strategies to help legal studies students avoid plagiarism

Strategies to Help Legal StudiesStudents Avoid PlagiarismLinda B. Samuelsn and Carol M. Bastnn

I. INTRODUCTION

Plagiarism is certainly not new to academics, but it may be on the rise with

easy access to the vast quantities of information available on the Internet.1

Students researching on the Internet do not have to take handwritten or

typewritten notes. They can simply print out or copy and save whatever

they find. They are even spared the tedium of having to retype the ma-

terial that they have accessed; today’s students can simply copy and paste

the material into their assignments. Also, a number of companies, easily

accessed online, provide finished research papers for students on business

and law-related topics for a fee, which, if utilized, can substitute for doing

any work at all. As a result, the age-old problem of plagiarism is exacer-

bated by the ease and availability of the copying.

This article first reviews the importance of helping legal studies stu-

dents improve their written communication through written assignments,

despite the problem of plagiarism. The article argues that students need

more education about plagiarism. It looks at definitions of plagiarism and

considers typical problems legal studies students may have with plagiarism.

The article then suggests faculty strategies for structuring assignments to

avoid plagiarism in student assignments.2

r 2006, Copyright the AuthorsJournal compilation r 2006, Academy of Legal Studies in Business

Journal of Legal Studies EducationVolume 23, Issue 2, 151–167, Summer/Fall 2006

nProfessor of Legal Studies, School of Management, George Mason University.

nnAssociate Professor of Legal Studies, Department of Criminal Justice and Legal Studies,University of Central Florida.

1Apiwan D. Born, How to Reduce Plagiarism, 14 J. INFO. SYS. EDUC. 223, 223 (2003).

2A topic outside the scope of this article is detecting plagiarism. A basic method to detectplagiarism in student work is to use an Internet search engine, such as http://www.google.com,to search sophisticated phraseology found in student assignments. Companies such asTurnitins, located at http://www.turnitin.com, offer detection services for use by teachers,

II. THE CHALLENGE OF IMPROVING STUDENTWRITTEN COMMUNICATION

One of the recurring criticisms of college graduates by employers is that

the graduates have poor written communication skills. Legal studies classes

can be used to improve the quality of student written work by giving stu-

dents assignments that require significant writing practice. These assign-

ments have the added bonus for students of helping them improve their

critical-thinking skills.

Educational theory encourages moving students forward in Bloom’s

Taxonomy for categorizing levels of abstraction.3 Students preparing for and

taking objective exams may achieve little beyond memorization and perhaps

understanding. In contrast, written projects can offer more in learning; stu-

dents engaged in written projects can learn new ideas (knowledge),4 under-

stand these concepts (comprehension),5 and use the ideas and concepts for

problem solving (application).6 More advanced students may find patterns

and meaning (analysis)7 and compare and assess what they have learned

(evaluate).8 The most advanced students may create new ideas (synthesis).9

and some schools are investing in these services. Turnitin allows faculty and students to scanwritten work for copying and provides a written report detailing all similarities detected.Turnitin compares materials to other student work submitted and to sources available on theInternet. Writing can be corrected and resubmitted, so students can use Turnitin to self-monitor and thereby avoid plagiarism. Results are available to both the student and the facultymember online and may be printed out by either one. Faculty can also access a report that listsall student results for a particular assignment. Glatt Plagiarism Services, Inc. offers three waysto combat plagiarism at http://www.plagiarism.com/. Plagiarism-Finder is a software programthat matches suspect documents with documents on the Internet; the program provides areport showing passages that match Internet material and identifying the source. Informationon this program is located at http://www.m4-software.com/.

3BENJAMIN S. BLOOM, TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: THE CLASSIFICATION OF EDUCATIO-

NAL GOALS: HANDBOOK I, COGNITIVE DOMAIN (1956). See also Linda B. Samuels & Richard L.Coffinberger, Balancing the Needs to Assess Depth and Breath of Knowledge: Does Essay Choice Pro-vide a Solution?, 22 J. LEGAL STUD. ED. 103: 104–07 (2005).

4BLOOM, supra note 3, at 62–88.

5Id. at 89–119.

6Id. at 120–43.

7Id. at 144–61.

8Id. at 185–207.

9Id. at 162–84.

