Academic Integrity and Classroom Management: Academic Integrity/Plagiarism

Academically dishonest behavior, such as cheating and plagiarism, presents a challenge on college campuses, exacerbated by new technologies which have increased the ease of academic dishonesty. The first section below provides material for promoting academic integrity in higher education. The second section focuses on resources for preventing and dealing with plagiarism in on-campus and online courses. The third section lists electronic detection sites, and the final section offers guidelines for students to help them understand and avoid plagiarism.

Academic Integrity
Plagiarism
Electronic detection
For Students

Academic Integrity:
“Promoting Academic Integrity in the Classroom,” Deborah Meizlich. (Occasional Paper #20, 2005, University of Michigan, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching). Adobe Acrobat/PDF.
Provides an overview of current research on academic integrity, and summarizes best practices for promoting academic integrity in the classroom and institutionally. Includes a list of resources.
Link: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/publinks/occasional.html

Academic Dishonesty Links (Michigan State University, Office of the Ombudsman).
A site for faculty and students. Contains MSU’s policies and regulations on academic honesty and dishonesty, links to resources on plagiarism, academic dishonesty prevention tips for faculty, methods for dealing with students suspected of cheating or plagiarism, and links to academic integrity sites at other universities.
Link: http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/honestylinks.html

Academic Integrity in the Classroom: A Selected List of Resources for the University of Michigan.
Offers resources for students and instructors (including ideas for preventing and detecting plagiarism), plus an extensive bibliography of printed materials and online links dealing with academic integrity.
Link: http://www.lib.umich.edu/acadintegrity/

Academic Integrity at McGill University.
Specific strategies for reducing cheating and plagiarism on various kinds of student assignments.
Link: http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity/strategies/

Kansas State University Honor System
Kansas State’s website for faculty and students on their academic integrity policy. Includes research, tips for faculty and students, and scenarios.
Link: http://www.k-state.edu/honor/index.html

College Administration Publications Electronic Bulletin.
Scroll down to “New Research on Academic Integrity” for a link to an interview with Rutgers Professor Donald L. MCabe, in which he discusses his research on academic integrity.
Link: http://www.collegepubs.com/elec_bulletin.shtml - EBOO.3

The Center for Academic Integrity (Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University).
A comprehensive site dedicated to promoting academic integrity on college campuses. Contains links to numerous articles on academic dishonesty and plagiarism and to sites dealing with all aspects of academic integrity in higher education. Other materials may be purchased.
Link: http://www.academicintegrity.org/index.asp

Plagiarism:
“That Cheating Heart: Keeping Plagiarism Out of Your Classroom,” October 26, 2004 (Mississippi State University Libraries).
A comprehensive website with links to numerous sites useful for instructors, seven sites to share with students, a list of sites--both fee-based and free--for detection, and links to online articles about cheating.
Link: http://library.msstate.edu/content/templates/?a=393&z=0

“Downloadable Term Papers: What’s a Professor to Do?” Tom Rocklin, 1996 (University of Iowa, Center for Teaching).
Describes the problem of plagiarizing term papers from the web and offers methods an instructor can use to minimize this.
Link: http://www.uiowa.edu/~centeach/resources/ideas/term-paper-download.html

Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices (The Council of Writing Program Administrators).
Defines plagiarism; suggests causes; proposes shared responsibilities for students, faculty and administrators; and recommends specific practices to reduce plagiarism.
Link: http://wpacouncil.org/node/9

“Discourage Plagiarism by Promoting Academic Honesty: A Proactive Approach for Teachers,” James E. Porter, 2005 (Michigan State University). Adobe Acrobat/PDF.
Guidelines for reducing plagiarism. Contains appendices with four ethical principles for using others’ work, cases for discussion, and online resources.
Link: http://kairos.wide.msu.edu/porter/teach_plagiarism.pdf

“Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers,” 2004, Robert Harris.
Discusses why and how students plagiarize; presents specific strategies for prevention and detection, including links to sites that provide term papers and sites that detect plagiarism.
Link: http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm

“Internet Plagiarism: A Teacher’s Combat Guide,” Jill Suarez and Allison Martin (Bossier Parish Community College), CITE Journal, Vol. 1, No. 4, 546-549.
Tips for detecting and preventing plagiarism with links to helpful websites.
Link: http://www.citejournal.org/vol1/iss4/currentpractice/article2.htm

“Thinking and Talking About Plagiarism,” Nick Carbone, 2001.
Suggestions and resources for being proactive with students by talking about plagiarism and writing a syllabus statement with do’s and don’ts.
Link: http://bedfordstmartins.com/technotes/techtiparchive/ttip102401.htm

Cheating 101: Paper Mills and You (Coastal Carolina University, Kimbel Library).
Information on Internet Paper Mills with links to 321 sites to get a paper, ways to detect plagiarism, track down the source, and combat plagiarism.
Link: http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/papermil.html

