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Best
Practices in Preventing Academic Dishonesty
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Setting Expectations
- I have a frank and direct
discussion with all of my classes early in the semester in which I convey
my attitudes about cheating. My students understand that I value honesty
and integrity and hold cheating in low regard. (ER)
- I make it clear to my
students when it is okay to work collaboratively and when they will be
required to turn in individual work. (ER)
- Show students the different
ways to incorporate borrowed information into their own essays. (LS)
- Use positive terms when
discussing how to avoid plagiarism (e.g. "Give credit to those whose
work you refer to"). (CE)
- Discuss Doris Kearns
Goodwin's (needs citation) situation and how good research practices can
help avoid problems even among the well-intentioned and well-known
- Have students create a class
policy for handling cheating/plagiarizing at the beginning of the course,
discussing why plagiarizing is a problem and what constitutes plagiarizing.
(Sprott)
- Discuss and define plagiarism
and types of academic dishonesty within that class (i. e. define on what
assignments collaboration may be used and what type of collaboration is
helpful) (SS)
- I haven't done this yet, but
I just finished developing an exercise I'm thinking of using to teach
students about what plagiarism is and isn't. I have quoted paragraphs on a
topic from three different sources, then have six paragraphs on the topic
that a student might write. One of them successfully avoids plagiarism;
the other five involve plagiarism of different levels, from the obvious
no-no of direct quotes without attribution to the less-obvious light
paraphrase with insufficient attribution. I'm considering having students
break into groups (after my brief introduction to the topic) and analyze
the examples, deciding which one(s) they think are plagiarized and which
are not, then discussing my answers and why I give them. (CR)
- Show specific examples of
plagiarism using appropriate literature. Have students discuss when a
paraphrase crosses the line.
- Students must understand what
academic dishonesty is, and what's in it for them if they fight it. A
detailed and clearly defined document/examples help them understand it.
However, the document must also allow room for the instructors to pursue
cases beyond those perimeters if students become especially
"creative" in their cheating. (LG)
- Instructors who stress
academic honesty in their classroom from the very first day. Typically, on
their syllabus, will be the institutional definition of academic
dishonesty, the institution’s penalty for committing academic dishonesty
and then the instructor’s penalty for any cheating, plagiarism, etc., as
it effects the grade and completion of the course. (PC)
- A syllabus that clearly lays
out goals and expectations ahead of time. (MS)
- Spending class time on their
own or with the librarian discussing citation formats, "works
cited" lists, parenthetical attribution in the paper and practicing
these skills, so that the class knows what plagiarism is and how it can be
avoided. Remember, most plagiarism is inadvertent. (MS)
Writing Samples
- I use an assortment of
assignments, including weekly journals, all designed to give me a sense of
student voice. (ER)
- Have students spend 5 to 10
minutes before or following a class or online discussion writing their
reactions to the discussion or topic. (CE)
- Instructors who have retrieve
a writing sample from their students. Even a brief in-class writing
assignment can effectively give an instructor a pretty good idea of a
student’s writing style and then can be used in comparison when later
assignments are suspected of not being the student’s own work. (PC)
- Keep e-mailed progressive
assignments together in a folder to review as the paper progresses. (SS)
Annotated Bibliographies, Research Logs, and Tutorials
- Require students to submit an
annotated bibliography before a paper is due
- Require an annotated
bibliography, in which students explain why they selected a particular
source for their project -- what information or perspective they were able
to glean from it.
- Direct students to complete a
self-study plagiarism tutorial
- Ask students to keep a
research log of search tools and searches
- Instructors who assign
research projects require students to follow the research process and
submit at different intervals for review, the components of the process:
thesis statement; types of sources required (primary, secondary,
professional journals) working bibliography, bib cards, outline, etc. (PC)
- Use of weekly journals or
diaries allows instructors to know their students' writing practices and
keeps them in touch with what is going on with the student in the course.