152 Vol. 23 / Journal of Legal Studies Education

Over the years, faculty have developed and assigned a multitude of

projects to legal studies students. These written assignments range from

traditional legal-based papers10 to experiential journals of class-based

learning to interviews of legal services providers. Many of these project

ideas are published in the Journal of Legal Studies Education and provide

writing experiences that, hopefully, yield educational benefits for stu-

dents beyond what can be achieved through in-class examinations. This is

based on the belief that, to the extent that students communicate their

learning in their own words, they ‘‘own’’ these ideas and enhance their

learning.

However, despite these benefits, many students are resistant to

practicing their writing through significant writing experience assign-

ments. In fact, many students actively avoid courses with research papers

or other substantial written coursework. When given a choice of all ob-

jective questions, essays, or a written project, many students choose the

objective questions. This is because learning to write well takes practice

and effort, and many students have not had much practice writing and

do not care to try. Some students recognize that they do not like to write,

perhaps because they feel or fear that they cannot write well. Some stu-

dents view written assignments as burdensome and time consuming, to

be circumvented whenever possible. This issue may arise only infre-

quently in large-section classes, which generally utilize objective testing

exclusively. For many students, most of their collegiate distribution

and major cores assessment experiences are objective exams. In fact,

this is more often the case than would be hoped with classes in the major

as well.

When confronted by a written assignment, some students reason

that the obvious way to avoid the ‘‘pain’’ of writing, to save time, to

10Typically, these papers require students to research a legal issue using traditional legal re-search methods and write a paper summarizing their research and analyzing the issue. Thebest student-authored papers can be presented by students in competitions sponsored by theAcademy of Legal Studies in Business and several regional legal studies academies. The Uni-versity of Central Florida has a two-semester honors course in the major program that pro-vides participating students with significant writing experience. A student who meets certainbaseline requirements spends one semester researching a selected topic and the followingsemester authoring a thesis. The student must successfully defend the thesis before a panel ofthree professors. George Mason University has a ‘‘Student Research Apprentice’’ programwhere undergraduate students attend a seminar about research and are paid to work withfaculty on research projects.

2006 / Strategies to Help Legal Studies Students Avoid Plagiarism 153

produce a decent work product, and to receive a good grade, is to copy

someone else’s work, in whole or in part. This is a short-term decision,

which fails to consider the problems the student may experience as a

result. Many students have little or no experience in considering their

actions from an ethical perspective. In addition, while student plagiarism

is often intentional, some students do it unintentionally, often because

they do not understand what plagiarism is and thereby have not even

begun to consider the ramifications. Of course, from the student’s per-

spective, the ‘‘problem’’ primarily is that the student may be caught and

sanctioned. Most students who copy are unconcerned with the negative

effect on their own learningFthat they would have learned more if they

had written the assignment without copyingFnor are they troubled with

the ethics of misappropriating someone else’s work and passing it off as

their own. While they may be inexperienced at writing, many students

are quite adept with technology and sources of information on the In-

ternet and have experience purchasing goods and services online and

downloading and sharing information. Specifically, many students have

copied video tapes, CDs, and DVDs and access music and perhaps even

videos online.

The problem from the faculty perspective is at least threefold. First,

the student has not done the required course work for which the student

hopes to receive a course grade. Second, to prevent this and preserve the

integrity of the course and the grading system, all written assignments

must be monitored by the professor to determine whether students have

done the assigned work.11 Third, if plagiarism is found, steps must be

taken by the professor and the administration, in accordance with the

honor code in effect at the institution. Further complicating matters,

the institutional sanctions may or may not be in accordance with faculty

desires. For these reasons, helping students avoid plagiarism is a very

appealing solution. An obvious place to begin with strategies to avoid

plagiarism is to define plagiarism and discuss this definition with

students.

11A vast improvement in student work quality over a previous assignment may be a clue that astudent has plagiarized in the most recent assignment. Michael Thompson, Hidden in PlainSight, CHRON. HIGHER EDUC., Dec. 2, 2005, at B5. An anonymous reviewer notes that com-puters enable students to edit copied material, making it more difficult for professors to detectplagiarism.


III. WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?

Plagiarism is a concept for which there are many different definitions, with

some similarities at the core and many differences at the periphery. Plagia-

rism is copying someone else’s work without proper attribution.12 Attribu-

tion is acknowledging another person’s work by citing to the original work

and, if quoting, placing the quoted information within quotation marks.

