H o w t o D i s c o u r a g e P l a g i a r i s m  

1. Give Specific AssignmentsIf assignments are embedded in the course curriculum and are limited to a few specific topics, then finding an exact match for the assignment requirements will be that much more difficult.

2. Require Specific ComponentsPrescribing certain features, like a compare and contrast or a personal observation component, would necessitate too much reworking of an *acquired* paper in order to tailor it to suit the assignment requirements.

3. Give Related AssignmentsIntegrate the writing assignments with other related projects. Ask students to keep a journal of the writing process where they discuss their research, explore the topic and thesis, and even discuss their personal struggles with the assignment. Or have the students present the substance of their paper to the class in the form of an oral report. To this point, the class could organize a "Conference Day" with organized panels.

4. Ask Students to Submit Sections in StagesSet a schedule whereby students submit perhaps an outline, introduction, body portions, research summaries, a conclusion, etc. by a set date. Students could work on these sections in peer review groups.

5. Have Students Establish a Research TrailFor example, students could prepare a list of resources along with a brief summary and an indication of where the resource was acquired (call numbers, for ex.)

6. Make Student Work PublicHave students share their writing in groups, do peer review, submit writing to discussion forums, or even publish writing on the web. Broadening the readership of student writing heightens the risk of discovery of lifted material.

7. Require RevisionsNo (student) paper is perfect. Make editing a compulsory part of the writing process.

8. Get Students to Discuss and Explain Their ProjectsStudent conferences and round table class discussions provide opportunities for students to showcase the knowledge they've acquired through the research and writing process.

9. Don't Accept Papers that Attempt to Circumvent RequirementsInstead of awarding a single grade for the final product, have the grade reflect the writing process. If, for example, students are submitting pieces of the paper in stages, they could receive a grade for each submission as well as the final product so that the total would equal 100%.

10. Let Students Know that You're in the KnowBefore students begin writing projects, discuss plagiarism and in the process let students know that YOU are aware of online plagiarism sites and that you actively use anti-plagiarism software. You might even demonstrate your ability to detect a lifted passage by submitting it to one of the comprehensive search engines.

11. Ask Students to Sign an Integrity CertificatePrepare an integrity certificate that defines plagiarism, discusses the seriousness of the crime, and explains the penalties that you and/or the College will impose. The certificate ends with a statement like "I understand the information contained in this document including the consequences of plagiarism." Have students sign and return the document to you the first week of class.

By Christine Timm, Department of EnglishWestchester Community College

 Here's a brief explanation of the difference between quoting and paraphrasing:

When you QUOTE, you are borrowing from another text by copying information from that text word for word (verbatim) and placing this copied information within your own text.  

When you PARAPHRASE, you copy an idea from another text, but you put that idea into your own words.

In every case, both quoted and paraphrased material must be accurately documented according to MLA or APA protocols.

How to Quote according to MLA protocols. 

How to Paraphrase according to MLA protocols. 

How to Quote and Paraphrase according to APA protocols.

Need more information? 

Try the following resources:

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Purdue OWL Learn to distinguish the difference between the quote and the paraphrase.  The site includes a sample essay and a link to a documentation guidelines page.

T h e N e w P l a g i a r i s m :

 Seven Antidotes to Prevent Highway Robbery in an Electronic Age

by Jamie McKenzieAbout the Author

Introduction: The New Plagiarism Antidote 4. Require and enable students to make answers

Antidote 1. Distinguish levels/types of research Antidote 5. Focus upon information storage systems

Antidote 2. Discourage "trivial pursuits" Antidote 6. Stress "green ink" and citation ethics

Antidote 3. Emphasize essential questions  Antidote 7. Assess progress throughout the entire research process

Introduction: The New PlagiarismCould electronic text spawn a virulent strain of student copying?

Is cut-and-paste the enemy of thought?

Many teachers who work in "wired schools" are complaining that new technologies have made it all too easy for students to gather the ideas of others and present them as their own.

The New York Times reports that "cheating is on the rise." (Go to September 16, 1998 article)

The New Plagiarism may be worse than the old because students now wield an Electronic Shovel that makes it possible to find and save huge chunks of information with little reading, effort or originality.

Is the New Plagiarism any worse than the old?

