Students will be able to: 

A. write a definition plagiarism

B. write an explanation about American university views of why plagiarism is bad

C. write directions to help other students avoid plagiarism 

Location: location of choice and for class in a computer lab with teacher projection capability 

Reading Materials:

Prior to class, students will be sent to the web sites below to read about plagiarism 

Links:

Students will receive an eMail from the instructor as follows: 

Greetings – 

In this unit, you are going to learn more about how to give citations of the work of other authors when you write academic papers for your classes. You have already talked with a classmate about how you write papers at home. Now, read the following web pages. As you are reading, make notes about how American university ideas of source citation and plagiarism differ from your own country. 

http://campuslife.indiana.edu/Code  – reading on what plagiarism is and how it is viewed in American universities 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_plagiar.html  – reading on ways of avoiding plagiarism 

http://www.ku.edu/~handbook/codes.html#Academic%20Misconduct  – University of Kansas Article II Section 6 of the University Rules and Regulations as shown in the Student Handbook. 

When you are finished reading these, answer the following question, and send a copy of your answer to me and to your partner. 

Question: What things did you read that surprised you? Why do these things surprise you? What do you think is the biggest difference between the USA and your home country when giving citations in academic papers? 

Please send your answers to me and your partner no later than midnight on Friday. 

Thanks, 

Your Teacher 

 

In class links:

True/False Quiz

http://school.discovery.com/quizzes28/malgren/PlagiarismI.html  

Short Answer Quiz 

http://school.discovery.com/quizzes28/malgren/PlagiarismII.html 

Additional Readings Links 

These will be sent to students as a follow-up for additional reading before the paper is written. 

For some additional examples of plagiarism AND suggested versions of how to write the information so it is not plagiarized, see examples from: 

Drew University

http://www.depts.drew.edu/composition/Avoiding_Plagiarism.htm  

The University of Tampere (Finland)

http://www.uta.fi/FAST/PP3E/REF/plag-ex.html  

The University of Western Ontario (Canada)

http://geography.ssc.uwo.ca/undergrad_prog/essay_guide/definiti.htm  

Brooklyn College (New York)

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core3/currah/acinteg.htm  

Activation of Prior Knowledge 

Students will have either an eMail exchange with a partner, or an IM chat with a partner, with the following questions to guide the discussion. Students must copy the instructor on their eMail exchange, or submit a transcript of their IM chat. IM chat will be encouraged for the better exchange and interaction of ideas. 

When you are writing an academic paper in your own language, when do you refer to the work of other writers (like from books and periodicals you have read).

If you were explaining to an American student how s/he should write an academic paper for a university class in your country, what would you say about copying work from others, and about writing their own thoughts and ideas?

Again, in the same paper, what would you say to an American student about including information in that paper about where the copied/paraphrased information came from? 

Activities 

Pre-class 

See Activation of Prior Knowledge 

Class 

The purpose behind doing this in a lab and on computers is so the teacher can monitor group work activity and keep students on task. This could, alternatively, be completed outside of class or individually, but then the teacher has no knowledge of who participated or contributed within each group. The interaction in pairs will help students to wrestle with this very complex topic and the teacher will be present as a consultant when things get sticky. 

Students will work in pairs to answer the true/false quiz. Answers submitted to the teacher (also in the lab) will be corrected immediately on submission and used for further class discussion, especially if there are common threads to the errors. 

Following completion of the T/F quiz, the same pairs will work on the short answer questions. The teacher will be able to quickly review their work and respond in class with answers beneficial to the whole class, or with individual consultation with groups. 

Homework assignment for individual work:

You have now read several articles about plagiarism, and you should understand what a serious issue this is in an American university. One of the purposes of citation is to help people create new knowledge. We do this by building on what has been done in the past. We want to know what has been done already, and sometimes go back and read the original article – so you need to cite your sources. But you, with your own set of knowledge and experiences and view of the world, may come up with new and important ideas that build on the work of others. Therefore, anyone reading your writing needs to know what is yours, and what comes from others. 

Imagine that a newly-arrived international student who says to you, “I read in the KU Student Handbook that I could get a bad grade, or get kicked out of KU if I plagiarize, but I really don’t understand what it’s all about. What is plagiarism? Why is everyone so worried about it here?” 

Your assignment is to write a 300-400 word paper explaining this concept. Be sure to include information about how the student can avoid getting in trouble. 

Answers to the Plagiarism Quiz

(based on http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_plagiar.html) 

For each of the following, click YES if you need to document or cite a source for the information: Click NO if you do not need to include a citation of the source of the information. 

1. You write about experiences you had in your home country.

(correct answer: no)  

2. You include information from the University Daily Kansan newspaper in your paper.

(correct answer: yes)  

3. You use information from a book but you did not quote it directly.

(correct answer: yes) 

4. The words of the original author are so good that you copy them verbatim (exactly).

(correct answer: yes)  

5. You mention the dates that a famous person was born and died..

(correct answer: no)  

6. You write a story that one of your friends told you about her life in her own country.

(correct answer: yes) 

7. The quote that you want to use is long, so you leave out one or two phrases.

(correct answer: yes) 

8. You wrote your own opinion about an important topic in your major field.

(correct answer: no)  

9. You describe the results of an experiment that you did with a classmate.

(correct answer: no)  

10. You write a summary of the ideas in a journal article in your own words.

(correct answer: yes)