Preventing Plagiarism in a Digital World

Monday, October 24 @ 7 pm ET

Presenter – Amy Sexton

Kaplan University Writing Center

Please click here to view this recorded workshop:

http://khe2.adobeconnect.com/p9dj8fuwvq9/

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Learning Outcomes

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to…

1) Identify how to best conduct academic research via the internet.

2) Define common knowledge.

3) Learn how to avoid plagiarism.

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What is your research process?

Poll 1: How do you conduct research online?

A. Google or other search engine

B. KU Library

C. A combination of KU Library and a search engine

Poll 2: How do you record the research that you find?

A. I write down/type out the research that I find while I’m writing the assignment.

B. I copy and paste the research into my assignment while I’m writing the

assignment.

C. I compile research in a separate place and then review it when I am ready to

write my draft?

D. Other

Poll 3: Do you record bibliographic information (information that you will need for

citing and referencing the research you use in your paper) while you are

researching, or after you have incorporated research material into your writing?

A. I record bibliographic information during the research process.

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B. I record bibliographic information once I incorporate research material in the

assignment.

C. Other _____

We will discuss best practices for recording, compiling, and incorporating research in

your writing momentarily.

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First, let’s look at all of the changes that technology has brought about in the last

25-30 years. Pen and paper, handwritten letters, cameras that required film that had

to be processed, typewriters and word processors. Who remembers using these

tools to communicate, learn, share, and write? Those tools evolved into laptops,

tablets, Google glasses, digital cameras, and smart phones. Technology continues

to evolve with social media, the internet of things, selfie sticks, 3-D printing, and

increasing opportunities for connecting, including connecting people and devices,

as well as transferring and using knowledge. While the internet is a terrific place to

find research material, it can be a bit difficult to figure out exactly what does and

does not need to be cited and how. This workshop will help you learn how to do so

correctly.

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Technology has also drastically changed the ways that students engage in the

research process. What is research? Research means to search for the best and

brightest ideas, analyze them, and then synthesize them to come up with a new,

brighter, and better idea.

Consider, how research today differs from research before the internet. Before we

had reliable, almost universal access to the internet, many of us relied on libraries to

conduct research. I remember hours spent in college libraries, flipping through the

card catalogs, pulling out cards for promising sources, retrieving books and journals

from library shelves, carrying them to a table or desk, then poring through them,

meticulously recording notes that may be relevant to my research and/or paying to

photocopy journal articles. In a digital world, writers often do not physically

possess the texts that they borrow information from. They often use the same

browser that they use to access social media and like and share posts, pictures,

and memes to conduct the research that they complete. As students, you may be

used to assignments in grade school that asked you to copy information from an

encyclopedia, or the digital equivalent, Wikipedia, and regurgitating the material in

the form of a book report. Many students are used to completing assignments by

going online, entering keywords from the assignment, writing or typing what they

find, and then submit what they have found But learning does not occur just by

finding answers through simple Google searches and sites like Answers.com.

Learning much more than just being able to find answers. It’s about being able to

figure out what you think about a topic, not finding out what others think about the

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topic.

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In fact, the most common types of plagiarism can easily be completed via the

internet through copying and pasting. In a 2010 study, Turnitin categorized

unoriginal content found in assignments submitted to its database. They found that

these were the three most common ways that writers used unoriginal content in

their writing:

1. Clone – Student submits someone else’s work verbatim and claims it as his

or her own

2. CTRL + C – Although student may change some language, much of the

writing is from one source with few changes

3. Mashup – The student’s work combines uncited materials from several

different sources

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Furthermore, changing views of ownership, originality and authorship, as well as

different ways of acquiring information may be linked to increased plagiarism among

students accustomed to finding and sharing information in a digital culture. Trip

Gabriel (2010), a New York Times reporter who spoke to a number of educators

and students at colleges across the US, suggests that digital natives, those

students who have mostly only known easy and dependable internet access, may

not take plagiarism as seriously as past generations. Students may see information

accessed via the internet as belonging to all and free for the taking – without

attribution (Gabriel, 2010). Students share memes, retweet tweets, and even

download music, all without crediting the original source, so it may seem logical to

share information accessed via the internet. As Turnitin (2010) noted, “today’s

digital culture has blurred the lines of originality and authorship.”

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The internet is a “mutual brain that we can all tap”. Anonymous student (as cited in

Gallant, 2014).

Do you agree with this statement? It seems that some students do agree with this

sentiment.

The digital age has also meant a rethinking of what constitutes common knowledge

and a need for educators to rethink how they talk to students about it. Dr. Tricia

Gallant tells of a student who described his belief that the internet is a “mutual brain

that we can all tap”, suggesting that, if information is found on the internet,

especially through communal sources like Wikipedia, then no attribution or citation

is necessary. Sometimes students may believe that common knowledge is anything

that can be found on the internet. Let’s take a look at what “common knowledge”

really means.

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There seem to be serious misconceptions about what constitutes common

knowledge. Some people may believe that if an internet source has no author

listed, then there is no need to cite it, or if it is a collaborative source like Wikipedia,

then it is common knowledge. Additionally, educators often define common

knowledge as something that can be verified via five different sources. This

definition could cause students to believe that if they find the information in five or

more places, then it is common knowledge and it does not have to be cited (Gallant,

2014). I can locate a lot of different facts and statistics in various places on the

internet, but that does not make it common knowledge. Basically, if you need to

look something up via the internet, then it most likely needs to be cited.

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So how can you avoid plagiarizing in your assignments? First, it may be helpful to

develop your skills in these key focus areas: time-management, reading, note-

taking, paraphrasing, and information literacy. Fortunately, the Writing Center offers

resources to help with all of these. Simply click on the box to see a helpful KUWC

resource for each of these areas.

