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University of the West of Scotland


Signposts and Guidelines

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Help your students to avoid plagiarism

Plagiarism is a problem throughout higher education and it is increasingly important to ensure that our students are fully equipped with the information, knowledge and skills to enable them to undertake written work effectively. Problems often occur because students are not fully aware of what constitutes plagiarism and are not fully informed on how to avoid it.

If students are to avoid plagiarism, it is important that they are informed, as early as possible, about the following:

  • The nature of academic discourse: when students come to university we cannot assume that they are already familiar with the structure and conventions of academic essays or reports. They must be shown clearly what is required of them, and must be taught what is acceptable and what is not.
  • The purpose and practice of referencing: students new to HE must be taught the rationale for referencing their work – why do we reference? - and the procedures and conventions for referencing.
  • The requirements of each particular assessment: students must be fully aware of what they are required to do in any assessment, ie, is the work to be an essay or a report, what word-length is required, the preferred style of presentation, what referencing requirements are demanded.

Resources to Help Your Students

The CAPD study skills page has a number of resources to help students with writing coursework:/capd/students/studyskills/index.asp

The My Linc site on Blackboard also has help available through its online study skills resources.

There is a detailed guide to referencing available on the University Library’s site.

Resources to Help Staff

The report Dealing with Plagiarism details the findings of the University’s Plagiarism Working Group:

The recommendations document details the Group’s major proposals.

The Implementation document outlines how the recommendations will be put into effect.

One of the recommendations concerns the use of the TURNITIN plagiarism detection software. Pilots examining TURNITIN in practice are already underway in the University. You can find out more about TURNITIN at the JISCPAS/Northumbria Learning site: http://jiscpas.northumbrialearning.co.uk/

If you are interested in using TURNITIN, you should contact CAPD. Guidance has been placed on the web covering how to use TURNITIN for staff and for students: The links below take you to the login page of Blackboard. Once logged in the guides are listed under the Staff Help section.

Other Resources

The Plagarism Advisory Service, visit: www.plagiarismadvice.org

Carroll, J, A Handbook on Deterring Plagiarism in Higher Education, Oxford, OCSLD, 2002.

Moon, J, Plagiarism in higher education: an integrated approach: workshop handout, March 2005, available at:

www.admin.ex.ac.uk/academic/ugfaculty/staff/plagworkshop.doc

Stephani, L & Alsop, G, Preventing Plagiarism, Educational Developments, 6.3, September 2005.