Plagiarism Advisory Service http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk Dr Fiona Duggan
Jan 02, 2016
Education
Increasing ‘consumerism’ in attitude towards education
Strategic approach by students to study
Changing nature of student population
Wider context
Growing problem in US Increased access to electronic
resources Widespread confusion about
referencing and citation
JISC response
4 pilot projects in 2001 Series of regional seminars Invitations to bid for provision of
advisory service and also national detection facility
Cut and paste plagiarism
Essaybanks
initially primarily US focused
Wide coverage of subjects and essay topics
not always good quality
Two types of service
Bulk providers relying upon the recycling of student essays
Customised, one-off essay writing service
Strategies
Electronic plagiarism detection
The technological solution Pedagogical approach ‘Head in the sand’ approach
The ‘right’ approach
Harnesses technology and pedagogy Is consistently applied throughout the
institution ‘Tackles the illness not just the
symptoms’ PLAGUE (2002)
Technological approach
Number of detection products available
Detect collusion and/or plagiarism Web-based or standalone Tend to have been developed in US
JISC detection software
Password and user profile controlled Either students or lecturers can submit papers Software checks paper for text matches Detects both cut-and-paste plagiarism and
collusion Software produces originality report
Is it plagiarism?
The report does not distinguish between properly cited text and unacknowledged sources
High instance of text matches may not always indicate plagiarism
Judgement of plagiarism remains with lecturer
Using the report
Can be used as an educational tool to highlight areas of concern
Can raise awareness of many of the issues relating to plagiarism
Can open up a discussion about academic integrity
Detection software
Should be viewed as one element of a plagiarism prevention strategy
Can be a deterrent ‘Levels the playing field’
Using assessment to ‘design out’ plagiarism
Do course teams receive guidance on how to make courses less susceptible to plagiarism?
How do assessment criteria support and value skills?
Where are issues of academic integrity and values discussed?
Using assessment to ‘design out’ plagiarism
Challenges the nature and role of assessment
Beneficial for both students and lecturers
Takes time and effort!
Supportive policies and procedures
Outline academic conventions in appropriate language
Need to be consistently applied across the institution
Need to be clearly and frequently communicated to students
Penalties
Need to be consistently applied Need to be transparent Should reflect the values of the organisation Should be supportive of both staff and
students
The good news is that by facing the challenge of this situation we might be forced to help our students learn what I believe to be the most important thing
they can learn at university. That is just how the intellectual enterprise of
scholarship and research really works.
Hunt, Russell (2004) Whose silverware is this? Promoting plagiarism through pedagogy. Plagiarism: Prevention, practice and policies conference abstracts. Northumbria
University