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Secondly, as we mentioned at the beginning of this presentation, how you conduct

research is key. In fact, an important part of the research process and one that

should occur at the very beginning is careful note-taking with citation in mind. As

soon as you start researching a topic you will write about—whether you are

Googling general background information or conducting academic research in the

library—jot down the bibliographic or citation information you will need for your

composition. Write down that information in the same order needed for citation: the

author, the year it was published, the title, and the publication or access information

according to the source type. If it’s a website, for example, you’ll need the web

address. If it’s an article in an online journal, you’ll need the journal title, volume,

issue, and page numbers. If it’s a book, include the chapter title and page numbers.

It’s better to have more information than you’ll need rather than not enough.

Also, if you copy and paste or write down any excerpts from a source word-for-

word, put quotation marks around them. I cannot emphasize this step strongly

enough because adding quotation marks as soon as you note the quote will help

prevent any accidental plagiarism if you use that content in your writing.

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Next, always be sure that you are paraphrasing effectively enough. You may have

been taught that paraphrasing means to put something into your own words. While

this is partly true, effective paraphrasing is more complex. In fact, unintentional

plagiarism often occurs when writers don’t paraphrase adequately. Paraphrasing is

a skill you have to develop with practice. To paraphrase, you take something

another author wrote and rewrite it in your own style taking your own audience into

consideration. This involves interpreting what the other author meant so you can

express the same idea in your own words. Paraphrasing can seem like a word for

word translation of an original quote, but just replacing the words with synonyms is

not enough; in fact, that is plagiarism. You have to use your own sentence structure

too. Paraphrasing is about interacting with meaning. You must understand what the

original means in order to paraphrase effectively. If you focus on language first

instead of meaning, you’re making your job harder. Please also note that your

paraphrase will usually be longer than the original since you had to unpack the

original wording to get to its meaning.

In academic writing, paraphrasing is more common than quoting and more

important because it shows your understanding of what you’ve read. It takes critical

thinking to paraphrase. Since you are still borrowing someone’s idea, however, you

have to let your readers know where the ideas came from through citation.

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Next, always cite the sources that you use in your papers. This chart provides a

source use overview. As you can see, paraphrased and/or summarized, as well as

directly quoted material should be properly cited.

Paraphrased or Summarized

What this Means

Rather than using the source word-for-word, you have borrowed the author’s ideas

while placing them in your own words.

Required Info

The citation must include the last name of the author and year of publication only.

Examples

(Feazel, 2000).

(Johnson & Torrey, 1999).

(Taylor, n.d.).

Direct Quote

What this Means

The author’s ideas are borrowed ‘as is.’ The passage is used word-for-word or

nearly word-for-word.

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Required Info

The citation must include the last name of the author, year of publication, and page or

paragraph number only.

Examples

(Coller & Morrish, 1998, p. 12).

(Ragsdale, 2002, para. 3).

(McKinstry, n.d., p. 11).

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While in-text citation is essential, it’s only half of the APA two-part citation style.

Each source cited in text requires a corresponding reference citation. In-text

citations go in the body of the composition; full reference citations go at the end of

the document on a references list. A reference citation must begin with the same

word found in the corresponding in-text citation (usually the author’s last name or

sponsoring organization’s name). Because sources vary in type, there are different

forms for those types. See a short demonstration here.

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Citation Resources in the Writing Center

I recommend two resources to every academic writer: Basic Citation Guidelines and

Common Citations in APA Format. These resources cover all the basics of how to

quote, paraphrase, and summarize, how to cite, and how to format APA citations.

Citation Resources:

Basic Citation Guidelines

Common Citations in Format: APA, 6th Edition

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We also offer video tutorials, resources, and podcasts, workshops that emphasize

avoiding plagiarism. You can attend live workshops or view the archived

recordings. We often help students cite correctly and paraphrase effectively in our

live tutorial sessions. While we are not a plagiarism detection service, we can often

discern possible problems with plagiarism when we read students’ papers and offer

feedback.

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References

Gabriel, T. (2010, Aug. 1). Plagiarism lines blur for students in a digital age. The

New York Times. Retrieved from

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?_r=0

Gallant, T.B. (2014). The accidental plagiarist: The myths, the truths, and what it all

means for teaching & learning [Webcast]. Retrieved from

http://go.turnitin.com/l/45292/2014-06-18/3kb5

Turnitin. (2010). Instructor’s insights into the 10 types of plagiarism [White paper].

Retrieved from

http://storage.pardot.com/45292/6694/Turnitin_WhitePaper_PlagiarismSpectr

um.pdf

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For more writing support, connect with the KUWC’s new public webpage. You can

actually Google and find this page. This is also a great way for you to stay

connected to the KUWC through our blog and Twitter. Many of our resources are

here as well.

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Come visit the Academic Support Center. We can be found under the My

Studies tab, then under Academic Support Center.

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On the main Academic Support Center page, you will see the links to each

center’s services and resources. Please update the text below to reflect your

center’s services.

For the Writing Center, these include Live Tutoring, Paper Review Service,

the Writing Reference Library, Citation Guidelines, Workshops, English

Language Learner, and Fundamental writing help. Notice, you can access

the Kaplan Guide to Successful Writing on the right hand side in both print

and audio form.

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Contact Information

Amy Sexton, Tutor, Workshops

Write us at kuwc@kaplan.edu! Or your center’s e-mail address:

Workshops are recorded and recording links, with an accompanying PowerPoint, are posted on the Writing Center Workshops page after the workshop.

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