The Daily Bulletin Archive

Fifteen faculty members engaged in a spirited discussion about plagiarism on Friday during an event hosted by theFaculty Development Center.

Sue McMillen, associate professor of mathematics and director of faculty development, moderated a panel discussion featuring Jennifer Hunt, associate professor of psychology, Barish Ali, visiting assistant professor of English, and Michael Cretacci, assistant professor of criminal justice. All offered advice on how to prevent and identify plagiarism among students.

McMillen said she organized the event because she has observed plagiarism to be a frequently discussed topic among faculty. She also said that new faculty often ask how to incorporate plagiarism policy in their syllabi.

“I don’t think the level of plagiarism is different here from any other college campus,” Hunt said. “Nevertheless, it’s a problem I encounter every semester, and there are many steps I take to prevent it.”

E. H. Butler Library defines plagiarism as “the submission or presentation of work, in any form, that is not one’s own, without acknowledgment of the sources.” Buffalo State enforces penalties for plagiarism under its academic misconduct policy.

“It takes effort to instill a good plagiarism policy and to check work, but it’s worthwhile,” McMillen said. “You can’t assume that students understand what plagiarism is, regardless of their level in college. Today’s technology also makes plagiarism education more difficult for faculty—students grew up in a cut-and-paste world.”

Hunt said she tries to engage students in preventing plagiarism during the first classes of each semester. She has students take a graded quiz through ANGEL.

“I emphasize to students that they’re learning a skill,” Hunt said. “I teach them how to properly cite sources and how paraphrasing requires rewriting material in their own language and voice.”

To prevent plagiarism, Ali said, he assigns essays in stages by asking for research questions, annotated bibliographies, and drafts. He then schedules a student-teacher conference before collecting final papers. Ali said he also assigns very specific shorter assignments in order to make it difficult or impossible to lift material from the Internet, with the goal of spurring more original thought and writing.

“Plagiarism detection can be time-consuming, so in addition to using TurnItIn, I enter phrases in quotes on Google, Google Books, and the ‘Search Inside This Book’ feature on Amazon.com,” Ali said. “I also show students early on how the TurnItIn system works from a professor’s standpoint. I’ve found that to be an effective deterrent, as some students don’t realize how effective the technology is.”

Cretacci said he can often spot plagiarism simply by reading a paper and realizing it doesn’t have the same “voice” that a student uses in class.

Hunt believes that most students don’t try to cheat and that, if they do commit plagiarism, it’s often because they didn’t realize how to properly cite sources.

“I try to instill in students that proper citation is part of their education and that plagiarism can affect them down the line,” she said. “Good writing is one of the most important skills to gain, and plagiarism later in life can cost them their jobs.”

For sample plagiarism quizzes and tips on how to teach APA citation, McMillen recommends visiting the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL).