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Keeping Kids Honest: Using Digital Resources to Steer Clear of Plagiarism
Caroline McCullen
Instructional Technologist, SAS inSchool
Will be posted here:
http://www.sasinschool.com/presentations/
Old presentation on copyright
http://www.sasinschool.com/presentations/pages/digital_handout.shtml
Some teachers are keeping archives of plagiarism examples
Midlink magazine: website sponsored by SAS inSchool, started when Caroline was in the English classrom in Florida
Where you can go to see where the rubber meets the road
Agenda 1:
- define plagiearism
- strategies and activities to minimize plagiearism in a digital world
- research practices to encourge honesty
- detective work
Agenda 2: Addressing the NETS for Students
Caroline thinks students sometimes don't understand what plagiarism is
- copying directly from another's work
- copying from the web
- changing a few words...and then copying (how many words? moves into a grey area)
- submitting someone else's work as your own
- purchasing a term paper
-- http://www.fastpapers.com/
-- www.things-fall-apart.com - an entire website kids can go to and obtain essays about the novel, get something customized, etc.
- educator's affliction: ok to copy things because I am in education (graphics and charts)
Helping students recognize plagiearism:
- schoolwide discussion of plagiarism
- define plagiearism and share 'horror stories'
- discuss school's honor code
Raising Awareness
- discuss intellectual property
- define "common knowledge" (which students do not have to cite)
- fill your classroom with good examples (examples of website citations, etc)
- send your policies home to parents and discuss at open house
A Way with Words
- cite at the beginning: "According to Jones...."
- cite at the end with parentheses (Jackson and Davis, 235)
- The Skill of Paraphrasing - define and practice
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/wts/plagiarism.html
Cornell Notes is a good model for notetaking
- main ideas go on the left
- details go on the right
- idea is the students are forced to do some info processing at the time they take the notes
Ways you formulate a question and requiring students to chunk the info when they take notes can make it harder to plagiarize
Having students construct a semantic maps can help students organize information themselves, and not just spit back regurgitated facts
KWHL - What I know, What I WANT to know, How will I find all information, What I learned
- www.ncsu.edu/midlink/tch.wk.rm.htm
Used to be where the presenter was trying to encourage teachers to let students search on the web
- now it has been reversed, everyone tries the web 1st and it is not always the best place to start searching
Need to have 'checkpoints' on the way in the writing process on the path to final draft
- can't just turn something in at the end of a 3 week period
- 1 teacher has students photocopy the first page of original source either online or in book form, makes it easier for source validation
Encouraging Higher Levels of Thinking
Processes
- writing as a process
- require topic proposals
- multiple drafts
- photocopies of original sources
Activities (don't just ask factual questions)
- simulations (if you were the President of Mozambique, how would you meet a specific
- role-plays
- projects- Ask students to synthesize and evaluate (higher levels of Blooms), also compare and contrast
Asking them to select the best of somthing in an array of choices
- Develop a proposal for something
- assume the role of a ____ and describe how you would solve the problem of _____
- evaluate 2 concepts / ideas / solutions
Software can help
- www.inspiration.com - helps students think in chunks, this helps them create more original thought
- www.SASinSchool.com
-- asks students to put information into a document analyzer
-- students do that right within the webpage
Templates within inspiration are fantastic
How are kids going to do on standardized tests if students are working on evaluation and synthesis
- Harold Wenglinsky "Does it Comput?" ETC, 10/8/98 ftp://ftp.ets.org/pub/res/technolog.pdf
students who were given drill and practice activities did worse on standardized tests
Create a class ortal
- www.blackboard.com
- www.schoolcruiser.com

Harvesting and Sharing Web Resources
- webquests: problem-based learning - edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest
- Tramline: www.field-trips.org
- Backflip: Sharing bookmarks - www.backflip.com
www.fieldtrips.org
SLATE Citation Machine
http://landmarks4schools.org/citation_machine/cm_web.php3Citing images: guide on University of Michigan
Detecting plagiarism
- can use search engines to find text in google or altavista (first sentence or paragraph)www.turnitin.com is a commercial service for catching plagiarism
- these services collect papers and keep them in their database, some people are reacting strongly against that
- one example goes a long way (catching / detecting one student - they become the best tool you could have for preventing future incidents)
Included a summary of lessons
- define plagiearism and paraphrase
- teach citation guidelines
- teach note-taking skills
- include checkpoints and writing in class
- design activities that evoke opinons and higher order thinking
- save time by narrowing the path
- take advantage of innovative softwareShe brings the lawyer from SAS to her copyright presentations