The concept has both legal and ethical underpinnings. Legally, there

is both a misappropriation and a misrepresentation. When a plagiarist

misappropriates another’s work to the plagiarist’s benefit, it is wrong from

the point of view of property rights, because the owner did not give per-

mission. The standard for plagiarism is broader or more inclusive than

found in the copyright law. Also, plagiarism is a misrepresentation, because

the person whose name is on the document as the author is claiming au-

thorship, which is untrue.

The assumption in academia is that the student gains an education

through participation in the requirements of the courses completed, in-

cluding authoring written assignments bearing the student’s name. Pla-

giarism is an act of dishonesty, because the student claims authorship of a

document authored by another. Therefore, from the ethics perspective,

plagiarism reflects poorly on the plagiarist’s moral character. Honesty is a

value that underpins the educational institution and that should be trans-

mitted hand in hand with the student’s acquisition of knowledge. Even

unproven accusations of plagiarism can cast suspicion on an individual’s

reputation for telling the truth and behaving morally. Depending on the

institution, a student who helps another student commit plagiarism may

also have committed an ethical violation.13

12The following is the definition of plagiarism from the College of New Jersey Web site,http://www.tcnj.edu/�writing/integrity/plagerism.html:

Plagiarism is academic theft. If you take words, phrases, ideas, or artistic productions ofsomeone else’s and present them as your own, you are guilty of plagiarism. If you quotesomeone else’s words or paraphrase someone else’s ideas, and do not cite the source, youare guilty of plagiarism. If you give someone else’s exact words, but do not quote themFeven if you cite the sourceFyou are guilty of plagiarism.

13The Harvard University policy is that a student is subject to disciplinary action for helpinganother student plagiarize. Harvard University has made available online at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/�expos/sources/ a student guide to plagiarism entitled Writing with Sources: AGuide for Harvard Students. Many other institutions have similar guides available online.


There are a number of definitions of plagiarism found in legal liter-

ature. One source states: ‘‘Plagiarism is the intentional appropriation of the

creative product or scholarship of another without attribution.’’14 Another

source comments that ‘‘plagiarism is the act of representing someone’s

words or ideas as being of one’s own.’’15 A third observes that plagiarism

‘‘is a form of cheating that allows the plagiarist an unearned benefit.’’16

The Legal Writing Institute, an organization comprising mainly law school

legal writing professors, defines law school plagiarism as ‘‘[t]aking the lit-

erary property of another, passing it off as one’s own without appropriate

attribution, and reaping from its use any benefit from an academic insti-

tution.’’17

Though the first definition of plagiarism listed above requires

‘‘intentional’’ behavior, most authorities believe that an individual does

not have to intend to borrow someone else’s words for plagiarism to occur.

A common defense to accusations of plagiarism is that the writer inadvert-

ently included the language of a source in notes and wrote the document

from the notes, without realizing or intending to plagiarize the source.

However, unlike copyright law, plagiarism does not have a fair use excep-

tion. Even a de minimis copying without attribution constitutes plagia-

rism.18 As a result, the concept of plagiarism sometimes can be difficult for

students and even faculty to fully understand and easily apply. While it is

clear that wholesale copying of another person’s work or sections of an-

other’s work without giving credit to the original author is plagiarism, the

concept can also apply to copying of much smaller amounts. For example,

plagiarism protects phrases. Thus, it can be plagiarism to borrow someone

else’s wording or even to merely paraphrase someone else’s writing by

changing some words and rearranging others. Many would agree that

14Jaime S. Dursht, Note, Judicial Plagiarism: It May be Fair Use But Is It Ethical?, 18 CARDOZO L.REV. 1253. 1253 (1996).

15Joe Mirarchi, Plagiarism: What Is It? How to Avoid It? And Why?, 4 T.M. COOLEY J. PRAC. &CLINICAL L. 381, 383 (2001).

16Laurie Stearns, Comment, Copy Wrong: Plagiarism, Process, Property, and the Law, 80 CAL. L.REV. 513, 519 (1992).

17The definition is part of the Legal Writing Institute’s plagiarism policy accessible from theInstitute’s Web site, http://www.lwionline.org.

18This absolute standard can lead to difficulty in consistent sanctioning of the act. For exam-ple, are minor transgressions to be treated the same as major ones, or should the sanctionreflect the ‘‘seriousness’’ of the transgression, or would that be inconsistent?


borrowed words should be included in quotation marks, with the source

acknowledged. Some would argue that the source of paraphrased words

should also be acknowledged.

