Enculturating students to the values and conventions of academic integrity: Plagiarism prevention strategies for the classroom

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Enculturating students to the values and
conventions of academic integrity Plagiarism
prevention strategies for the classroom

• Emmy Misser, Writing Centre
• Jeanette McDonald, Educational Development
• Jennifer Robertson-Wilson, Assistant Professor,
  Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education

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Outline

• What is plagiarism? Are we all on the same page?
• Students and plagiarism
• Teaching strategies for avoiding plagiarism
• Creating assignments
• Group brainstorming

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What is Plagiarism?

• Are we all on the same page???
• Quiz

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Students and Plagiarism

• Is it happening?
• Why is it happening?
• What can we do about it?

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Is it happening?

• Christensen Hughes and McCabe (2006a, p. 13)

Behavior High school students Undergraduates Graduate students
Copy sentences from written source- no footnotes 62 37 24
Copy sentences from Internet- no footnotes 57 35 22
Make up/ forge a bibliography 30 17 9
Word for word copying from written source turned in as own work 20 5 3
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Our experiences

• Dr. Renee McPhee and myself
• December 2005
• plagiarism in RMs 3rd year health
• January 2006
• plagiarism on final paper for 2nd years in RMs
  class
• students had session by Emmy Misser
• September 2006/January 2007
• Plagiarism for 3rd year class (RM)
• Inappropriate referencing/plagiarism for 2nd year
  class (JRW)
• APA required text for 2nd and 3rd years, formal
  instruction for second years

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Why is it happening?

• Multiple personal and institutional factors
  (Christensen Hughes McCabe, 2006b)
• The root of plagiarism violations at university
  campuses is that many students do not understand
  the policies and procedures, or how to cite
  sources properly (Guertin, 2005, p. 2)

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Our experiences

• Do students really understand what all the fuss
  is about?
• Students do not understand the seriousness of the
  consequences associated with plagiarism
• The consequences are not severe enough
• Students do not have the skills and knowledge of
  citation conventions in academic culture

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What can we do about it?

• Academic integrity needs to be supported by the
  development of systems and a campus climate or
  culture that demands integrity by all members of
  the university community (Christensen Hughes
  McCabe, 2006b, p. 58)
• Instructors/staff
• review student expectations
• explain the importance of academic integrity
• report academic misconduct if it occurs
• practice academic integrity yourself
• (Christensen Hughes McCabe, 2006b, p. 59)
• We need to be part of the solution by educating
  students

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Our experiences

• Devise instructional strategies for the classroom
• Understanding what plagiarism is and why it is
  important
• Developing skills
• Explore which strategies may be optimal
• Instructional Development Grant
• Phase 1 baseline survey all Kinesiology students
• Phase 2 focus groups with 3rd year students
• Phase 3 evaluate 2 different methods of
  delivering same content in 2 sections of a 2nd
  year required research methods course

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Teaching strategies to help students avoid
plagiarism
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What is plagiarism and why should I care?

• Strategy 1 Workshop by Emmy Misser
• Workshop content
• What is plagiarism
• Why, when, and how do I cite the work of others
• Upon reflection
• Needs to be content specific
• Do students really understand the importance?

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Other possible strategies

• Explore student perceptions as point of
  discussion
• Speak students language analogy to music
• Clarify the plagiarism policy
• One thing I know is true about plagiarism
  
• One thing Im not sure about plagiarism
  (Price, 2002, p.107)
• Have students generate as many possible reasons
  why not to plagiarize
• Review and discuss new WLU policy of consequences
  for plagiarism

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Developing student skills

• Strategy 2 APA manual as required text brief
  overview of how to navigate the manual
• Upon reflection
• How many students buy the manual?
• Students need practice navigating through the
  manual

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Developing student skill

• Strategy 3 instruct students on the APA rules
  for how to cite different sources and form a
  reference list
• Upon reflection
• Instruction needed to continue skill development

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Developing student skills

• Strategy 4 in-class and WebCT exercises on how
  to create a reference list and how to cite
  sources (using APA manual)

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Example excerpt from Tiggemann (2006, p. 346)

• In large-scale surveys, this is most commonly
  calculated on the basis of self-reported weight
  and height measures, the accuracy of which have
  been subject to critical analysis4,5. For
  example, in high school students, height was
  found to be over reported and weight
  underreported.4
• 4. Brener, N. D., McManus, T., Galuska, D. A.,
  Lowry, R., Wechsler, H. (2003). Reliability and
  validity of self-reported height and weight among
  high school students. Journal of Adolescent
  Health, 32, 281-287.
• 5. Shapiro, J. R., Anderson, D. A. (2003). The
  effects of restraint, gender, and body mass index
  on accuracy of self-reported weight.
  International Journal of Eating Disorders, 34,
  177-1XX.

