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 What
is Plagiarism?
In a nutshell, plagiarism is the taking
of the thoughts, ideas, concepts, artwork, and/or photography of another
and claiming it as your own. More times than not plagiarism is
unintentional, but there are those individuals who for various reasons
plagiarize intentionally .
Types of Plagiarism:
Most blatant forms of plagiarism:
- Copying the work of another student,
with or without his permission, and turning it in as his own. This
includes homework.
- Copying word for word without using
quotation marks.
- When paraphrasing, changing only a few
words or phrases.
- Paraphrasing or summarizing without
attribution.
- Incorrect citations or false
citations.
- Copying and pasting from the internet
without attribution.
- Using photos or art from the internet
without attribution.
- Turning in a paper written by someone
else as your own work (online paper mills or having a friend or parent
write it.)
How
to Recognize Plagiarism
- Student work that contains maps,
charts, graphs or statistical data without attribution unless it is
clearly evident that the charts and graphs are a result of his own
analysis and making.
- Wording and/or phrasing that is
clearly not typical of the student's writing style and/or
ability.
- Work for which it is clearly evident
that attribution is needed but there is none.
- A change of style within a paragraph
or throughout the paper.
- Content that seems out of place or
context.
- You have a feeling that you have read
this before.
Strategies
for Prevention:
What you can do to help your child
avoid plagiarism:
- Be aware of your child's school policy
on plagiarism.
- Take an interest in your child's
writing by reading his papers. You would be surprised
at the insight you can get by delving into the thoughts of your teen.
- Be aware of when writing assignments
are due. Don't allow your child to wait until the last minute. This is
when plagiarism is most likely to occur whether it is intentional or
unintentional. Pressure tempts us all to do things we might not
otherwise do under non- stressful conditions.
- Review the information your child is
getting about appropriate documentation and attribution, so you will be
better equipped to advise him by visiting:
- When reviewing your child's writing,
resist the urge to make the corrections yourself (especially if you
are typing his/her final draft). For Senior Portfolios, even
teachers cannot make corrections on submitted pieces. They can only
point out a potential problem or weakness.
- For awkward sentences, help your
child clarify and rephrase his thoughts using his level of
vocabulary and line of thinking.
- For spelling problems, point out
misspelled words, but don't spell them for him.
- For grammar and writing problems,
direct your child to Guide
to Grammar and Writing. This is an excellent source for
explanation and practice. You can tell him he has a problem with,
say, subject/verb agreement, but don't fix it for him.
- If you see a potential plagiarism
problem, discuss this with your child and help him fix the
problem, and encourage him to discuss the potential problem
with his teacher. Remember, this is your child's assignment, not
yours. It is better that your child catch the problem while
still in the writing process rather than the teacher on the final
product.
- Unfortunately, it is a reality in
today's world that many parents believe that a child succeeds on his
own but fails because of his teacher. Hold your child accountable for
his performance. He is the one attending class (or not), listening to
instructions (or not) and generally interacting with the teacher and
reacting to his educational environment.
- If you have questions about
plagiarism, by all means talk with your child's teacher during
the writing process. Do not present yourself as an "all
knowing" adversary; you and your child's teacher have a common
goal--success for your child.
What
to Do If Your Child is Accused of Plagiarism
- First of all, take a deep breath.
You may be seeing fire, but teachers don't take the charge of
plagiarism lightly. They usually have specific, incontrovertible
evidence in their hands before they assert that a student has
plagiarized. Most teachers bend over backwards in the writing process
to help your child avoid plagiarism, but if the child is absent from
school, is present but hasn't completed the assignments, is simply not
paying attention during instruction, or doesn't actively participate
in his own learning, there's really not a whole lot the teacher can
do, but inform you, and then the ball is in your court. But even
if the teacher doesn't inform you, ask yourself if you know what your
child is doing in school? (You have only your child/children to be
worried about; your child's teacher has an average of 150 students to
worry about). The telephone and email work both ways. Be a partner
with your child's teacher. After the final product is graded, it is
too late. The teacher will hold, and must hold, your child accountable for
his understanding of the concept being taught.
- When you are calm and rational, talk
to your child and read the child's paper. Ask your child if he/she has
talked to the teacher about this grade. Your child's teacher has more
than likely already spoken to your child (or tired to speak to him and
is waiting for him to schedule a conference) about his paper in
private.
- If you still have questions after you have
spoken with your child and your child has spoken with the teacher,
schedule a conference with the teacher to discuss your concerns. Do not go directly to
the principal. When you bypass the teacher, you are sending the
message that the teacher is wrong, intractable, and unimportant (at least not
important enough to talk to about this problem). Give the teacher an
opportunity to discuss this issue with you; there may be circumstances
of which you are not aware, or the teacher may have made an error. You
are more than likely going to get a faster response from the teacher
than the principal because after talking to you, the principal must
then talk to the teacher and then call you back and/or schedule an
appointment. This takes time!
- Go in to the teacher conference with
an open mind. The teacher is not the enemy. Approach this meeting as a
fact finding mission.
- If after talking with the teacher, you
are still not satisfied, schedule an appointment with the principal.
After talking with you, he will talk with the teacher and then
probably set up a conference for the three of you. Your child may or
may not be included.
- If the evidence is there, admit it;
don't rant and rave about how unfair it is for your child or how much
you disagree with the policy. Instead, ask what your child can do to
recoup his grade, assuming it is not the end of the semester. Most
teachers will find extra credit work for those students who are
genuinely sorry for their academic transgression. But above all,
allow your child to feel the full force of the consequences of his
actions. We tend to learn from our mistakes especially if they are
personally painful in some way.
Paper
Mills
These internet sites offer students
written papers on a wide variety of topics for free or sometimes for a fee
. All a student has to do, in most cases, is type in his topic on
the site's internal search engine, select a paper, and then print
it. For an extensive list of Paper Mills, visit Kimbel
Library--Cheating 101: Internet Paper Mills. Try some of them out. The
quality of many of these papers is a real hoot!
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