Moreover, plagiarism can protect ideas as well as phrases. All of the

definitions cited above arguably encompass ideas as well as words. How-

ever, despite these definitions, it is a common misconception that plagia-

rism is limited to copying of written words and does not extend to ideas. It

can extend to ideas as well, but to what extent it does is unclear in practice.

Ideas cannot be copyrighted,19 but they may be plagiarized. Further, what

is borrowed need not have been published in print sources to be protected;

Internet and other digital sources have the same level of protection as print

sources. In fact, it could be argued that even speaking should be ac-

knowledged when it is a source of words or ideas.

Some sources argue that plagiarism can include using another per-

son’s writing as an organizational template and source of authorities. In

this form of plagiarism, known as ‘‘reverse engineering,’’20 the writer’s

manuscript tracks the organization of the original article and uses the same

sources, but the words in the manuscript are the writer’s own.

The Legal Writing Institute recognizes that plagiarism is difficult to

define and that law students need to be educated to avoid plagiarism. To

this end, the Institute produced a brochure entitled Law School Plagiarism v.Proper Attribution.21 Acknowledging problems with defining plagiarism, the

brochure notes that the policies of various academic institutions are ‘‘in-

consistent and even contradictory.’’ The brochure, available for adoption

by law schools, provides a definition (noted above), exercises students can

answer to determine if they understand plagiarism (with suggested

answers), and ‘‘hypotheticals for class discussion.’’22 The brochure would

be a good starting point for a professor who wants to educate students on

1915 U.S.C. § 102 (2000). There is a long line of cases distinguishing between unprotectedideas and protected expression under the copyright law. See, for example, Feist v. Rural Tel.Serv. Co., 499 U.S. 340 (1991), Mazer v. Stein, 377 U.S. 201 (1954), and Baker v. Seldon, 101U.S. 99 (1880).

20Sharon Blackburn & Stephen Good, Cyberplagiarism and the Law Librarian, AALL SPECTRUM

(2004).

21The brochure, which is part of the Legal Writing Institute’s plagiarism policy, is availablefrom the Legal Writing Institute’s Web site, http://www.lwionline.org.

22Id.


plagiarism and illustrate how to avoid plagiarism.23 A ‘‘Student Acknowl-

edgment Form’’24 is included for students to sign, acknowledging that they

are aware of the plagiarism definition and of ways to provide attribution.

IV. INCIDENTS OF STUDENT PLAGIARISM

If plagiarism is a problem for law students, for the reasons explained

above, many of those same conditions apply to assignments by legal studies

students. We will now consider various ways that plagiarism impacts stu-

dent-prepared documents. Student acts of plagiarism in the course of re-

sponding to written assignments include the following:

1. Taking a complete work, a significant part of a work, or even a small

part of a work written by someone else and passing it off as the student’s

own without any attribution.25 This can occur when a student turns in a

paper done by another student on the same topic or purchased from

one of the many companies selling research papers.26 A twist on this is

handing in a paper that the student wrote completely or substantially

for another class, though it could be argued that such reuse is not pla-

giarism but rather academic dishonesty.

2. Paraphrasing a complete work or a substantial part of a work written by

someone else and passing the work off as containing the student’s own

ideas. Sometimes the student acknowledges the source, but oftentimes

the student rationalizes that no attribution is needed because the stu-

dent has written the assignment in the student’s own words.

3. Writing some parts and copying other parts from several sources, but

without attribution. Lack of attribution creates the illusion for the read-

er that the assignment contains the student’s own words and ideas.

23See also supra note 33.

24Id.

25This is the most often discussed variety of plagiarism.

26Plagiarism can also happen when a student turns in a paper that the student thinks waswritten by another student but was, in fact, written by a company, perhaps several studentusers ago. Upon receiving two papers that were very similar, the first author discovered that,while one student had purchased her version off the Internet, the other student had ‘‘gotten itfrom the friend of a friend.’’


4. Acknowledging sources of material, but failing to quote the words that

have been copied. Absence of quotation marks makes it appear that the

wording is the student’s and not that of the original author.

