Are you plagued by plagiarism among your students? It is on the rise: In 1999, only 10% of students admitted they had cheated by using others’ material as their own, without citing sources, yet in 2005, 40% of students admitted to such behavior. In reality, studies have shown that closer to 70% of students commit plagiarism (CAI, 2005, as cited by Hexham, 2005).
While some otherwise honest students may occasionally unintentionally plagiarize when they are in a hurry, the true plagiarist is unrepentant: This type of student’s behavior is repetitive and sneaky. Some may try to weave a sprinkling of their own words in with entire sections of someone else’s text. Others are so brazen, they will cut-and-paste passages from various sources without changing their obviously different fonts. Such habitual cheaters will plagiarize on most assignments, in discussion forums and on tests. If they are caught, they may change classes, but persist in their behavior. If a plagiarist is cheating in one class, you can be fairly sure she or he is doing the same in all of them.
Because online classes are usually only for 8-or 12-week terms, teachers may have a hard time catching a student’s habitual plagiarizing. It is especially hard to detect for teachers who are busy with 3 or more classes, who do not have time to compare the consistency of quality of a suspected student’s work. That is why plagiarism checkers are an indispensable tool for teachers of online classes.
To make your work easier as an online teacher, here are the top 6 plagiarism detection checkers:
(1) PlagScan (http://www.plagscan.com) See review at http://plagiarism-checker-review.toptenreviews.com/plagscan-review.html)
(2) CheckForPlagiarism.net (http://www.checkforplagiarism.net ) See review at http://plagiarism-checker-review.toptenreviews.com/checkforplagiarism.net-review.html),
(3) iThenticate (http://www.ithenticate.com/) See review at http://plagiarism-checker-review.toptenreviews.com/ithenticate-review.html
(4) PlagiarismDetection.org (http://PlagiarismDetection.org/). See review at http://plagiarism-checker-review.toptenreviews.com/plagiarismdetection.org-review.html
(5) Academic Plagiarism (http://people.ucalgary.ca/~hexham/content/articles/plague-of-plagiarism.html). See review at http://plagiarism-checker-review.toptenreviews.com/academic-plagiarism-review.html
(6) The Plagiarism Checker (http://www.plagiarismchecker.com). See review at http://plagiarism-checker-review.toptenreviews.com/the-plagiarism-checker-review.html
If you want to find out more on what is being done about plagiarism, have a look at the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) (2013). Retrieved from http://www.academicintegrity.org/icai/home.php
References
Hexham, I. (2005). The plague of plagiarism: Academic plagiarism defined. Retrieved from http://people.ucalgary.ca/~hexham/content/articles/plague-of-plagiarism.html
International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI) (2013). Retrieved from http://www.academicintegrity.org/icai/home.php
Top Ten Reviews (2013). Plagiarism checkers. Retrieved from http://plagiarism-checker-review.toptenreviews.com/
Your post is very informative as it relates to detection of plagiarize. I would like to point out some reasons I have discovered as to why some people plagiarize. (1). Some people have writing issues and are talented as well intelligent, but does not necessary mean they are great writer. According to Jocoy & DiBiase (2006), a person can be a magnificent educator, researcher, artist, musician, scientist, etc. without being a writer. (2) Intelligent people seem o have more pressure placed on them as with pressure to excel pressure to get things done and pressure to pressure to b the best at everything they do, even when it is not practical.
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Jocoy, C., & DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in detection and remediation. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7(1), 1–15.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases
Since plagiarism is so rampant, it is the job of the instructor to make sure that the learners know what pertains to plagiarism and what the consequences would be. If this is done in the beginning of the course, then students will find it hard to blatantly attempt it. And when plagiarism is detected after that, the consequences should be adhered to. i do agree that in an online course that is only 4-8 weeks long, it will be very hard to implement.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comments! It strikes me that some plagiarists put in as much or more energy into cheating as doing it right requires! As educators, we must make it clear what the expectations and rules are for us and the institutions we represent. We can then offer direction in academic writing and APA/MLA formatting. From there we can work to design assignments and assessments which devalue plagiarism and encourage incorporation of the course core concepts and skills into their lives and skillset.
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