Under the old system of "go find out about" topical research, it took students a huge amount of time to move words from the encyclopedia pages onto white index cards, changing one word in each sentence so as to avoid plagiarism.

The New Plagiarism requires little effort and is geometrically more powerful. While the pre-modem student might misappropriate a dozen ideas from a handful of thinkers, the post-modem student can download and save hundreds of pages per hour. We have moved from the horse and buggy days of plagiarism to the Space Age without stopping for the horse less carriage.

As this article will point out, it is reckless and irresponsible to continue requiring topical "go find out about" research projects in this new electronic context. To do so extends an invitation (perhaps even a demand) to "binge" on information.

We have more to worry about here than the Web sites that offer term papers for sale (visit WWW.A1-Termpaper.Com) or the sites that offer assistance with college essays.

What we have is a societal shift toward glib and facile understandings allied with an archaic school research program (in some places) that places little value upon questioning and original thought.

The seven antidotes offered below are intended to cut off the virulent new strain of plagiarism before it becomes an academic plague.

Antidote 1 - Distinguish between levels and types of research.

In moving beyond the topical research that has held students back so long, we must help all teachers and students to see the difference between three levels of research and help them to see the value (even necessity) of playing down the first two levels in favor of the third.

Level One Research"Just the Facts"

In these kinds of projects and quests, the student is expected to gather basic facts and information about a state or a city or a country or a battle or a general or a writer or a scientist. Little thinking is required. This is information gathering at its crudest and simplest level.

Level Two Research"Other People's Ideas"

Even though these kinds of projects may engage students in considering important questions such as the causes of acid rain or overpopulation, it is sufficient

for the student to gather "conventional thinking" and the best ideas of others. These are the research projects most likely to inspire plagiarism as the student gathers other people's ideas and then passes them off as her or his own.

Level Three ResearchNew Ideas & Synthesis"In My Humble Opinion"When we require fresh thinking, we stand the least risk of suborning plagiarism. If students cannot find the answers but must make the answers, they are less apt to pass off others' ideas as their own. The secret is to pose or ask students to pose questions or problems and decisions which have never been adequately answered.How do we restore peace to Northern Ireland?

Antidote 2 - Discourage "trivial pursuits."

Even though students must learn how to find discrete facts such as the population of Chile or France, we have labored too long in those vineyards.

We need fewer treasure and scavenger hunts. It is time to emphasize questions which challenge students at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy.

We launch projects which require:

Explanations Problem-solving

Choices & Decision-Making

We build our programs around what I called The Prime Questions in the October, 1997 issue of From Now On, "The Question is the Answer:" http://fno.org/oct97/question.html

Why How

Which is best?

We transform topical research into projects which demand that students move past mere gathering of information to the construction of new meanings and insight.

Example: Instead of asking why events turned out particular ways in our past (a question fraught with plagiaristic opportunities since historians have probably already offered answers), we might ask students to hypothesize why various outcomes did not occur.

Example: Instead of asking how we might protect an endangered species whose chances have already been improved (the bald eagle), we might focus on one which no one has managed to protect (various Australian marsupials, for example).

Example: Instead of asking students to study a single country or city, we might ask them to decide which is best for various purposes (the Winter Olympics, a university degree, the building of a theme park, etc.).

Students become producers of insight and ideas rather than mere consumers.

Antidote 3 - Emphasize essential questions.

Essential questions are questions worth asking, questions that touch upon basic human issues or touch matters of the heart and the soul. Often as not, they spawn inquiries that might extend over a month or a lifetime . . . investigations that might make a difference in the quality of life . . . studies that might cast light in dark corners, illuminating basic truths.

The term essential question was popularized by the Coalition of Essential Schools that makes such questions the object of most student work and study.

These essential questions are not immune to plagiarism, since the world's greatest thinkers may have "had their turn" at proposing answers, but combined with the next three antidotes, they can be quite effective as inspiration for originality.

Resources

The Question is the Answer

A Questioning Toolkit

The Toolbox: Engendering Student Questions

The Research Cycle

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Graphical Organizers as Thinking Technology

Telling Questions and the Search for INSIGHT

Antidote 4 - Require and enable students to make their own answers.

We need to ask students to make up their own minds and do their own thinking.

But first schools must do a far better job of equipping students with questioning skills as well as a strong foundation in synthesis [the process of altering and modifying the elements of anything until it has been significantly changed or improved].

