by Kim Priesmeyer
We’re all writing teachers, even if you teach business, history, or psychology, because we all assign papers in our classes. Therefore, we will all be called to help students identify and use sources well in their writing. The challenge is that many of our students are unprepared for this task, and they need our guidance.
First, provide as many guidelines as possible for their papers that require sources. Take class time to teach students how to write an outline of their ideas, how to search for sources using the Belhaven databases, and how to use turnitin through Canvas as a “test drive” for their writing. My webinar discussed how to implement structure into the research process so you’re setting up students for success.
Also, share important “tips of the trade” with students using the handout I’ve designed. Many of our students don’t know how to select material to cite or how to integrate source material into their writing. These are universal skills that students will need in every college course they take, so practicing this in class is time well spent. Most of our students want to become better writers and want to use sources accurately and effectively, so taking a few extra steps can help students achieve success.
You can find the webinar Kim presented on this topic here: Plagiarism: Helping Your Students Avoid It.
Kim Priesmeyer, M.A.
Associate Professor of English
Belhaven University, Houston Campus
4 thoughts on “Plagiarism: Preparing Your Students to Avoid It.”
Which programs can help to avoid plagiarism 100 percent? http://www.plagramme.com, turnitin, gammarly.com. Have you tried any one ?
Eglė
These are all good options. We have an account with Gramarly so students and faculty can use it for free with their Belhaven email address. It works pretty well but I’m not entirely impressed with how it handles the identification of writing problems. We also have turnitin available which can be set up through Canvas. If you need help with that, consult your Dean. I think turnitin does a good job of catching plagiarism, however, if the plagiarism is from a source which in not published, i.e. another student’s paper that hasn’t been submitted, it obviously won’t mark that.
Rick Upchurch
Kim, I think tools like Grammarky or https://unplag.com are useful in detection of text matches. The latter one is able to detect citationa & quotations, and give you chance to exclude them from similarity results.
But plagiarism problem starts in students’ heads. Professors should create a learning environment where everyone would understand what is plagiarism, how to cite and how to choose right sources for their research.
Pat
I tried several of these tools (mentioned above) however, as a researcher I went though more than 1st page in google and found another interesting and effective tool.
It is called https://plagiarismsearch.com/ and I was definitely impressed by the quality of the search and reports.
Give it a try!
Melissa