(MS)
- Structure syllabus
assignments to incrementally complete a finished project in week-by- week
assignments. For example, research paper assignments begin with topic
title, reference list, short summary of each reference, paper outline,
introduction, 3 main points, summary. (WG)
Transforming the Assignment
- Consider student research
projects as process, not product, with topic development exercises,
annotated bibliographies, research strategies, handed in and responded to
throughout the course.
- Require a
"methodology" section, either within the paper or as an
appendix, in which students describe how they did the research for the
paper, including databases search and how (what search statements), web
sites consulted, people interviewed, etc. Faculties routinely include a
methodology section when they write their own research papers. While
students don't general do "original" research, it is still a
good idea to instill in them the notion that the method is part of the
final product.
- In my statistics classes I
have students collect their own data based on a pre-approved question that
they utilize throughout the semester for various graded assignments, tests
and projects. No two students are allowed to use the same question. (ER,
Math)
- I ask questions which require
a written response rather than a process driven response (I teach math).
Directions such as "clearly explain in your own words" or
"outline the steps you would use to solve the following problem"
allow for easy comparison of work since no two students should be
describing a process in exactly the same way. (ER, Math)
- For a literature class, I
have them find commonalties between our recent readings. So in essence,
they are writing a comparison essay about oddly matched pieces of literature.
Very few "canned papers" are set up this way using our readings.
(LS)
- As a composition Instructor,
I offer assignments early on in the quarter. I encourage students to
pursue research topics that they are interested in; then I guide them
through the research. Students report back in writing or orally on every
step of their research project. I ask them to self review the roughs and
final products of all essays. (LS)
- Begin projects with essays
requiring no research, which are based on opinion, first-hand experience,
etc. Follow with an assignment to find materials to either back up or
challenge their original statements, and have students turn their essays
into researched papers. (CE)
- Explain to students the
purpose of each assignment and why it is important that they learn the
concepts/process, etc., so that students are invested in the learning
process. The other side to this, of course, is that if students tell you
that an assignment isn't meaningful to them, you need to consider why, and
perhaps adjust the assignment. (Sprott)
- Require short Meta essays,
preferably in class, describing the research and writing process the
student undertook for the essay/assignment.
- Have writing assignments that
are based on activities, events, or examples that occurred in class, so
that they are less likely to find papers online that fit. (CR)
- One type of assignment I have
done is to have students "create" around the research. For
example: students had to find social policies that would be a
foundation for a full-service school. The first half of the grade was
finding the policies and presenting on the policies. The last part of the
project was to create a full-service school using those policies as the
basis of what they would include. But, the organization had to be complete
with an organizational chart, a full description of services, etc. (Karyl)
- Develop a classroom exercises
on plagiarism issues stemming from "real world" scenarios.
Examples:
- Last week we discussed
in my library credit course the relationship between plagiarism and
credibility in the context of the heavily plagiarized document released
by the British Intelligence earlier this month and used by Colin Powell
in his presentation to the Security Council. Here is a discussion about
whether the world should go to war in Iraq, and the argumentation for war
was heavily based on a document which, had it been handed in our school,
would have earned the "author" a suspension or worse.
- Other exercises I have
done include reading a NYT op-ed piece by the victim of Doris Kearns
Goodwin's plagiarism, or
- Stephen Ambrose's
plagiarism. The NYT printed a sidebar about Ambrose showing his passages
side by side with the source he copied it from. After a class discussion,
students played "editor" and went back and properly cited the
passages in MLA and APA styles.
- In another exercise,
two semester's ago, a freshman class checked out a couple citations I had
examined in advance from "Fast Food Nation," which they had all
read as the freshman text over the summer. One of the citations was bad
-- we examined the NYT article the author said the quote/statistic had
come from and it wasn't there. The kids were absolutely furious! They
felt betrayed, didn't know if they could trust anything the book said,
wanted to know if they could get their money back for the book, etc.
Afterwards, I asked them to think about how angry they were when the cite
didn't prove accurate, and understand how other people would react if
they plagiarized or gave bad cites.
