Digital

Citizenship and Plagiarism and Copyright By: Chris MacKinnon Introduction

The website Plagarism.org defines plagiarism as an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone elses work and lying about it afterword (iParadigms, LLC, 2012). As Bailey (2008) discusses on his website Plagiarism Today, schools do have a great deal to worry about with plagiarism. With computers and the Web, plagiarism is easier than ever before. This is in part because Internet usage has grown 566.4% between the years 2000 and 2012 (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2012). As a result, information on any and every topic imaginable is only a mouse click away (Jones 2011). Therefore, digital citizenship requires students to have an awareness of academic dishonesty. Students need to be taught that information found on the Internet is not free to be passed off as their own original work. In other words, students need an awareness of copyright and plagiarism and an awareness of the consequences of academic dishonesty. Student Attitudes and Perception of Plagiarism: A Study by Jones (2011) To begin, there are many reasons why students plagiarize and not respect copyright laws. The sheer volume of information overwhelms some students or they may need to meet a fast approaching deadline or they may not even know that they are plagiarizing. (iParadigms, LLC, 2012). In fact, plagiarism could be both intentional and unintentional. However, in a study conducted with university students found widespread knowledge and acceptance of academic dishonesty with regards to information found on the Internet (Jones, 2011). Jones (2011) conducted a survey with 48 university students in the fall of 2010 to reinforce appropriate digital citizenship (Jones, 2011, p. 142).

This study found that 92% of students said either they had cheated or knew of someone else who had cheated. As well, 41% indicated they would not cheat because of their own personal set of ethics. Stated another way, this indicates that 59% of students in this study would indeed engage in some sort of academic dishonesty. Also, this study found that 50% of the students surveyed knew someone who had engaged in some form of Internet cheating (Jones, 2011). What was even more distressing was that the students in this study had difficulty identifying what constituted cheating. For example, while 100% of the students surveyed correctly identified passing in someone elses paper with your name on it was cheating. However, only 25% recognized that using media texts like pictures, audio, and video from the Internet without proper citations was plagiarism (Jones, 2011). Therefore, if university age students need further awareness and instruction of what constitutes plagiarism and cheating, then high school students most certainly do. Plagiarism and Copyright: What Can Be Done? Today, it is unusual to find a classroom, let alone a school, that does not have access to the Internet. It is perhaps just as rare to find a high school student that does not carry a cell phone or smart phone capable of accessing the Internet. As the Internet continues to be such an important tool in the classroom, teachers need to instruct students on issues surrounding copyright and plagiarism and provide instruction about downloading and using copyrighted works. In addition, teachers need to teach students that creative content and copyright apply to such things as images, videos, and music as well as written text. If students use material someone else has authored, they need to give the owner of the work credit.

3 So as teachers in the 21st century, The Age of Information, what can we do to

teach students about the importance of respecting intellectual property rights and prevent plagiarism? Here are some guidelines to teachers can use to teach students how to use information and intellectual property in a responsible way: 1. Give students a solid definition of plagiarism and copyright: In order for students to learn about plagiarism and copyright they need to understand what it is, and what it is not. To begin, high school students could complete an online pretest to gauge what they may know or not know about plagiarism and copyright. The University of Southern Mississippi offers one such quiz called So You Think You Know What Plagiarism Is? There are a variety of web sources including www.plagiarism.org and www.plagarismtoday.com that provide concise

definitions of plagiarism. In addition, a print resource Plagiarism: A How-Not-To Guide For Students also provides many suggestions for defining and combating plagiarism. In addition there are many humorous and interesting YouTube videos that discuss plagiarism including Dr. Theodor Richardsons Own Your EducationPlagiarism, which gives some examples of plagiarism. Another, What is Plagarism? developed by Rutgers University provides a much more comprehensive discussion plagiarism. In addition, YouTube itself many videos and resources dealing with copyright including the video YouTube Copyright School. 2. Teach the difference between searching and researching: Students need to learn that searching information is the easy part. In fact, the real skills they need to learn are interpretation and analysishow to process the information they

4 find (iParadigms, LLC, 2012). In other words, students need to learn how to sift through various sources of information to find what they need, rather then copying and pasting text from the Internet. Essentially, it goes back to good old fashioned reading comprehension and analysis with a 21st century twist. 3. Teach the importance of developing their own writers voice: Students may copy an experts material because they feel their own work will be subpar. However, teachers need to stress the importance of developing their own voice and style and how much they understand about the topic (iParadigms, LLC, 2012). In other words, teachers need to stress the process, not the product. 4. Teach the difference between plagiarism and paraphrasing: According to Gilmore (2009) paraphrasing is a legitimate practice so long as credit is given (p. 20). It is an essential skill for researching and is also great reading practice (Gilmore 2009). It is also a very difficult skill to master. Students need to be taught how to retain the essential ideas of the original but significantly change the style and grammatical structure to fit the context of their argument (iParadigms, LLC, 2012). Providing students with writing exemplars of paraphrased and plagiarized passages and discussing the differences would accomplish this. In addition, practice with paraphrasing information would help students hone and refine this skill. To that end, ReadWriteThink.org offers an extensive online lesson on how to teach plagiarism and paraphrasing skills. 5. Teach the importance of citing sources: There is such a wide variety of information available to students today. This information varies from text, to video, to images, and beyond. Students need to be taught the difference between

5 what they are free to use and which are in fact intellectual property. According to iParadigms, LLC (2012), the best thing to do is if you are in doubt, then cite your sources. It is better to be safe than accused of plagiarism later.

 References Bailey, J. (2008, September 25). The role of schools in fighting plagiarism. Retrieved from http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008/09/25/the-role-of-schools-infighting-plagiarism/ Gilmore, B. (2008). Plagiarism: A how-not-to guide for students. Portsmouth: Heinemann.

iParadigms, LLC. (2012). Educational tips on plagiarism prevention. Retrieved from http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_educational_tips_on_plagiarism_preventi on.html Jones, D. L. R. (2011). Academic dishonesty: Are more students cheating?. Business communication quarterly, 74(2), 141-150. doi: DOI: 10.1177/1080569911404059 Kardick, M. (2012). Exploring plagiarism, copyright, and paraphrasing. Retrieved from http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/exploringplagiarism-copyright-paraphrasing-1062.html?tab=1 Miniwatts Marketing Group. (2012). Internet world stats: Usage and population statistics. Retrieved from http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm Pirillo, C. (Artist). (2006). The whole internet truth. [Web Drawing]. Retrieved from http://blaugh.com/2006/10/13/the-whole-internet-truth/ Richardson, T. (2010, March 28). Own your education presents..plagiarism. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_lnC6z9F8g&feature=related Rutgers University. (2007, November 13). What is plagiarism? Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P05vgxDoPU University of Southern Mississippi Libraries. (n.d.). So you think you know what plagiarism is? Retrieved from http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/plag/pretest.php YouTube. (2011, March 24). Youtube copyright school. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InzDjH1-9Ns