5. Quoting those words that have been copied, but failing to acknowledge

the sources for the quoted material. Thus, the reader knows that the

material within the quotation marks is not the student’s but the docu-

ment fails to provide information that might allow the reader to fully

evaluate the quoted material.27

6. Failing to acknowledge the source of ideas, but not copying words.

7. Using someone else’s work as a template without acknowledgement.

We recommend that legal studies professors take several steps to

combat student plagiarism. The steps are explained in the following sec-

tion.28

V. HOW TO TEACH STUDENTS WHAT PLAGIARISM IS

The following are steps that can be taken when assigning written work to

legal studies students.

1. Take time to discuss the two-tier aspect of plagiarism: acknowledging

the source by providing a citation and enclosing copied material in

quotation marks. Many students are unclear about these requirements.

As mentioned above, students may think that providing a citation elim-

inates the obligation to enclose copied material in quotation marks or

they may enclose quoted material in quotation marks but not under-

stand that they should provide a citation to the source.29 Some students

27Whether attribution is required should be clearly spelled out. This is a topic where there isconsiderable ambiguity depending on the topic and the type of writing that is being done. Itcan be argued that student writing is academic writing and should be held to the higheststandards of scholarship; however, as a practical matter, many reputable publications, includ-ing some leading newspapers, do not attribute first sources, when they make their own in-dependent investigation. Moreover, while most newspapers require two independent sources,these sources are often not revealed. For a recent discussion of attribution in the news, seeAriana Eunjung Cha, Media Notes: What Did They Say, and To Whom Did They Say It?, WASH. POST,Aug. 1, 2005, at C1, C5.

28See supra note 20 and accompanying text for a discussion of ‘‘reverse engineering.’’

29A friend of the second author is a practicing attorney at a well-known local law firm. Herelated the following incident concerning plagiarism. A senior partner in the firm asked a new


may be completely ignorant as to what plagiarism is and that it is pro-

hibited, perhaps as part of a lack of familiarity with American culture.

Some students are familiar, but they are sloppy, in a rush, or inattentive.

2. Remind students of the reasons to attribute material to its source and

the ethical underpinnings of the reasons. These include giving credit to

sources, exhibiting the depth of the writer’s research, differentiating

between the writer’s own ideas and those of the sources, and facilitating

reader investigation of the topic presented in the document.

3. Provide a clear statement regarding plagiarism on the course syllabus.

The statement might be provided for a particular writing assignment.30

In addition, the syllabus should contain a reference to that portion of

the school’s honor code31 that deals with plagiarism. The reference can

be expanded to call the student’s attention to the requirements of

acknowledging sources by providing citations and enclosing copied

material in quotation marks.32

associate to write a paper for the partner to present at a professional conference; the paperwould be published in the conference proceedings. The associate completed the research andwrote the paper. A junior partner who reviewed the paper quickly realized that there wassomething wrong. The junior partner checked some of the sources and discovered that lan-guage was taken directly from some of the sources, and the language was footnoted, but theassociate had failed to enclose the borrowed language in quotation marks. When questionedconcerning the absence of quotation marks, the associate stated that there was no need toinsert quotation marks because he footnoted the authorities.

The junior partner informed the senior partner and the other partners in the firm of theincident. From now on, the associate’s work will be suspect. What other vital concepts hadescaped the associate if the associate was able to proceed through elementary school, highschool, college, and law school without understanding how to avoid plagiarism?

The junior partner revised the paper as best he could to avoid plagiarism. The seniorpartner presented the paper at the conference and it was published in the conference pro-ceedings, without crediting the associate or the junior partner.

Though outside of the scope of this article, the fact pattern raises additional ethical issues:(1) What are the ethics of the senior partner’s publication of the paper without attribution ofthe contributions of the associate and junior partner? (2) What are the ethics of the seniorpartner publishing as author a paper he did not write? (3) Is this law practice plagiarism asopposed to academic plagiarism and, if so, is law practice plagiarism acceptable or unethical?

30The first author’s syllabus contains the following warning: ‘‘This project must be originalstudent work. Sources for ideas must be cited, and any language that is copied must be‘quoted’ and cited.’’

31The Honor Code is often part of the student handbook or institution catalogue. It is usuallyavailable online for all members of the academic community.

32For example, the first author’s Fall 2005 syllabus states:


4. Provide students with examples of the ways in which to avoid plagia-

rism. The examples will help students understand how the concept of

plagiarism is applied to a written document.33

5. Explain and discuss the ethical aspects of plagiarism.34 This is partic-

ularly appropriate in legal environment classes, which often cover sub-

jects relating to business ethics.

