Due to the digital age, and the fact that information is increasing at a very rapid rate, it is becoming very easy for students to copy and paste there way through assignments. It is increasingly important for instructors to not only be able to CATCH the plagiarists but also develop lessons and activities that promote authentic learning.
To find plagiarism takes a little detective work. Has the skill level of the student’s writing suddenly changed midway through the research? Where they go from an 8th grade writing level to doctorate level? Has the formatting suddenly changed in the document. From Times New Roman font to Arial? Has the context of the research changed suddenly? If you answer yes to any of the questions, you may have a plaigarist on your hands.
So how do you prove it? The easiest way is to take the phrase you suspect and put quotes on both sides and Google it. If you get some “hits” then you may have the proof you need. I also found a cool tool, called the Plagiarism Checker that allows you to copy/paste and search for plagiarism in entire works. I tested it and it works pretty good!
Stop plaigarism before it starts
What is a teacher to do? I have found a list (here) that has quite a few ideas on how to plagiarize proof assignments. However, after learning about Bloom’s Taxonomy, I feel it is even more important to develop assignments and activities that encourage deep learning. As you look at the Bloom pyramid below, the lower level – knowledge – requires the lowest level of thinking skills.
Image – http://www.officeport.com/edu/blooms.htm
As you look at the verbs for the lowest level knowledge level (according to Bloom) how easy would it be to copy/paste answers for assignments and activities? Now look at the verbs for evaluation. Those verbs would require a deeper learning, where students would have to use information literacy skills to produce an answer.
Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce state.
Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate.
To make a long story short, if your assignments only require a surface level of answers and your assessments only require a surface level of answers – do you think your students really comprehend the content you are teaching?