- Creative assignments
requiring personal thought, analysis and expression. I once spent a half
hour trying to convince a desperate student that there really wasn't a
resource that described a classic philosophy of education and
compared/contrasted it with her personal philosophy and experience of
education. (MS)
Group Work and Feedback
- Arrange study groups so that
students will help one another. Have them work on individual papers but on
related topics so that they can talk about the sources productively. They
should report to the whole class two or three times over the course of the
semester.
- Use the
"One-Minute-Paper" format to encourage students to bring their
research problems to the instructor and the class for discussion. Let it
be anonymous so that no one need be embarrassed by supposedly
"stupid" questions.
- Assign each student an
anonymous "research assistant" who reviews their topic reference
lists and summaries to determine relevancy to topic, and/or, recommend one
or two additional references. (In an on-line format, they can respond to
the reference conference with their findings.) (WG)
- I also have the students post
their work in a discussion area where they classmates can read their work
and comment upon it. On our system, they can post to me and to fellow
students at the same time. The system protects their grade from view by
their classmates. (BF)
- I regularly email my students
with suggestions that I think will make their paper better. I may suggest
questions, sources, other points of view, etc. This seems to help them
realize the need to do their own work. (BF)
Assessment
- Use formative assessment
techniques. For an overview of formative assessment, see Boston,
Carol (2002). The concept of formative assessment. Practical Assessment,
Research & Evaluation, 8(9). Available online:
http://ericae.net/pare/getvn.asp?v=8&n=9. (CE)
- Be sure that assignments and
your grading are fair and reasonable, and work hard to develop a good
relationship with your students. (Sprott)
- Include a final exam question
on the process of the research. (SS)
- In final examinations, focus
less on data (information) than on application by using more short (one
paragraph) essay questions. (WG)
- In face-to-face courses
arrange seats in spiraling circle from center of room with all seats faced
outward; instructor circulates through room throughout examination. (WG)
- Use 3-5 testing sheets
arranging the same questions in varying order (especially effective in
mathematics exams). (WG)
- Do a "spot check"
(by randomly selecting one or two students) of each written assignment.
Students who are being spot-checked, or audited, must turn in drafts and
notes from reading.
- When appropriate, allow notes
for all students during exams, instead of requiring needless memorization.
- Randomize questions from a
large database for multiple choice tests/examinations.
- Create random seating for
students in examinations, and enforce it!
- Use open-book open-note
tests, where students are asked to apply concepts to specific examples and
cases. (I especially like group tests, which often are better learning
experiences than other things I do in class!) (CR)
- Take away the temptation: by
providing active faculty supervision during tests, adhering to standard
documentation practices (and checking those documents), providing a few
different versions of each test, have very strictly monitored "make-up"
test opportunities and make sure students are aware of the measures being
taken will limit opportunity. (LG)
Policies, Action & Follow-up
- Faculty training in what the
school determines to be academic dishonesty. One of the big problems I've
seen is that all the faculty are not deeming the same things as academic
dishonesty--students can't be clear if we're not presenting the same rules
everywhere. (LG)
- Administration Action: clear
policies that clarify the process for pursuing cases, as well as adapting
policies that encourage teachers to avoid pursuing cases inadvertently
(i.e. reviews too heavily weighted to student critiques, unrealistic
evidence requirements in cases, not considering conditions in student
success rates, not allowing faculty enough time during their work schedule
to review papers and tests for academic dishonesty)
- Instructors who actually
query suspected students about their paper, wording, etc. Usually it
doesn’t take too long for both parties to figure out if cheating occurred.
(PC)
- Instructors who actively
pursue suspected plagiarists, cheaters. I always remind my instructors
that the proof of plagiarism is on them however, they can require their
students to submit for review all the resources identified on the working
bibliography and the work cited prior to any grade being given. It is
always amazing to me how often the guilty students either don’t supply the
resources or confess that the work is plagiarized, etc. At times the
instructor may find what I would call “involuntary plagiarism” not clear
on what needs to be documented and then the instructor has a perfect
‘teaching moment.’ (PC)
- Once you have sufficiently
educated the students about it, have a no tolerance policy for plagiarism.
Make sure the dean and the higher ups support your policy.