English Dept Anti-plagiarism Procedures V5, 10/11
Student Plagiarism
Plagiarism
For the purposes of this procedures document, plagiarism is defined as the presentation of another person’s work as one’s own without proper acknowledgement. This definition covers any form of original work in any medium though the procedures outlined here are chiefly to do with the detection and discouragement of plagiarism in written student assignments or spoken presentations.
Plagiarism issues in CAS
There are three principal types of student plagiarism in evidence in CAS:
1. Copying from the internet or from published hard copy sources.
2. Sharing of work by students.
3. The commissioning of texts from family members or friends.
In addition to these colleges are increasingly experiencing a modified form of plagiarism in which a student takes an Arabic-language text, and uses Google Translate to produce an English text.
The reasons for plagiarism vary. Many students plagiarise because they see nothing wrong in doing so and feel they are likely to be able to get away with it. Others do so because they can see no alternative: they are unable to undertake the tasks set them honestly and see copying or obtaining illicit support as the only way they can succeed. CAS responses to plagiarism need to take these different motivations into account.
Pedagogic responses
There are two primary ways in which CAS or teachers can respond pedagogically. The first is through setting mass awareness of plagiarism as a cross-college, cross-program objective and building in to all programs an ongoing element of support and guidance in this area. It is tackled in Foundation but it needs to be reiterated and developed in all programs subsequently. Moreover it needs to be integrated with work that helps students understand the importance of orchestrating other people’s voices in one’s own work and the way doing so establishes disciplinary contexts their own work. The second...