Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/29842
“Any time you use someone else’s words, you need to let me know whose ideas they are and where they come from.” Steve Schessler, Gavilan College Faculty Association 20-year teaching veteran. “You explain the importance of completing assignments, en- gaging in the writing process, taking notes and documenting evidence so it doesn’t hap- pen again. I want students to understand the concept of authorship and ownership and academic honesty and integrity.” Students sign a form at the beginning of the year that they are aware of the rules about plagiarizing and are aware of the repercus- sions, which include receiving no credit for the assignment and a lowering of their over- all grade. To reduce the chance of students commit- ting plagiarism, Barros asks to see students’ note-taking and rough drafts. She also as- signs topics that require students to be criti- cal thinkers. “If the topic is too broad and isn’t specific enough, you’re more likely to find plagiarism involved,” Barros explains. “Instead of saying ‘What was the French Revolution?’ you might ask them to explain ‘How did Enlight- enment philosophy shape the policies of the French Revolution?’” Eighth-grade English teacher Hiroko Niksch does not use Turnitin at Miller Middle School in San Jose. But she warns students that the local high school uses the website, so they better get used to doing the work them- selves. When she suspects a student may be plagiarizing, she uses Google to search for some of the phrases to determine whether or not it’s original work. It can be a slow, painful process, but she says it’s important to take the time to check. “I’m apparently the Big Bad Plagiarism Police teacher,” says Niksch, a member of the Cupertino Education Association. “Word has gotten out, so plagiarism is dwindling in my classroom.” She believes students plagiarize for differ- ent reasons. “Some students are doing it be- cause it’s the easy way and they are dishonest,” Niksch says. “Some students don’t know bet- ter and think that if they change something a little bit, it’s not really plagiarizing. For ma- ny students it’s about procrastination and running out of time.” Eighth-grader Nitya Mani agrees with her teacher’s assessment. “A lot of students are really busy with extracurricular activities and are really frenzied about grades and maintaining straight A’s. When you start an essay at 12 o’clock at night, you can get tempted. Even if students aren’t trying to pla- giarize, what you see as the end product can be very close to the beginning product on a website.” In Niksch’s class, Mani and her fellow stu- dents work on their research papers in class. Some write down quotes from books on in- dex cards and rewrite the information in their own words on the back of the card. Others work on searching for information and writing proper citations for it. “It’s easier for me to do research this way, because on my own it would be a little bit more confusing,” says eighth-grader Daniel Vahabi, taking a break from his Lewis and Clark citations. For Niksch, it’s about the process as well as the product. “I want them to understand that as a teacher, I need to see how they write — not how someone else writes,” says Niksch. “I tell them I don’t care if they can’t write some- thing perfectly, and that if they knew how to above: College literature teacher Steve Schlesser tells students they will fail his class if they deliberately plagiaririze. write perfectly, they wouldn’t come to my classroom. I let them know that plagiarism doesn’t help me to do my job — and it doesn’t help them either. I want them to un- derstand that it’s wrong, and that they are stealing someone’s intellectual property.” Sue Thompson, coordinator of the li- brary systems at CSU San Marcos, was so Top 5 ways students plagiarize 1 Buying, stealing or borrowing a paper. 2 Hiring or asking someone else to write a paper. 3 Cutting and pasting information from the Internet. 4 Copying information from a source without citing that source. 5 Using the source too closely when paraphrasing. From Sue Thompson, California Faculty Association, CSU San Marcos. APRIL 2011 | www.cta.org 25