Library : Plagiarism Prevention

 

What is Plagiarism?

 

In a nutshell ...  all of the following are considered plagiarism:

• turning in someone else's work as your own
• copying words or ideas from someone else (including your own previous work!) without giving credit
• failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
• giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
• changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
• copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not

Source: www.plagiarism.org

 

Resources for Students

• Citation Format Samples (Vancouver style for biomedical publications)
• Preventing Plagiarism: Student Resources (Word, 3 p.) Excellent advice for incorporating your research into the actual writing process.

 

Avoiding plagiarism

• Employ good study habits, so you do not get behind
• In group assignments, each member must submit their own work.  See instructor for clarification.
• Avoid copy + paste + rewrite style of paper writing
• Read and synthesize information, and then present your findings
• Cite when you borrow a fact or an idea, even if you paraphrase
• Reference the source of images, tables or graphs if created by someone else.
• Keep track of bibliographic information to make citing easier
  • use software such as citation managers or My NCBI for PubMed

Submitting a paper to TurnItIn.com

• Register once and use the same username/password year after year.

• Refer to tip sheet in computer lab for establishing a student login, "enrolling" in the class, and submitting a paper to the originality checker.
• When "enrolling" in a class, refer to the posted list of the current quarter's ClassIDs and passwords.

FYI:  Students who are authoring papers for submission to a journal are advised to submit their own draft paper to the system.  For this purpose, TurnItIn.com also offers a low cost independent services called WriteCheck for students and iThenticate for authors.  Authors will find additional helpful resources at the library’s Writing & Publishing page and also the Index to Chiropractic Literature's Getting Published page.

 

Resources for Faculty

Faculty who assign academic papers can refer students to the resources listed above.

The website www.plagiarism.org sponsored by iParadigms/TurnItIn.com has extensive information and resources for defining and preventing plagiarism.  The Bibliography has some interesting articles as well.

FYI:  Faculty who are authoring papers for submission to a journal are advised to submit their own draft paper to the system.  See the local administrator for proper settings.   TurnItIn.com also offers an independent service called iThenicate.  Authors will find additional helpful resources at the library’s Writing & Publishing page and the Index to Chiropractic Literature's Getting Published page.

 

TurnItIn.com Basics

The college subscribes to the originality checking service at TurnItIn.com. 

This service compares text of students’ papers with matching content on the World Wide Web, previously submitted papers, and major newspapers and magazines

Establishing an account

Instructors and students who are using TurnItIn.com for the first time need to set up their account consisting of e-mail address and a password of their choice.  This same login can be used year after year.  Write it down! 

Password retrieval is automated. 

E-mail address retrieval requires assistance of local administrator.

After login, the instructor can set up classes and list assignments whenever originality checking will be required. 

After login, students can "enroll" in a class, and submit assignments.  Details on how to submit an assignment are on display in the computer lab.

What does this service accomplish?

Requiring students to submit written assignments to the service allows the instructor to:

• View a list of all students who submitted a paper
•  Sort the list by the percentage of “plagiarized” material found by the online checker
• Read the plain text of each paper
• View the color version of each paper.  The colored text denotes “plagiarized” material and corresponds to a specific source of original text that is also available for viewing. 

For instance, all the green text throughout a paper is linked to one original source.  Papers quoting or plagiarizing from many sources will be a virtual rainbow.  Keep in mind that legitimately quoted material might be color-coded.  The instructor still has to determine which parts of the paper are truly plagiarized.  The originality checker simply makes this task possible and relatively easy to do. 

 

TurnItIn.com Training and Assistance 

See the local administrator, currently the library director, for a demonstration of how to set up and use the originality checker.  

Online training resources are available for students, instructors, and administrators at the “Training Materials” link.  The online Help link is visible only after login at TurnItIn.com.  Always refer to the most recent online version of the Instructor Quick Start Guide or the entire Instructor User Manual.  The manual covers some necessary detail for the Originality Checker, as well as some services that Life West has not purchased.   

Instructors can have the local administrator handle all, some, or none of the settings and management. Instructors who opt to handle every aspect themselves should follow guidelines available from the administrator, who appreciates a certain level of conformity.

This cooperation will allow the administrator to provide accurate information to students when they seek assistance with submitting their papers. 

Bibliography 

Avoiding plagiarism.  Edmonton, AL: University of Alberta, 2011.  Available at:   http://guides.library.ualberta.ca/content.php?pid=62200&sid=460271

Gabriel T. Plagiarism lines blur for students in digital age. New York Times. August 1, 2010 [cited August 29, 2011]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/education/02cheat.html?_r=2&ref=plagiarism

McKillip S, MicKillip R. An assessment strategy that preempts plagiarism. International Journal for Educational Integrity. 2007 Dec [cited August 29, 2011]
;3(2):18-26. Available from: http://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/index.php/IJEI/article/view/163

 What is plagiarism? Berkeley, CA: iParadigms, 2011.  Available at: www.plagiarism.org.