Synthesis has been explored repeatedly in articles such as Deep Reading and Deep Thinking in an Age of Info-Glut

Synthesis can be taught. Note how the painter below employs synthesis to provide six different versions of the same house. What changes has she made and which elements have remained virtually untouched?

© 1998, Sarah McKenzie, all rights reserved. These images may not be reproduced, duplicated, printed, copied, or published in any form without the explicit permission of the artist. Contact Sarah McKenziehttp://sarahmckenzie.com

While some claim that "There are no new ideas under the sun," our students must learn how to apply some extra color or tone it down. They must learn to see the underlying structure and then construct or deconstruct the original until it shimmers with originality.

Antidote 5 - Focus upon systematic storage.

We expect students to keep pertinent information only. And we want them to be planning ahead for retrieval at a later stage.

"How can I organize my findings so I can make sense of them later on?"

Information in electronic forms is much easier to store and organize for later review than printed material. As much as possible we want our students to know how to take notes electronically, cutting and pasting when appropriate, paraphrasing when desirable. We also want them to be able to search their findings months later with some efficiency and power.

Students are extracting, paraphrasing, summarizing & extending the information they have found with eyes directly focused upon the essential question.

At the same time, they are citing the source of their information and ideas.

The information will be more valuable later if it sits within the computer rather than being buried in a pile of hundreds of pages of printed material.

We show students how to take notes with a database program.

They set up the database with sections or fields within which they will be entering your findings.

A standard format may look something like this, but students may tailor it to fit the subject.

 Source (Author,Title,Date,URL)

Subject:

Keywords:

Abstract: 

.

.

.

Subject Words

It pays to teach your students how to develop a relatively brief list of subject words drawn from their cluster diagram. In order to show them the power of a well constructed database, you should give them a chance to explore the searching capabilities of one you have constructed. Show them how subject words support the sorting and sifting which will later help them make meaning of their findings.

If we were comparing three cities, for example, we might use crime, weather, shopping and employment along with each city's name as subject words.

Keywords

Demonstrate for your students that keywords offer a greater level of detail and work at the sub category level below subject words.

If we were researching crime (from above) in three cities, for example, we might use statistics, murder, trends, violent, prevention and property as keywords.

Abstract

The abstract is where students save pertinent information. We must teach them to paraphrase and condense, avoiding the cutting and pasting of huge (often unread) blocks of text.

 

Antidote 6 - Stress "green ink" and citation ethics.

If we hope to witness our students producing fresh thinking, then we need to award credit for smart collecting but also show them how to differentiate between the ideas they have collected from others and those ideas which have emerged in reaction to the ideas of others.

They may change colors while note-taking to signify and separate.

Black text signifies the ideas of others.

Green text signifies fresh thinking.

We award credit for originality, noting each new contribution.

Example . . .

Source: May, 1998, From Now On, Jamie McKenzie, "The New Plagiarism: Seven Antidotes to Prevent Highway Robbery in an Electronic Age."

http://fno.org/may98/cov98may.html

Subject: research, plagiarism, strategies

Keywords: incentives, rewards

Abstract: McKenzie suggests the use of green ink to help student differentiate between the ideas they have collected and the new ideas they have built in reaction to those inspirations.

Reminds me a bit of art with "found objects." Here we have "found ideas" and "fresh ideas." I like students having to keep them separate. I could then look over their shoulders while they did research to see what kinds of balance might emerge. It might change how I did assessment?

The teacher acts like a "guide on the side" acknowledging the good new ideas as they appear on the screen. [see "The WIRED Classroom" for more on "guide on the side"] 

Antidote 7 - Assess progress throughout the entire research process.

If we seek an end to plagiarism, then we keep an eye on the note-taking and idea development as they evolve. We encourage, we provide nudges, we congratulate and we (occasionally) light fires. We do not wait until the end to let our students know how they are doing.

More importantly, we provide clear rubrics [example] for valued behaviors so that students make take a hand at self-assessment.

Building Upon Others' Ideas

A researcher reads with the intent of extending and augmenting the ideas of others.

5 - Pushes "found ideas" well beyond their original boundaries 3 - Adjusts and elaborates upon "found ideas"

1 - Translates and summarizes without adding

A strong commitment to ongoing assessment which emphasizes the importance of original thought can provide a powerful incentive to minimize plagiarism.