6. Explain to students what kinds of citations are expected.35 The univer-

sity or school may follow a particular citation system or the student may

be required to follow a particular citation system for the class assign-

ment. The students need to be aware of which citation system is re-

quired and how citations are formulated for a particular citation system.

HONOR CODE Statement: The University Honor Code states, ‘‘Student members ofthe George Mason University Community pledge not to cheat, plagiarize, steal, or lie inmatters related to academic work.’’ This statement applies to all the graded assignmentsfor this course. If you have a question as to whether or not an action you are contem-plating is prohibited by the Code, feel free to seek my counsel before deciding to pro-ceed. Plagiarism is an honor code violation and the Internet Research Project will besubjected to a plagiarism review. This means that sources for ideas must be cited andany language that is copied must be ‘‘quoted’’ and cited. Honor Code violations mayresult in a grade of HC.

33The College of New Jersey Web site, http://www.tcnj.edu/�writing/integrity/plagerism.html, provides examples of how to avoid plagiarism. Under the heading ‘‘Acceptable Tech-niques for Using Borrowed Materials,’’ the Web site explains how to properly: document adirect quotation, paraphrase, and quote in part and paraphrase in part. In addition, the Website provides examples of plagiarism.

34From the College of New Jersey Web site, http://www.tcnj.edu/�writing/integrity/plager-ism.html:

You are morally and legally obligated to acknowledge your indebtedness to someoneelse’s facts, ideas, arrangements, or phrases. You do not need to feel embarrassed atdrawing upon what has been thought and written by others about a particular subject; indoing research you should read widely and feel free to draw from that reading, as long aswhat you borrow from others is properly acknowledged. Of course, you should also saysomething new about the materials used and demonstrate some originality of thought.Simply piecing together previously published materials is likely to be a waste of time foryou and for the reader since you have not bothered to consider the value and signif-icance of the raw material and to place it in the context of your own ideas. The danger ofplagiarism is not only the pain and punishment that result from being discovered, butthe self-delusion of having accomplished something.

35The first author’s Fall 2005 syllabus supplies a sample Internet citation in connection with awritten project: ‘‘For the citations, list the Internet address where the Web site can be foundand note the date that you last visited, such as (www.som.gmu.edu/bule/samuels/bule302.nsf,last visited April 21, 2005).’’


7. Tell students what steps you will be taking to detect plagiarism. If stu-

dents understand that you will be using plagiarism detection software,

such as Turnitins; using search engines, such as Googles, to search

unusually well-worded phrases; or even reading all papers on the

same topic together, they will realize that the chances of being caught

are significant.

8. Warn students as to the consequences of plagiarism. At many univer-

sities, plagiarism leads to an honor code violation, which could result in

suspension or expulsion. These are very grave consequences that

might be expected to deter many students.36

9. Investigate what students are being taught about plagiarism in com-

position and communication courses. This should set the lower bar of

what you expect that students should know about plagiarism. How-

ever, often students do not associate what has been learned in one

course to learning in another course; so, without prompting, they may

not retain what they learned and apply it in your course.37

10. Coordinate with your school’s writing center and teaching excellence

center to access materials and receive advice on the subject.

11. Access additional materials concerning plagiarism on the Internet.

Many colleges and university writing centers provide materials relat-

ing to plagiarism that can be accessed easily on the Web. Though the

definitions they provide are sometimes rather complex, they often

provide examples that can be helpful to students.

Another strategy, discussed in the following section, is to structure

assignments to make it more difficult for the student to plagiarize.

VI. STRUCTURING ASSIGNMENTS TO ENSURESTUDENTS DO ORIGINAL WORK

Despite efforts at educating and policing students, faculty should go at

least one major step furtherFto prevention of plagiarism. This means

36However, given the number of incidences of plagiarism by students, the deterrence quotientof suspension or expulsion seems to be weak. To the extent that students factor in risks, theymust surmise that the likelihood of being caught is low.

37In addition, many students transferred from the community college system or other schools.


structuring assignments in such a way that plagiarism becomes more dif-

ficult. The following are some suggestions that may be utilized by faculty.

