by Lynne Schalman and Steve Bergen
(you can e-mail us both at
)
Last revised 12/23/07
A Webquest on Plagiarism asks students and teachers to confront the issue of plagiarism, including defining plagiarism, plagiarism versus paraphrasing, and strategies for preventing plagiarism.
Intro: several places that will provide you with papers
www.paperstock.com...here is a site that has a Gatsby paper on Imagery and Symbolism in stock for the mere price of $28.00. They will also take custom orders.
www.termpapers-on-file.comall of The Following Reports Are Available RIGHT NOWFor Only $ 8.95/page + FREE Bibliography !Just Choose Any Paper Listed Below And Then Press the Red ORDER Button !If You Don't See What You're Looking For, Choose A Category From The Left Side Of This Screen
And a reaction: several places that will help you detect fraudulent paper
plagiarism.org...is a Web site created by UC Berkeley profs; this Web site for a small fee (info pasted in later) will analyze student essays to see if they have been stolen from a Web site. I just emailed them the Macbeth paper that I bought at The Paper Store and they will let me know if it was stolen. The site is designed for college profs but I guess anyone can use it. Teachers can upload papers or require their students to do so. From their web site: "Any institution which doesn't address academic integrity in a serious manner gives the message that it's okay. And every time students cheat, they not only devalue themselves but also the entire educational system...."
-Doug Zuidema
Director, Office of Student Conduct, U.C. Berkeley
Cheating at U.C. Berkeley has increased by 744% from 1993-1997
www.turnitin.com...a resource for educators and students concerned with the deterioration of academic integrity in our schools. Our service makes it easy to find out if any homework assignment, essay, or research paper has been copied or paraphrased from the Internet, and ensures that students are getting the most out of their education. We also offer several other unique features, including an online Peer Review service, Digital Archiving, and an upcoming Online Grading System.
Our own case study
I went to askjeeves and asked where I could find sites on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. To my chagrin, one of the links led me to a site that advertised TERM PAPER EXAMPLES & MORE EXAMPLE TERM PAPERS ON SHAKESPEARE for $8.95 per page. So in fact, a student researching in an absolutely appropriate manner could be led by the nose, so to speak, to an illegal site. Lynne Schalman 4/6/99
Here are some thoughts about keeping kids on the straight and narrow- all strategies, sadly, require more teacher time:
The more specific the assignment, the harder it is to cheat; most of the topics on these sites are general and broad, i.e The Romantic vision of F Scott Fitz-or they are the most common kinds of topics, i.e, The American Dream, The Green Light, etc. If a teacher assigns very specific topics or questions to answer, then it is less likely that students will find easy access to essays.
Compare and Contrast papers-which I am not a big fan of-are harder to duplicate on the web.
Papers that address specific themes raised in the class are harder to duplicate
Requiring personal response in some way -even in literary criticism- might help.
Check Progress: if English teachers require steps along the way to process writing then again students will find it more difficult to plagiarize. Teachers have to routinely check-and make time for-thesis statements, outlines, first and second drafts.
There are sites that go over the difference between direct and indirect quotes, concepts that kids do not always understand. ( I will find these if you are interested.)
Post student's papers on the web; when the whole world is watching, students might be less apt to cheat.
PART ONE: Getting up to speed (Steve Bergen)
Teachers need to become familiar with the tech specifics of how illegal papers are purchased or found.
A reasonable assignment for every English teacher and History teacher should be to do what Lynne Schalman has done: obtain an paper that you will then share with your colleagues
Teachers should check out sites for examples of "how to appropriate the use of the web" for paper writing
St. Mark's School of Texas: We post student work from a link off the teacher's page who assigned the work.
The teacher must first check, proof then authorize the publishing. The work is
sent to me and then I put it on the school page.
Essentially, the teacher must feel sufficiently confident and proud of the work
to post it under their name with the knowledge that the work may be viewed by
anyone and that this will be a reflection on them and the school.
Example: student multimedia poetry via powerpoint see
and click on faculty, then brandenurg
... Bob Kenyon, Webmaster, St. Mark's School of Texas
Peddie School (NJ): Our Principio program works similarly. They have had great success
with this approach, and have even had a request from a university to put a link to a student's paper on their Web site! Start at
and follow the Principio link ... Tim Corica, The Peddie School (e-mail: tcorica@PEDDIE.ORG)
The book "Oh What a Web Weave, Computer Technology in Secondary Schools" by Tim Hilman and Craig Thorn IV, published by Avocus Publishing, is highly recommended to gain a philosophical framework for web issues.
PART TWO: Suggestions and Ideas (Steve Bergen)
Producing a web page that gets used and shown to all students and outlines ideas of plagiarism and honesty
A combined mini-class by a computer teacher and history/english teacher can be very effective to highlight the tech and intellectual aspects
The more PR the better .. parent newsletter, student guide, handout shee
)