Thing 10. Copyright & Plagiarism

As many times as I talk to my students about copyright, proper citations, and discuss plagiarism, there are still too many times that I run into improper citations and plagiarism. It is so disappointing. I think that the amount of information on the Internet allows students more access to sources they can copy and paste from--without citing their sources. I discuss MLA format for almost every assignment students turn in because I require every assignment to have the MLA format heading. I discuss proper citations for every journal assignment because they are required to imbed quotes into their journals to support their ideas, which also have to be done in MLA format. I review MLA format for every paper, which for the freshman is six per semester. For my power point presentations for each unit, I also discuss where I got the information I am giving them and cite them in the power point. How does one get students to internalize this information to the point where they understand that it has to do with integrity and academic honesty? This I haven't come to an understanding of. I do think that I have run into it less this year than I have in the past, but that doesn't take the disappointment out of it when I do run into it, which has been twice this semester. The worst, I think, is when I find they have copied each other's work, which I found in one set of journals this year. When I asked the two students, one remained completely quiet while the other student tried to rationalize it.

I guess, I just have to keep addressing it. I have created a link to all the class blogs to MLA. Maybe I can add a place on my website too that discusses the importance of citing sources correctly and the reasons why--a combination of resources like Como's website, but with an additional personal analysis on why plagiarism is wrong and how it could effect them after they plagiarize. I suppose kids are kids and sometimes they make mistakes. It doesn't take the disappointment out of the discovery of plagiarism though and the loss of trust it creates. I guess I have to keep drilling the importance of proper citations into their minds--until every single one of them understands this. The problem, of course, with this theory is that I believe they all know plagiarism is wrong. They also all know what plagiarism is. They have been taught this all through middle school as well so this discussion is not new to them. Maybe there is a way to personalize this topic so they understand this issue enough to link it to their integrity. I don't know what that lesson looks like, but I will keep thinking about this.