Avoid_Plagiarism


 

Student Tip: Avoid Plagiarism

 

 

In online courses, teachers sometimes have difficulty determining if students have plagiarized or are submitting their own work.  As a student, you can prevent any misunderstandings about the originality of your written work by following some of the following strategies.

 

1.  Take the Practice test to determine how much you already know about plagiarism.  Too easy?  Try the Plagiarism Quiz.

 

2.  Be sure you know the definition of plagiarism, what style guide is required by your instructor and how to follow it.  Take a look at these Plagiarism Examples , Style Guides and correct Citation Examples.

 

3.  One of the best ways to avoid plagiarism is to use a well organized process for researching and writing your assignment or essay.  Sometimes students plagiarize accidentally simply by rushing the research process and/or keeping sloppy records of references.

 

First, set up a timeline for completion of your written assignment using the Assignment Calculator.  That way you can stay on track and avoid writing your paper at the last minute and making careless mistakes.

Assignment Calculator logo

 

Next, use a careful system for keeping track of your references as you go along your research process.

 

 

4.  After writing and submitting any written assignment you ought to be able to answer the following questions from your instructor:

 

 

Answering these questions will help you think about your own learning as well as provide evidence to your instructor that you did your own work.  If your knowledge of written work you submit is sketchy then your instructor may be concerned.

 

 

banner of students with computers

 

5.     Some instructors use an online service, such as Turnitin, to check student written work for plagiarism.  You may want to learn more about Turnitin services for yourself BEFORE you submit your written work for an instructor.

 

Tunitin logo

 

6.     Imagine serving as a student representative on a Student Appeals Committee where you have to decide on a grade in a student plagiarism situation. 

 

 

broken pencil

 

7.     To learn more about plagiarism, complete these tutorials.

 


Creative Commons License

 

This work is licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

2007