1. Break the project into parts.38 Many students plagiarize because they panic

when the large written project is due tomorrow and they have not even

begun. They may cope by copying. Even a student who does not intend to

copy may become sloppy when in a rush and fail to provide citations to

sources and quotation marks for quoted passages included in the written

project. An antidote to this behavior is for the professor to split the project

into a number of separate assignments. For example, in a class in which a

paper is required, each student may be required to submit a statement of

the paper topic, an outline of the paper, one or more drafts of the paper,

and the final paper. In this way, the faculty member tracks the work of the

student and makes sure that the student is writing the paper over several

weeks. With both a preliminary draft and a final draft of the paper, stu-

dents have an opportunity to learn how revision will improve their written

work product.39 The downside is that the faculty member spends signif-

icant time reviewing successive drafts.40 Progress at some of these stages

could be evaluated by in-class peer evaluation, though peer reviewers may

be unable or unwilling to make substantive recommendations.41

2. Design a unique project that is interesting to the students and thus en-

courages them to do the work.42 Possibilities in the legal studies field

include issues relating to the technology popular with college students,

such as peer-to-peer networks, or controversial current issues, such as

same-sex marriage, employer English-only policies, or gun control.

3. Emphasize projects that are problem oriented.43 Students will be more

evaluative and analytical in their response than they would be with a topic

38Shelley Reid, In Preventing Plagiarism, an Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of CureFandSupports Other Teaching Goals, Too!, in VIII WRITING @ CENTER, Publication of the GeorgeMason University Writing Center and Writing Across the Curriculum Program 3, 4 (2005).

39Id.

40Another benefit will be a better work product and learning experience for the student.

41Tamara Maddox, Honesty Through Ownership: Increasing Student Involvement to Reduce Plagia-rism, in VIII WRITING @ CENTER, Publication of the George Mason University Writing Centerand Writing Across the Curriculum Program 1, 2 (2005).

42‘‘Students who are actually interested in an assignment are far more likely to do honest workto complete it and often are motivated to do their best work as well.’’ Id. at 1.

43Reid, supra note 38, at 4.


that can be responded to with only comprehension and knowledge.44

Problems require application of student learning and will increase stu-

dent engagement and their development of critical-thinking skills.45

4. Make the project very structured. The more specific the requirements

that are designed into the project, the less likely students will be able to

surf for a paper that will fill the bill. They will realize that they have to

do the work themselves.46 They may find excellent sources when they

do research, but they will have to fit those sources together in a unique

way to respond to the structure of the assignment.

5. Control the topics from which students can choose. This can mean

changing the topics every semester and limiting the time that students

44See supra notes 3–9 and accompanying text.


46For an example of a unique, structured assignment, see Linda B. Samuels & Richard L.Coffinberger, An Internet Based Legal Environment Research and Advocacy Writing Project, 21 J.LEGAL STUD. ED. 181 (2003).

The first author provided instructions for a project on the Fall 2005 syllabus:

Students will hand in a word-processed single-spaced (skipping once between para-graphs) nine page business memorandum organized as follows, including the questionsto be answered:

Page one identifies the student, class section number, and project using memorandumformat. In the memorandum, answer the following questions:

A - What is the law and business or ethics and business issue? State the issue as aquestion. Explain how this issue relates to both law and business or law and ethics.

B - Why is this issue significant to the legal or ethical environment of business? Why isthis issue significant to you?

C - What steps did you follow to research this issue? Be specific as to how you did theresearch, and include citations of all websites visited. (Note: Search engines arenot websites.)

D - Which was the most helpful website that you visited, and why? Include its citation.E - How would you evaluate the web sites you are using for pages two and three? Be

specific in your evaluation of these web sites, as to how they contributed to yourresearch.

Page two lists and explains three arguments on the PRO (affirmative) side of the issue(i.e. supporting favorable action) and three arguments on the CON (negative) side ofthe issue. Each argument must be supported by a citation from the Internet. Eachargument should be summarized in a sentence and then explained in a paragraph.

Page three identifies and explains your position on the issue. Reference the PRO andCON arguments discussed on page two and consider the issue from the perspective ofa business manager. You may also consider other perspectives, including your per-sonal viewpoint.


have to work on the topic. For instance, instead of posting a long list of

possible topics for an Internet-based research and advocacy writing

project and allowing students to generate their own topics, post five to

seven possible topics on the class Web site when the project is to begin.

