Plagiarism and Student Writing

Christina C. Corsa

What is it?• Addressed in the student handbook under the

category of “Academic Integrity”

• Defined by the following concepts

– Submitting someone else’s work as your own

– Fabrication of facts and submitting this work as factual

– Copying of work from another student

– Resubmitting work from another class

– Allowing another student to use your workSutton Memorial High School: Student/Parent Handbook 2007-2008, page 8 and Sutton Middle School: Student Handbook, page 32

The Modern Language Association terms

plagiarism as “intellectual theft”

(Gibaldi 66).

Why is this a big deal?

• Plagiarism is effectively stealing

• There is a “…tie between our writing and our sense of self—a tie that… [influences] the idea that a piece of writing could belong to the person who [writes] it” (Gibaldi 68).

School Mandated Repercussion

• “Any student found guilty of cheating or plagiarism will automatically receive a zero for the assignment and will be referred to the administration for disciplinary action.”

• Other consequences:– Repeated offenses may jeopardize academic

credit

– Denial or ejection from NHS

Sutton Memorial High School: Student/Parent Handbook 2007-2008, page 8 and Sutton Middle School: Student Handbook, page 32

Plagiarism from the Internet

Information taken from the internet and not properly cited is plagiarism

• Pictures• Audio clips• Movie Clips

How do you find it? • When grading, note areas that don’t

match the given student’s typical writing style

• Sudden elevation in vocabulary, sentence structure and ideas

How do you find it?

• Changes in font style and colors

–“All hail, Macbeth!”

• References to outside sources—pay attention to the Works Cited page

• When in question of something, look for it on the internet yourself

How do you find it?See Dracula example

• “It was the commercial imperialism of Jonathan Harker’s firm that allowed the Count to enter into and corrupt the British way of life.”

• “invasion of civilization by the forces of barbarism and demonism” (Brantlinger 230).

• Check the Works Cited page

Prevention: What are the options?

Web-based, school-wide resource–Turn It In

•Online submission site that compares student work with online sources

Prevention: What are the options?

School wide employment of proper MLA standards and expectations in regard to all writing assignment and

projects– Use of MLA Handbook and IIM

resources– Requirement of a Works Cited/Works

Consulted page whenever research is performed

MLAMLA Handbook for Writers of Research

Papers: 6th Edition

–Helpful chapters•Chapter 4: The Format of the Research Paper

•Chapter 5: Documentation: Preparing the List of Works Cited

MLAOnline Resources Help with

Formatting

http://www.citationmachine.net/

http://easybib.com/

InfoTrac

Consistency in our expectations of

student work will only help in the

long run!

MLA Education– Ideally, the school will have a modified

version of this guide ready for the 2008-2009 school year• Examples of how to include parenthetical

documentation in student work

• Examples of how to list sources in a Works Cited/ Consulted Page

• Example of a properly constructed, MLA standardized essay