — requires her to take a zero-tolerance stance on transgressions from the unintentional slip to flat-out copying.

Tavor found that often just reading a document raises red flags: "You may notice a change in the tone of the writing," she says. "It just sounds different."

In 2003, Tavor hosted "Dealing with Plagiarism," a workshop for managers and editors, which led to the idea of adapting the workshop for students. With the help of Thomson Gale staff members Patricia Adams, Caroline Drexler, Theresa MacFarlane, Diane Reed and Sharon Toth, the student workshop was launched in March 2004.

"Demystifying Plagiarism" was first offered to juniors and seniors at East Catholic High School in Detroit, Mich. Presented by Tavor, the Workshop covered citing, paraphrasing, common knowledge, fair use and recognizing reputable research material online or in print.

Hard Facts – And Fun Stuff

The session pulls no punches in delivering the sobering ramifications of high-school plagiarism, ranging from failing an assignment to flunking an entire course. At the same time, the message is lightened with fun facts. (Did you know that the song "Happy Birthday to You" is still under copyright protection?)

"Demystifying Plagiarism" seeks an interactive, open exchange of ideas between presenter and student. At East Catholic, Tavor invited the group to shout out their impressions of situations that pose potential plagiarism:

• "Using personal experience to illustrate your point in a paper?" (Consensus: not plagiarism.)
• "Buying a term paper and turning it in?" (Consensus: plagiarism.)
• "Writing your favorite quote in a greeting card?" (Split decision.)
• "You don't have to cite what you find on the Internet. After all, it's posted there for everyone to see, right?" (Wrong.)

The workshop ended on a positive note, with an appeal for students to view research projects as a forum for expressing their own views. Sister Canice Johnson, chair of East Catholic's English department, called the session timely and relevant: "Students didn't always understand what you need to do to correctly use information from other people. That kind of clarification was very helpful to them, and it helps reinforce what we're teaching about the subject."

Carolyn Pruitt agreed. The senior, who has her eye on a career in criminal justice, said that while she was aware of plagiarism, "I wasn't aware of the extent" of the practice in schools.

Assessing the Workshop, junior Demetrius Leverett vowed to "give credit to the author and where I got my information." Senior Sadie Benson summed up the session well when she wrote, "I will take this as a lesson learned."

What Educators Can Do

"Teachers and librarians have an ethical obligation to create assignments that lend themselves to creativity and higher-level thinking. If all you ask for is recall, all you'll likely get is thinly veiled plagiarism." — Doug Johnson (www.doug-johnson.com)

There are technological tools to ferret out plagiarism. But Doug Johnson, director of media and technology for Mankato (Minn.) Area Public Schools and author of "Teaching Right from Wrong in the Digital Age" (Linworth, 2003), agrees with the Thomson Gale Ambassadors that a more effective solution is to prevent cheating before it becomes a problem. For educators, he says, the key is to design assignments around what he calls Low Probability of Plagiarism (LPP) qualities. Among those qualities:

Make it relevant. "My son is my inspiration" for this tip, says Johnson. A genuine challenge — a science project of the student's choosing, for example — inspires kids to reach beyond the usual sources and explore answers for themselves.

Reward originality. Traditional research has its place, says Johnson, but it can be tempered by an emphasis on original thought. As an educator, "I'd rather read even off-center original ideas from students" than a polished-but-boring rehash of previously published views.

Surrender some control. "We teachers like a lot of control" over the questions and the answers, Johnson says. "If we only ask questions we think we know the answers to, it's tedious for kids and teachers alike.