The availability of textual material in electronic format has made plagiarism easier than ever.  Copying and pasting of paragraphs or even entire essays now can be performed with just a few mouse clicks.  The strategies discussed here can be used to combat what some believe is an increasing amount of plagiarism on research papers. By employing these strategies, you can help encourage students to value the assignment and to do their own work.

Strategies of Awareness1.  Understand why students cheat.  By understanding some of the reasons students are tempted to cheat on papers, you can take steps to prevent cheating by attacking the causes. Some of the major reasons include these:

Students are natural economizers. Many students are interested in the shortest route possible through a course. That's why they ask questions such as, "Will this be on the test?"

Copying a paper sometimes looks a the shortcut through an assignment, especially when the student feels overloaded with work already. To combat this cause, assign your paper to be due well before the end-of-term pressures. Remind students that the purpose of the course is to learn and develop skills and not just "get through." The more they learn and develop their skills, the more effective they will be in their future lives.

Students are faced with too many choices, so they put off low priorities. With so many things to do (both of academic and recreational nature), many students put off assignments that do not interest them. A remedy here would be to customize the research topic to include something of real interest to the students or to offer topics with high intrinsic interest to them.

Many students have poor time management and planning skills. Some students are just procrastinators, while others do not understand the hours required to develop a good research paper, and they run out of time as the due date looms. Thus, they are most tempted to copy a paper when time is short and they have not yet started the assignment. If you structure your research assignment so that intermediate parts of it (topic, early research, prospectus, outline, draft, bibliography, final draft) are due at regular intervals, students will be less likely to get in a time-pressure panic and look for an expedient shortcut.

Some students fear that their writing ability is inadequate. Fear of a bad grade and inability to perform cause some students to look for a superior product. Sadly, these students are among those least able to judge a good paper and are often likely to turn in a very poor copied one. Some help for these students may come from demonstrating how poor many of the online papers are and by emphasizing the value of the learning process (more on this below). Reassuring students of the help available to them (your personal attention, a writing center, teaching assistants, online writing lab sites, etc.) may give them the courage to persevere.

A few students like the thrill of rule breaking. The more angrily you condemn plagiarism, the more they can hardly wait to do it. An approach that may have some effect is to present the assignment and the proper citation of sources in a positive light (more below).

2. Educate yourself about plagiarism. Plagiarism on research papers takes many forms. Some of the most common include these:

Downloading a free research paper. Many of these papers have been written and shared by other students. Since paper swappers are often not among the best students, free papers are often of poor quality, in both mechanics and content. Some of the papers are surprisingly old (with citations being no more recent than the seventies).

Buying a paper from a commercial paper mill. These papers can be good--and sometimes they are too good. If you have given students an in-class writing assignment, you can compare the quality and be quite enlightened. Moreover, mills often sell both custom and stock papers, with custom papers becoming stock papers very quickly. If you visit some of the mill sites, you might just find the same paper available for sale by searching by title or subject.

Copying an article from the Web or an online or electronic database. Only some of these articles will have the quantity and type of citations that academic research papers are expected to have. If you receive a well-written, highly informed essay without a single citation (or with just a few), it may have been copied wholesale from an electronic source.

Copying a paper from a local source. Papers may be copied from students who have taken your course previously, from fraternity files, or from other paper-sharing sources near

campus. If you keep copies of previous papers turned in to you, they can be a source of detection of this particular practice.

Cutting and pasting to create a paper from several sources. These "assembly-kit" papers are often betrayed by wide variations in tone, diction, and citation style. The introduction and conclusion are often student-written and therefore noticeably different from and weaker than the often glowing middle.

Quoting less than all the words copied. This practice includes premature end quotation marks or missing quotation marks. A common type of plagiarism occurs when a student quotes a sentence or two, places the end quotation mark and the citation, and then continues copying from the source. Or the student may copy from the source verbatim without any quotation marks at all, but adding a citation, implying that the information is the student's summary of the source. Checking the citation will expose this practice.

Faking a citation. In lieu of real research, some students will make up quotations and supply fake citations. You can discover this practice by randomly checking citations. If you require several Web or other electronic sources for the paper, these can be checked quickly.