“Plagiarism and Anti-Plagiarism,” Heyward Ehrlich (Rutgers University).
Provides questions for discussion, strategies for reducing plagiarism, useful websites, and methods for detection.
Link: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~ehrlich/plagiarism598.html

Plagiarism, Sharon Stoerger.
A very large site with links to articles on such topics as copyright and intellectual freedom, plagiarism case studies, detection tools, information for instructors and students, and much more.
Link: http://www.web-miner.com/plagiarism

“How to Proctor From a Distance,” Dan Carnevale. Chronicle of Higher Education, November 12, 1999.
Ways to prevent cheating in online courses.
Link: http://chronicle.com/free/v46/i12/12a04701.htm

“Avoiding Cheating in Online Classes: Suggestions for Assessing Student Learning” (The Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium).
Faculty who have taught online suggest assignments that make cheating less likely.
Link: http://www.ctdlc.org/Faculty/TeachingTips/avoidcheating.html

“Curbing Academic Dishonesty in Online Courses,” Mike McNett, May/June 2002 (Illinois Online Network, University of Illinois).
Methods for assessing students and detecting plagiarism in online courses. Includes links to articles and sites on academic dishonesty.
Link: http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/pointersclickers/2002_05/index.asp

“Plagiarism in Colleges in USA,” copyright 2000, Ronald B. Standler, attorney in Massachusetts.
This comprehensive article on the legal aspects of plagiarism includes examples of cases against students and professors tried for plagiarism. Also provides suggestions for a plagiarism policy and information on detection, penalties for plagiarism, and self-plagiarism.
Link: http://www.rbs2.com/plag.htm

“Four Reasons to be Happy about Internet Plagiarism,” Russell Hunt (St. Thomas University).
Argues that the ease of plagiarizing papers from the Internet will challenge traditional institutional assumptions about writing, grading, and learning.
Link: http://www.stthomasu.ca/~hunt/4reasons.htm

Electronic Detection:
Plagiarism.org.
This site presents statistics on the problem of Internet plagiarism and provides links to Turnitin and iThenticate, two plagiarism detection services. Also links to Research Resources for students and educators designed to reduce plagiarism.
Link: http://www.plagiarism.org/

Glatt Plagiarism Services, Inc.
Offers three different software programs: a tutorial on avoiding plagiarism, a screening program to detect plagiarism, and a self-detection guide.
Link: http://www.plagiarism.com/index.htm

EVE Plagiarism Detection System (Essay Verification Engine).
Another software program to detect plagiarism from the World Wide Web.
Link: http://www.canexus.com/eve/index.shtml

The Plagiarism Resource Site, Lou Bloomfield (University of Virginia).
Free downloadable software to detect plagiarism plus links to other plagiarism resources.
Link: http://plagiarism.phys.virginia.edu/

The MOSS System for Detecting Software Plagiarism (Measure of Software Similarity).
Free software for detecting plagiarism in programming classes.
Link: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~aiken/moss.html

For Students:
Plagiarism and Academic Honesty (Michigan State University, Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures).
Links to sites and articles on many aspects of plagiarism and academic integrity useful for students, including recognizing and avoiding plagiarism, using sources appropriately, and MSU policies on academic honesty.
Link: http://www.msu.edu/~wrac/t1/plagiarism.html

Academic Integrity at Princeton University.
This website offers a wide range of information about academic integrity including examples of plagiarism, misrepresented original work, collaboration guidelines, and other material useful for teaching students to avoid plagiarism.
Link: http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/integrity/index.html

Understanding Plagiarism (Indiana University Bloomington, School of Education)
A tutorial for students on understanding what plagiarism is and is not. Includes a short quiz, examples of various types of plagiarism, and ten items for practice with feedback.
Link: http://education.indiana.edu/~frick/plagiarism/

What Is Plagiarism? (Georgetown University Honor Council).
A student-friendly guide to what is and is not considered plagiarism. Addresses such issues as “They said it so much better? Shouldn’t I use their words?” and “In my country/high school using someone else’s work is a sign of respect.” Includes examples of plagiarism.
Link: http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/hc/plagiarism.html

Avoiding Plagiarism (Purdue University Online Writing Lab).
Presents the contradictions of American Academic Writing and lists some actions that might be seen as plagiarism. Offers guidelines for giving credit, making sure you are safe, and deciding if something is “common knowledge.” Has practice exercises.
Link: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/589/01/

Note: We would like to acknowledge the Professional and Organizational Development (POD) listserv discussion on plagiarism on June 10 and 11, 2004, as the source of many of the sites listed above.

MSU Resources

Writing Center: http://writing.msu.edu/

MSU Statement On Using Copyrighted Materials: http://copyright.lib.msu.edu