Plagiarism is defined as using someone else’s words and/or ideas without proper credit being given. This needs to be emphasized in schools. Teaching about plagiarism can begin as early as 3rd grade. If started earlier, age-appropriate information must be used to reinforce the concept.
Students need to learn not to plagiarize before they are assigned a written project. They must understand that they should not copy another’s work without crediting the original writer. Students first must learn how to conduct research. This should be done at the beginning of the school year and throughout.
Plagiarism is Cheating
Plagiarism is a difficult concept to teach. Many students think copying and pasting from an online article is acceptable when completing an assignment. However, they must learn to credit the original text, image, figure, or idea. Students who cite a source in their information make the original author’s voice available to others. Students must also learn to paraphrase thoughts and ideas.
Strategies for Teaching
Begin by clearly explaining plagiarism as copying someone else’s words. Use age-appropriate examples so students understand. Plagiarism is more than copying words from Wikipedia or other sources. Students must show academic integrity by crediting others’ original work through practice.
Teaching students to paraphrase is a way to eliminate the plagiarization of text. Teach students to read and understand written text so they can paraphrase when writing. In rewrites of text, students need to use their own words. They can change sentence structure by combining ideas or creating shorter sentences. After thoroughly reading a paragraph for understanding, students should look up words they do not understand. This helps to form a clear understanding of the original text. In looking up unknown words, students can find synonyms that are grade-appropriate. Once students understand paraphrasing, they must be taught to include a citation. This means writing the author’s name, year, and page number with the text.
To evaluate written work, see if credit is given to the original text. If quoted correctly, check the proper use of quotation marks. Check if the paraphrasing is different than the original text.
Writing assignments are not uncommon in the classroom. They are given as early as the third grade. Thus, it’s not too early to avoid the copy-and-paste method. As students learn to write, praise their ideas and how they incorporate them with the original ideas of others. Students must have academic integrity and not plagiarize another’s thoughts and ideas.
