A recent allfaculty email from a caring and concerned professor brought our attention to yet another term-paper mill. This one purports to create original papers that cannot be traced. Yet, we still hear the call for the College to invest in anti-plagiarism software. In fact, our course-authoring software will soon offer this option. The question remains, is this the best approach at a two-year college?
As a reference/instruction librarian I’ve beat the Information Literacy drum for many years and continue to work with classroom faculty to help prevent these incidents. My recent response to the email evoked many positive replies and more suggestions. Here are some of mine. I urge everyone to comment and include their thoughts to this thread.
Although plagiarism has always been a problem, the digital age brings new complications.
Here are some techniques that may help avoid plagiarism. Granted, they require more work, but are worth the effort.
Bring your classes to a Library information literacy instruction session tailored to your assignment. A library faculty member will discuss the research process, show students how to locate and evaluate quality information and explain how to cite the material correctly. It makes the process much less overwhelming. Although the syllabus is packed, the time it takes from the “course work” will be well worth the final results.
Explain plagiarism and its consequences early in the semester. Many acts of plagiarism are accidental – that is, students feel using/quoting material from other sources is cheating, or they do not know how to properly cite. Alternately, they have been taught in another country that collaborating with others is an acceptable practice.
Make students aware of the Writing Center. Tom D’Angelo and the other faculty who work there are great.
Make no assumptions about their previous experience writing papers. Many have never done research beyond an encyclopedia, if at all.
Assign the paper incrementally, with separate due dates: thesis one week, abstract the next, outline etc. Each part should include sources found in the NCC library collections in print and online. Insist on hard copy of at least two resources, either a printout or a photocopy of pages.
Be meticulous with citation styles.Spot check the references and citations. (Have other students spot check citations.) I am often approached by students who come in with a completed paper and just want “some sources for their bibliography because the professor wants sources.” )
Assign topics that are specific to your class discussion and require a source you have brought to that discussion in the paper. Avoid the favorite topics that have been done and done in high school.
Have students keep a “research journal” either in paper or on a blog. This should include the process of locating and selecting material as well as challenges and successes they encountered while working on the paper.
After the papers are submitted, have students write a three minute summary of their papers’ main points or have them explain the main points to you/the class orally.
Plagiarism detection software can be useful to show students what they may have done wrong after the fact, or to scare them into avoiding it in the first place, but prevention is a better learning tool.
As for the turn paper mill cited, this is an extract from their sample:
Therefore, the problem arouses: how to make the communication in business effective enough that it would help to achieve professional goals?It seems this industry may have been outsourced to a country with less than perfect English skills lol.
Come speak with a librarian- We are here to work with you