These should be new topics that have never been used before and

should be coordinated with other legal studies faculty to make sure they

have not used these topics either.47

6. Require all student-developed topics to be declared in advance. If

students pick their own topics, require that the choice be made

several weeks prior to the project due date and supported by a pro-

posal explaining the basis for selecting the topic and the expected

issues.48 Any changes in topic should be similarly supported. This

gives faculty a chance to comment and to eliminate topics that are

inappropriate,

because they are outside the scope of the course, too simplistic, too

difficult, too repetitious of class discussion, or too often done.

7. Be clear about expectations regarding the student’s work product. Stu-

dents who believe that they understand the requirements of a project

will usually make a good faith effort to perform. Those who do not

understand how they will be evaluated may take shortcuts to get it over

with. Therefore, the more explicit the evaluation criteria are, the better

students will respond.49

8. Require students to hand in samples of their sources. This provides a

quick check for faculty as to whether the cited sources are reliable.50

9. Require students to sign a form acknowledging that they understand

what plagiarism is as it relates to course writing assignments and that

they have not plagiarized.51

47Id. at 194–95.


49Maddox, supra note 41, at 2.

50For example, the current version of a project from the first author’s Fall 2005 syllabus:‘‘Pages four, five, six, seven, eight and nine are print-outs of relevant information found onone important page from six (four minimum) different websites cited on page two, whichinclude the website and date.’’

51An anonymous reviewer suggested this requirement.


VII. INSTITUTIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Legal studies courses are part of a curriculum that is part of a degree in an

educational institution. Therefore, it is important that the faculty member

researches the institution’s ethics rules to determine the institution’s policy

on plagiarism, as a starting point. This policy should be reviewed for clarity

and completeness and as a starting point for educating students. Does the

policy merely prohibit plagiarism or is a definition provided? Further, in-

vestigate how students are informed about the policy and the process for

disciplining a student accused of plagiarism. Is this information covered

with students early in their academic career in a student success course?

When reviewing the institution’s plagiarism definition, determine

whether the definition covers intentional and negligent plagiarism or sole-

ly intentional plagiarism. Determine whether a student is allowed to submit

a document previously submitted to another class. Does the institutional

definition fit what is needed in a legal studies class or is clarification of the

definition in order?

Learn about the university process for disciplining students. If a fac-

ulty member were to pursue a plagiarism claim against a student, would

the student be disciplined? What are a student’s rights in the matter? For

example, a student may be able to challenge the disciplinary proceedings if

the notice was not sufficient or the disciplinary proceedings did not pro-

vide due process.52 Determine whether there is a range of sanctions, such

that a student who intentionally plagiarized can be punished more severely

than one who negligently plagiarized.53 Learn whether the faculty mem-

ber has any power to determine or recommend the sanction.

VIII. RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

As educators, we must recognize and understand the environment in

which our students live. It is not sufficient for faculty to just warn students

‘‘Don’t Plagiarize’’ and expect them to grasp what is required and respond

appropriately. Students are often unclear as to what plagiarism is and what

they can do to avoid it. By educating students regarding expectations and

52See Terri LeClercq, Failure to Teach: Due Process and Law School Plagiarism, 49 J. LEGAL EDUC.236, 241–43 (1999).

53See id at 245–46.


taking appropriate preventative measures in designing writing projects,

faculty can sensitize students to the importance of proper attribution and

citation. A plagiarism statement, developed by legal studies professors, and

customized to the types of writing assignments that are required in our

classes and to the types of mistakes that our students make, might be a

useful task for the Academy of Legal Studies in Business. It could be tar-

geted for use in legal studies classes or broadened for use by our students

in other classes that they take while pursuing their education.

The immediate aim of adopting these strategies should be to ensure

that students do their own work in written assignments and learn to

attribute and cite sources to avoid plagiarism, while in school and in the

future. For that to happen, attention must be paid to the definition of

plagiarism to ensure that faculty and students have a clear understanding

of expectations. However, this goal is merely part of larger objectivesFto

expose students to research and scholarship so that they can be lifelong

learners, to develop their critical thinking and written communication

skills, and to enhance their ability to identify and resolve ethical and legal

dilemmas. By utilizing the strategies identified in this article for avoiding

plagiarism, faculty will help advance their students’ development, both

personally and professionally.


strategies to help legal studies students avoid plagiarism

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