Visting some of the sites that give away or sell research papers can be an informative experience. If you have Web projection capability, you might do this visiting in class and show the students (1) that you know about these sites and (2) that the papers are often well below your expectations for quality, timeliness, and research. There is a list of many of these sites at Termpapers.com. There are some good discussion points at "Cheating 101: The Danger of Using an Internet Paper Mill" from Adultlearn.com.

3. Educate your students about plagiarism. Do not assume that students know what plagiarism is, even if they nod their heads when you ask them. Provide an explicit definition for them. For example, "Plagiarism is using another person's words or ideas without giving credit to the other person. When you use someone else's words, you must put quotation marks around them and give the writer or speaker credit by revealing the source in a citation. Even if you revise or paraphrase the words of someone else or just use their ideas, you still must give the author credit in a note. Not giving due credit to the creator of an idea or writing is very much like lying."

In addition to a definition, though, you should discuss with your students the difference between appropriate, referenced use of ideas or quotations and inappropriate use. You might show them an example of a permissible paraphrase (with its citation) and an impermissible paraphrase (containing some paraphrasing and some copying), and discuss the difference. Discuss also quoting a passage and using quotation marks and a citation as opposed to quoting a passage with neither (in other words, merely copying without attribution). Such a discussion should educate those who truly do not understand citation issues ("But I put it in my own words, so I didn't think I had to cite it") and it will also warn the truly dishonest that you are watching.  Wholesale copying is obviously intentional, but a paper with occasional copy and paste sentences or poorly paraphrased material might be the result of ignorance. It's a good idea to teach students (or at least provide a handout) about paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting, citing, and indicating clearly the difference between their own ideas and ideas or words from a source.

Discussing with students why plagiarism is wrong may be helpful also.  Clarifying for them that plagiarism is a combination of stealing (another's words) and lying (claiming implicitly that the words are the student's own) should be mentioned at some point, but should not be the whole emphasis or you risk setting up a challenge for the rebels (those who like to break the rules just for fun).  Many statements on plagiarism also remind students that such cheating shows contempt for the professor, other students, and the entire academic enterprise.  Plagiarizers by their actions declare that they are not at the university to gain an education, but only to pretend to do so, and that they therefore intend to gain by fraud the credentials (the degree) of an educated person.

Perhaps the most effective discussion will ask the students to think about who is really being cheated when someone plagiarizes.  Copying papers or even parts of papers short circuits a

number of learning experiences and opportunities for the development of skills: actually doing the work of the research paper rather than counterfeiting it gives the student not only knowledge of the subject and insights into the world of information and controversy, but improves research skills, thinking and analyzing, organizing, writing, planning and time management, and even meticulousness (those picky citation styles actually help improve one's attention to detail).  All this is missed when the paper is faked, and it is these missed skills which will be of high value in the working world.  A degree will help students get a first job, but performance--using the skills developed by doing just such assignments as research papers--will be required for promotion.

4. Discuss the benefits of citing sources. Many students do not seem to realize that whenever they cite a source, they are strengthening their writing. Citing a source, whether paraphrased or quoted, reveals that they have performed research work and synthesized the findings into their own argument. Using sources shows that the student in engaged in "the great conversation," the world of ideas, and that the student is aware of other thinkers' positions on the topic. By quoting (and citing) writers who support the student's position, the student adds strength to the position. By responding reasonably to those who oppose the position, the student shows that there are valid counter arguments. In a nutshell, citing helps make the essay stronger and sounder and will probably result in a better grade.

Appropriate quoting and citing also evidences the student's respect for the creators of ideas and arguments--honoring thinkers and their intellectual property.  Most college graduates will become knowledge workers themselves, earning at least part of their living creating information products.  They therefore have an interest in maintaining a respect for intellectual property and the proper attribution of ideas and words.

5. Make the penalties clear. If an institutional policy exists, quote it in your syllabus. If you have your own policy, specify the penalties involved. For example, "Cheating on a paper will result in an F on that paper with no possibility of a makeup. A second act of cheating will result in an F in the course regardless of the student's grade otherwise." If you teach at a university where the penalty for plagiarism is dismissal from the university or being reported to the Academic Dean or Dean of Students, you should make that clear as well.  Even the penalties can be presented in a positive light.  Penalties exist to reassure honest students that their efforts are respected and valued, so much so that those who would escape the work by fakery will be punished substantially.