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• Use the following information to create a
  reference using proper APA style
• Journal name Journal of Adolescent Health
• Title of article Fast food and breakfast
  skipping
• Volume 39
• Authors Heather A. Neimier, Hollie A. Raynor,
  Elizabeth E. Lloyd-Richardson, Michelle L Rogers,
  Rena R Wing
• Page 842-849
• Year 2006

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Developing student skills

• Strategy 4 in-class and WebCT exercises on how
  to create a reference list and how to cite
  sources (using APA manual)
• Upon reflection
• Evaluate the homework (even just to hand it in)-
  or they dont do it

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Developing student skill

• Strategy 5 evaluate skills on exam (e.g., create
  a reference list from common sources) and
  knowledge about plagiarism (from Emmy Missers
  lecture)
• Upon reflection
• Allow use of APA manual
• Use most common sources

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Other strategies

• Summarizing skills!
• Read the source through quickly to get its
  general ideas, perhaps reading only the first
  sentence of each paragraph. Then re-read more
  slowly. Go through it a third time and take
  notes. Then let sometime elapse- a half hour
  should be enough- and with the book closed, write
  your own summary of it. (Never try to summarize
  or paraphrase a source while looking at that
  source)Once you have drafted your summary, go
  back to the book and check to see if any of your
  phrasing resembles that of the source if so,
  quote it exactly. Provide page citations for both
  your paraphrases and for quotations. Also, check
  your version to see what you forgot what you
  forgot is usually what you didnt understand. Now
  it is time to visit your instructor for
  additional help in understanding the material
  (Howard, 1995, p. 801)

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Other strategies

• Require students to hand in copies of articles
  used in written assignments

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Non-writing based assignments (Ramsden, 1992)

• quantitative manipulation courses require
  numeric AND explanation questions (e.g., What
  does the SD of 1.8 mean? / 2-column method)
• design meaningful and relevant assessments (the
  personal)
• self and peer assessment (involve students)
• in-class practice opportunities (focus on
  learning/understanding)
• choice in assessment methods
• reduce b/w-student competition in assignment
  design
• challenge students to identify 15 reasons why
  they should cite peoples work no matter the
  assignment (e.g., PPT presentation, lab report,
  essay, case study)

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Two Column Method

• long form of quantitative problem solving

• written account
• theory/concept used
• questions asked of self
• record of thought process
• explanation

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Delivery Methods

• In-class lecture, discussion, exercises, group
  work
• Virtual lecture, out of class assignments/
  lecture evaluation (Guertin, 2005, par 18-19)

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References

• Christensen-Hughes, J. M., McCabe, D. L.
  (2006a). Academic misconduct within higher
  education in Canada. The Canadian Journal of
  Higher Education, 36, 1-21.
• Christensen-Hughes, J. M., McCabe, D. L.
  (2006b). Understanding academic misconduct. The
  Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 36, 49-63.
• Guertin, L. A. (2005). Using virtual lectures to
  educate students on plagiarism. First Monday, 10.
• Howard, R. M. (1995). Plagiarisms, authorships,
  and the academic death penalty. College English,
  57, 788-806.
• Price, M. (2002). Beyond gotcha! Situating
  plagiarism in policy and pedagogy. College
  Composition and Communication, 54, 88-115.
• Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to Teach in Higher
  Education. London Routledge.
• Ritter, D. A. (1993) Faculty approaches to
  plagiarism Multiple influences, multiple
  strategies. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
  University of South Carolina, Columbia.

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Effective Assignment Design
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Looking at academic writing as

• CONVERSATION
• Writing well means engaging the voices of
  others and letting them in turn engage us (IX).
• Graff and Birkenstein

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Writing as ongoing conversation

• In conversation we
• Listen to other voices
• Reflect
• Evaluate
• Respond using appropriate language, tone and
  gestures
• According to conventions of polite behaviour

• In writing we
• Introduce what others have said
• Summarize what others have said
• Reflect
• Evaluate
• Respond using appropriate diction and control of
  language
• According to conventions of academic
  documentation

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Incorporating the conversation into the
assignment

1. Assigning a role or a purpose to the writer
2. Identifying an audience for the writer
3. Assigning a form or a genre
4. Setting up a task or problem that intrigues

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A Raft and a Tip

• Role (or purpose)
• Audience
• Format (or genre)
• Task (as a problem)

• Task as
• Intriguing
• Problem
• John Bean. Theory and Praxis Workshop, 2006.

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A RAFT Assignment by John Bean

• Write an essay of no more than two double-spaced
  pages answering the following question Is a
  skilled trout fisherman on a variable interval or
  a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement?
  Imagine that you are writing to a classmate who
  has missed the last week of lectures and finds
  the textbook explanations of variable interval
  and variable ratio confusing. Psychology
• (Engaging Ideas 88)

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Build process into the assignment

• Mid-way through term assign
• An exchange of letters among pairs of students on
  an aspect of their project (see Art Young for
  ideas)
• An annotated bibliography
• A literature review
• A proposal

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Available Writing Centre Workshops

• Plagiarism and Proper Use of Sources (for both
  APA and MLA)
• Summarizing and Paraphrasing
• The Literature Review
• How to Write A Strong Thesis Statement

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Works Cited

• Bean, John. Engaging Ideas The Professors Guide
  to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and
  Active Learning in the Classroom. San Francisco
  Jossey-Bass Publishers. 2001.
• ---. Raft Handout in Theory and Praxis Workshop
  on ABGW4, August 16, 2006. Aug.2007.
  lthttp//www.unm.edu/was/CurriculumResources/BeanA
  genda.pdfgt
• Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say/I
  Say The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing.
  New York W. W. Norton, 2006.
• Young, Art. Teaching Writing Across the
  Curriculum, 4rd ed. Upper Saddle River, New
  Jersey Prentice Hall, 2006. 2nd ed. 2002
  available at lthttp//wac.colostate.edu/books/young
  5Fteaching/gt

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Brainstorming

• Thinking of your BEST and WORST assignments over
  the years
• what have you learned from them? changed?
• what strategies have you employed to develop
  students knowledge, skills and values associates
  with academic integrity/misconduct? (i.e.,
  mitigate cheating)
• What examples can you share?