Preventing plagiarism

God damned fucking plagiarism. Every professor has seen it. Every student has done it. It is the most annoying, common, time-consuming problem in undergraduate education. 

I first encountered student plagiarism in my first class in my first assignment in my first semester of teaching. I was an instructor for First-Year Composition at Purdue. As such, the course required us to teach students about citations and plagiarism. In fact, we were considered the course that would teach students how not to plagiarize and they would retain that information for the rest of their undergraduate education. I literally covered every meaning of plagiarism. I made worksheets, examples, quizzes, everything. But of course, I encountered in the first assignment, a proposal for their research paper, which would be the one major assignment of the semester and their introductory training in how to research and compose an original paper. I was reading this research paper proposal, by a freshman, and I came across the word "hegemony" used in an unquoted, uncited sentence. Red flag. 

As a first-year Master's student, I barely knew the meaning of the word hegemony. I typed the sentence into Google and it appeared word for word in an Amazon summary of a book that was on a topic related to the student's paper and in their preliminary bibliography. I was FURIOUS! I had given every piece of instruction. I had given examples. I had given warnings. I had given threats. My students knew what plagiarism was and they knew the consequences. I had to figure out how to confront this student about their plagiarism. I had weekly writing conferences with students as a required part of the course, so I didn't have to make an excuse to meet with her individually. At our next conference, I asked the student to explain the main points from the proposal, specifically engaging the word "hegemony." They could not. I asked where they got the information. They said they wrote it. I again asked them to explain it to me. They could not. I revealed that I had found those exact words online. They acted shocked. I showed them. They claimed coincidence. I expressed disbelief. I informed them that they would fail this assignment and they would need to submit a new original proposal, for no credit, in order to proceed with the rest of the paper. They stopped attending class. And that was fine with me. 

So just to recap, in a class that was devoted to teaching students how NOT to plagiarize, I had my first case of plagiarism. and I had many, many more to come. And so, the question for the ages...

How can we prevent plagiarism?

Some of the most common methods include, depending on the type of assignment and course:

• Create original questions/assignments that require students to compose original answers  
• Provide instruction on the meanings of plagiarism
• Provide instruction on citation methods
• Provide examples of proper citations
• Require multiple steps, such as proposal, annotated bibliography, and rough draft, for major papers
• Use of plagiarism checkers like TurnItIn or SafeAssign
• Failure for assignment
• Failure for class
• Report to university office in charge

I have tried everything on this list and there is no one correct answer.  As noted above, it is all dependent on the class and the assignment. For example, I cannot require students to give rough drafts for quiz questions, but I can easily give them zero for cutting and pasting online answers. Plagiarism checkers are quite frustrating. They either catch every instance of "the" "it" "is" "be" "but" etc. or they catch nothing of use.For advanced courses with writing requirements, I provide copious instruction on the meanings of plagiarism, examples of citations, multiple parts of assignments, utilize plagiarism checkers, threaten with failure....basically, all of the above. I explain the definition and examples of plagiarism in every single class that I teach. And yet, I receive unoriginal work every single semester. In quizzes, in book reviews, in research papers. Nothing seems to stop this academic epidemic.  

I NEVER plagiarized in undergrad. Or high school for that matter. I admit I once submitted a book report for Hatchet twice. Once in Warrensburg in 7th grade and then again in Ticonderoga for 8th grade. So I committed self-plagiarism. But I was terrified of getting caught, even accidentally, for any unoriginal writing. Maybe it was because the Internet was slightly newer then, in the early 2000s. My students today have grown up with the Internet their entire lives. They are very accustomed to loosely quoting information from online sources, as well as reblogging and reposting without attribution. In addition, I have heard that some middle and high school teachers encourage students to cut and paste information for homework assignments. I have heard that from students in middle school and high school. Frankly, I don't fault them completely, because they have enough bullshit to deal with in terms of state requirements. But at the same time, if younger students are not penalized for copying information directly off the Internet, they think it is okay. They are taught it is okay. So they just keep doing it in college. And hence, my plight. 

I have no idea how to stop plagiarism. I will just keep fighting the good fight with instruction, examples, checkers, threats, and penalties. *Le sigh*