A n t i - P l a g i a r i s m C o m p a n i e s 

Plagiarism Home Page How to Prevent PlagiarismQuoting and ParaphrasingAnti-Plagiarism Companies

  ArticlesCheat SitesSuspect Plagiarism?Teaching Resources

 Gotcha! Company claim: " The ultimate in time-saving digital source detection. Gotcha!© searches over billions of web pages to determine if a document's content appears elsewhere on the Internet. It can process dozens of papers simultaneously at lightning speed!"

Other than the hyperbolic claims, Gotcha!'s site does not offer much information on the how of their plagiarism detection methods.  At any rate, they do offer a very generous one month trial use.  After 30 days, Gotcha! charges only $9.95 per month, a paltry sum compared to other detection companies.

Glatt Plagiarism Services Glatt provides three different programs: tutorial, screening for faculty use, and self-detection for student use - at several hundred dollars per program.

Essay Verification Engine (EVE) EVE scans student papers and tries to find an online match for any student text. “If it finds evidence of plagiarism, the URL is recorded. Once the search has completed, the teacher is given a full report on each paper that contained plagiarism, including the percent of the essay plagiarized, and an annotated copy of the paper showing all plagiarism highlighted in red.” Company offers free 15 days trial service.

Turnitin.org The detection system of choice for university's like Cornell and Rutgers, Turnitin offers students research resources and opportunities for peer review in addition to the plagiarism detection package.  To assess student work, Turnitin interfaces with the top 20 search engines as well as its own data base reserve of papers.  Take the Turnitin power point tour, or go for the one month free trial.

WordCheck Systems "WordCHECK/RA is a 'proprietary repository' - a protected database of digital documents, available only to the individual user of the software."  Free demo is available.

Copycatch Software is available for stand alone or networked machines.  This British-based company claims 100% accuracy in identifying borrowed material.

Plagiserve.Com Plagiserve checks student papers against online paper mills, popular digital encyclopedias, and its own data base.  Service will uncover undocumented passages as well as texts pilfered in their entirety - promises 12 hour turn around.

Articles

Can Tech Detect College Cheaters? ZD Net: Technology News Now Assesses effectiveness of plagiarism detection software.

Plagiarism-Detection Tool Creates Legal Quandary Andrea L. Foster The Chronicle of Higher Education

May 17, 2002 Author reports that "some college lawyers and professors are warning that one of the most widely used plagiarism-detection services may be trampling on students' copyrights and privacy."

Anti-Plagiarism Experts Raise Questions About Services With Links to Sites Selling Papers Jeffrey R. Young The Chronicle of Higher Education March 12, 2002 "Two online services that help professors check student papers for plagiarism -- PlagiServe.com and EduTie.com -- appear to have ties to Web sites that sell term papers to students. That has some professors worried that the two services might be secretly selling the very papers that they claim to check."

A few of the more popular cheat sites:

ChuckIII's College Resources http://www.chuckiii.com/ A current favorite with college students, this mill boasts over 30,000 free reports and has links to dozens of other sites with free essays.

Madnotes.com Offers free cliff notes and book summaries.  Huge warehouse covers "just about any book you can think of".

Example Essays http://www.exampleessays.com/ The 80,000 plus reports within the site address topics across the curriculum.  Handy chart reveals topic and word count.

TermPaperSites.com Evaluates their top 20 of internet term paper sites.

AntiStudy "AntiEssays.com searches all the major free essays sites, as well our own free essays, giving you one of the largest collections of free term papers and free essays sites on the internet. You can find just about any free research paper or essay you want on AntiEssays.com."

The CheatHouse (formerly The Evil House of Cheat) The CheatHouse's purported goal is to develop a community where students can freely share essays, notes, and tips on how to pass exams.  Students need to register in order to join the community and access the site's immense data base of papers.  Site encourages students to support this "community" by submitting their own papers: "When you submit an essay, you gain points, for which you can use to become a Super User."  The papers are rated so that users can select a standard of paper that reflects their own voice or abilities: "Our philosophy is that even if an essay is poorly written, someone can properly benefit from it."

SchoolSucks Thousands of free papers to select from immediately, or users can order a customized paper written by "moonlighting teachers".  Rates for custom papers range from $50. per page for same day service to $25. per page for one week delivery.

