Plagiarism and the Web
Facebook Docs -> tool for plagiarism or tool for sharing? Last night I was fooling around with Facebook, looking at some of the applications developed by 3rd-party programmers. One tool that is available is Docs, developed by Scribd (also available at its own page), that allows students to upload documents to a database. Students are posting old assignments, homework, etc. Some teachers are also posting information for students. There's a discussion going on by concerned educators about this sharing of info.
Two years ago when I started receiving obviously plagiarised material, I began to restructure my assignments to ask for more reflective material, for example, their opinions on art work or personal experiences with the threats of the internet, but students are still plagiarising in my classes (and getting caught by me!).
I googled "facebook docs" and found an interesting blog comment on Blern by Greg Kraus, who writes about re-evaluating the concept of plagiarism in today's collaborative world. (By the way, what is the etiquette of quoting from somebody's blog, with full credit, of course!)? I'm wondering what other members of Classroom 2.0 think of this and what they are doing to combat plagiarism.
Two years ago when I started receiving obviously plagiarised material, I began to restructure my assignments to ask for more reflective material, for example, their opinions on art work or personal experiences with the threats of the internet, but students are still plagiarising in my classes (and getting caught by me!).
I googled "facebook docs" and found an interesting blog comment on Blern by Greg Kraus, who writes about re-evaluating the concept of plagiarism in today's collaborative world. (By the way, what is the etiquette of quoting from somebody's blog, with full credit, of course!)? I'm wondering what other members of Classroom 2.0 think of this and what they are doing to combat plagiarism.
Tags: facebook docs, plagiarism
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by marc harris on
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I have similar problems with my 6 form group - they think that copy and pasting documents and technical information on topics i give them is really all that is required.
I have heard of a database that teachers can copy scipt into to see if its from another source, it recognises it and gives you the origin. My students aren't even clever enough to make it discreet, i mostly find they have taken the first link off google.
Unfortunately, i don't know what that database was called or even if it was free, however, if i recall, it was used by universities to combat this problem directly and seemed fairly effective.
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Permalink Reply by Shayne Train on
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My daughter's university uses Turnitin, I believe, but it is licenced. I also use Google to catch the plagiarism. What makes me frustrated is that this is grade 10 and we have DISCUSSED plagiarism as a topic in class (computer literacy and ethics). Then some of them go and do it anyway! I wouldn't accept the assignments and made them redo it.
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Permalink Reply by Sue R. on
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Shayne, I know it might be disheartening, but it is really important for you to keep up the good fight on this! It's easy to copy and paste, yes, then why aren't they also copying and paste-ing the webaddress and giving proper credit?!
Please do make the students redo the work, and let it be known that you will have consequences (grade and reworking) for those who don't give proper credit... by college, they might get an automatic flunk in a course that they actually paid to take--if they haven't practiced how to avoid plaigarism. Your help now will be a very valuable life-lesson for them. So, do keep googling those papers!
Pax,
Sue
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I tell them stories of people I know who got caught, and they share their stories. I also give them some websites to help with citation, eg. citationmachine.net and ottobib.com but some of them are sooooo.... lazy.
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Permalink Reply by Matt Miller on -
I think you are on to something when you wrote that you "restructured" your assignments.
What is it we are asking students to do -- to produce evidence of, what? In the typical writing classroom (not yours, mind you), a student is asked to read something, or "research" something, and write a "paper" where the student is supposed to sound (appear?) intelligent about the topic/thesis/question. The assignments typically ask the student to pose as some kind of expert who, typically, must ground their "conclusions" or "insights" with sourced quotations.
Typically, students play this game pretty safe by risking very little, intellectually, which in turn allows for neat, careful, yet sterile pieces of posed writing. This occurs against the backdrop of some grading economy, where students are further enticed to negotiate through the labyrinth of requirements and expectations, many times not fully explicit or understood, in order to score well.
What I think is lost here are the notions of the writer having something to say, and and the "reflective" nature you refer to -- that is, discovery of self, and discovery of voice.
Personally, I am pleased to see the rise of such document sharing services on the Internet. Just type in "Of Mice and Men essays" in Google, and stroll around for a while. For what kind of challenge are these essays designed? Are any of them worth reading? If so, how so?
Now, imagine we read Steinbeck's book together, and I ask you to discover your thinking about the book, and write it down in such as way that we can understand your thinking. As a starter, I ask you to consider this question: if this book were shot into space, and discovered by aliens 10K years from now, and they somehow had the ability to decode it, and understand it (having scooped up lots of other space junk), what would this alien crowd conclude was true about humans, life on earth, American culture, etc.? What would they know is true or "the Truth"? What would they suspect about the book as it, perhaps, manipulates, spins, or twists what really went on?
Or, perhaps, you are asked to consider this proposition: What if this book were required to be read by everyone, several times over a lifetime, beginning with simple versions for young children. Imagine the effect this might have on our national thinking. What would it be, and why? Oh, and write it, and revise it, and morph it, and change it, until it cannot get any better, and we will hold it up against known standards for grading purposes.
What is different now? As a student, Im not asked to be an expert on anything. Im not posing as one. Im not trying to sound intelligent or literary, or anything. Im trying to discover what I think. Then Im trying to communicate that. I am asked to take a risk -- in fact, intellectual risk is what this challenge is all about.
If it helps to read all the stuff I Googled, so be it. Students will quickly find it a sterile landscape, unworthy of their attention.
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