Essays On Othello All essays are $9.95 per page and with guaranteed same day delivery.  "OthelloEssays.com boasts a comprehensive catalogue of analytical essays and MLA style term paper examples examining Othello’s thematic structure (such as plot, symbolism, use of irony), while offering detailed character studies and comparative essays which compare and contrast Othello with other famous literary works by Shakespeare.  Use our Othello Essay List feature to find an essay related to YOUR thesis!"

Essays On Hamlet "Just click the “View Our Hamlet Essay List” button on the menu bar to access a complete catalog

of essays on Hamlet. Once you find a title appropriate to your particular thesis or topic, click “Order an Essay” to receive the document you select TODAY!!!"  Users can also order customized essays.

GeneticsPapers.com Papers are listed with topic, length by word-count, and number of sources information.  Just like any other online shopping experience, students collect papers in the shopping cart and then proceed to check out.  Rates range from $25 - $60.

Affirmative Action Essays Certainly, Tidewater Community College has not published this cache of affirmative action essays in order to promote cybercheating, yet here users do have access to a number of mediocre affirmative actions papers that can easily be passed off as original.

Want to see more?

Check out University of Maryland's impressive list or the depressingly huge list amassed by the Coastal Carolina Library.

Not sure if a paper has been plagiarized? 

Here are a few warning signs:

1. The written "voice" does not match the student's voice in previously submitted writing or in in-class writing. For example, the vocabulary can be too technical or sophisticated.  

2. The submission does not follow the directions you've outlined or does not match the assignment choices you've provided.  

3. The paper contains internal references to personal experiences that seem unlikely for that particular student.  

4. There are references to current events that don't jibe in fact with the current year.

How can you determine if a submission has been plagiarized?

First off, don't assume that the student had criminal intentions. Despite the fact that you may have covered the topic in detail in class, some students can be very confused about the protocols for documentation.  In addition, because copyright rules for cyberspace have only been addressed lately, it can seem as though it's an environment where "anything goes."  Because of this perception, some students sincerely believe that copying and pasting passages from an online article is O.K.  Also, students can easily get disorganized and inadvertently leave out a parenthetical citation (or even two).

1. Interview the student about the topic and research.  Ask questions that require detailed answers.  Usually if the student cannot respond, s/he will reveal which material had been borrowed.  

2. Find the article online.  Use a comprehensive browser, like Google or Dogpile.  Type or copy and paste a sentence that you feel sure has been plagiarized into the browser text box.  Frame the sentence with quotation marks.  The browser will return the online sites where that sentence appears.  If the browser comes up with nothing, try a sentence from another section of the submitted essay. You can also try this method at Findarticles.com  

3. Peruse the the texts listed on the works cited page.  Especially if the student has been careless with documentation, you may very well find the plagiarized passages here.  In the case of intentional plagiarism, students don't expect teachers, who are typically overwhelmed with dozens of papers, to actually go to the resources listed on the works cited page.  

4. Announce to the class that you have noticed instances of plagiarism in several submissions.  The assiduous (or guilty) student will go back to her/his copy and check it for evidence of plagiarism and ultimately let you know if s/he thinks it is the paper in question.  This gives any serious student guilty of careless plagiarism the opportunity to

correct the error without getting into too much trouble.  

5. Ask the student if s/he had help composing the paper.  Sometimes the "helper" can plagiarize material without the knowledge of the student/writer.  In this case, the instructor would, of course, also want to help the student distinguish between getting help and divesting coursework responsibilities.

What can you do if you discover a plagiarized paper?

Currently, the college is handling instances of plagiarism on a case by case basis.  Of course, the first line of action is the classroom teacher.  The teacher should establish penalties for plagiarism early on in the semester and even publish these penalties either in the syllabus or within a distributed course policies page.  The teacher will probably want to indicate the plagiarism policy and penalties during the first week of the semester and make sure that students understand these policies and penalties.  Some faculty even have students sign a document acknowledging that they understand these policies and penalties.

Here are some possible penalties:

1. Student gets an F for the paper.  

2. Student gets an F for the paper, but may revise for a passing grade (but not for an A).  

3. Student gets an F for the course.  

4. In cases where there have been multiple instances of plagiarism, despite any advance warnings of penalties, instructors can send the student to either the Department Chair or to the Division Dean.

How to Prevent Plagiarism

Teaching students why cheating is a serious offensive may feel like an uphill battle, as does trying to catch cheaters in an era of college essay websites that buy and sell term papers. Nonetheless, with a little work, teachers can reduce problems with strategies to help maintain academic integrity in the classroom.

1.Let students know you mean business. Establish a strict penalty for students who plagiarize. Make sure your students know what that penalty is and that you will not hesitate in enforcing it. State your policy clearly on your syllabus and on all paper assignments, and go over the policy in class several times. Let them know you have a zero-tolerance policy for cheaters. If someone is caught, do not hesitate in enforcing the policy. (Here's an article written for students about the consequences of plagiarism; maybe this will help you.)

2.Let them know why you feel plagiarism is a serious offense. Don't assume that all students understand why teachers are so offended by plagiarism. Share your philosophy with them. Appeal to their sense of honor. Also, make sure they clearly understand the definition of plagiarism, as well as strategies for dealing with last minute paper panic that are much better alternatives to plagiarism.

3.Give assignments that ask for very specific criteria. Require students to answer specific questions throughout the paper, or require them to write the paper in a very specific format. Do something just a little bit out of the ordinary. This way, cheaters won't easily be able to find papers that match your assignment on places such as college essay plagiarism websites. If they do plagiarize, it will be more evident to you because the paper will not follow the assignment. And even if you don't catch cheaters, they will do poorly on the assignments because they have failed to follow your specific criteria.

4.Require students to include photocopies of their sources. This isn't the most environmentally friendly solution, but it makes plagiarism much more difficult. This can also help teachers identify students who need help with research.

5.Require students to turn in a rough draft. This also is a great way to help students learn to manage their time, and gives you an opportunity to give them feedback. Another idea is to have them turn in rough drafts to fellow students to solicit feedback. Of course, rough drafts may take an awfully long time to read, so you can also:

6.Require students to turn in a rough outline. Anything you do that requires students to show some work ahead of time will make plagiarism difficult. This also gives you an opportunity to help students with the writing process and give one-on-one help.

7.Require students to come meet with you about their paper assignment. Schedule 10-15 minutes with each student to discuss their ideas for your paper, or to report their progress along the way. Having to report upon their progress will make plagiarism more difficult. Although time consuming, this also is a great way to get to know your students better.

8.Keep paper or electronic copies of past papers. This can be time consuming and doesn't catch everyone, but it can help. When needed, an electronic database of papers is easy to search, and you can share it with colleagues. Students can be required to turn in electronic copies of their papers for this purpose. If you have a TA, he or she can be in charge of this.

9.Communicate with your colleagues. Are there students in your department who have committed plagiarism before? Ask around. Be discrete with this information, of course, but keep an eye on any

suspected cheaters. Your school probably has a grievance office that tracks plagiarism cases as well, so check with them if you suspect a student has plagiarized.

Related articles:

http://collegeuniversity.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_prevent_plagiarism

http://collegeuniversity.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_prevent_plagiarism#ixzz0IDgjhUUN&D

http://www.college.columbia.edu/facultyadmin/academicintegrity/exams/plagiarism

protocol for addressing cases of dishonesty: http://www.college.columbia.edu/facultyadmin/academicintegrity/dishonesty

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/tat/handout4.html

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/tat/training.html

Technologies to Detect and Prevent Plagiarism

... One software program, called the Glatt Plagiarism Teaching Program (GPTeach), is

a tutorial designed to provide students with an understanding of exactly what ... cse.stanford.edu/class/cs201/projects-00-01/honor-code/tech.htm - 8k

MOSS (Measure Of Software Similarity), detects software plagiarism. ... Detect plagiarism in programming assignments, free Internet service called MOSS (Measure of Software Similarity)

SCAM: A Copy Detection Mechanism for Digital Documents - Stanford ...

(Paper). Uncontrolled Keywords: SCAM, Copy detection, Plagiarism, Copyright. ... More information and software credits. ilpubs.stanford.edu:8090/95/ - 15k

http://www.yale.edu/bass/writing/sources/plagiarism/

http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/academics/forms/Avoiding%20plagiarism.pdf

http://www.princeton.edu/main/tools/search/?q=plagiarism

Turnitin: Harvard, Cornell, Rutgers, Duke