Abstract:

Since the advent of technology and the efficacy of copy and paste, the prevalence of plagiarism has grown dramatically. In part, the incidence of plagiarism is due to the vast amount of readily available source material, but is perhaps becoming evident as that material is readily available, i.e. while it is very simple for a researcher to quickly copy and paste material from an online source, it is equally simple for another researcher to search the originality of that material.

Thus, while the technological phenomena both created a space for plagiarism, it has also created the space for its unveiling. The puzzle is, in the wake of such a great push against plagiarism, why does it continue. Current research points to two major causes for plagiarism:
1) the student’s lack of research citation procedural knowledge – the student does have the knowledge base to accurately cite the source material correctly, and thus does not, and
2) the student lacks confidence in his/her own writing ability – many students question the need to re-write something already published, seeing this as either grandiose or wasted energy.

However currently, technology affords instructors an efficacious opportunity to break down both barriers via scaffolding and individuated instruction through the active engagement of students in the research and writing process. Rather than allowing a student to submit a work without censure, technology enables instructors to engage in the writing process with the student to certify relevant source material, evaluate that material, pull quotes, and summarize/paraphrase these materials under supervision so that the student learns which articles are pertinent for his/her use, which quotes will work well for his/her purposes, and then efficaciously integrate that material into the student’s work.

This presentation illustrates how to:
1) engage students in active research,
2) scaffold the student’s accurate review of articles for pertinent source material, and
3) integrate that material into the student’s work.

Herein, the student’s research and analysis skills are honed, his/her confidence is bolstered, and s/he is able avoid the pitfalls of plagiarism. Additionally, the session will reflect on the vast reduction of plagiarized work, and student’s reflections of this systematic approach to build a researched document.

Keywords:

Research, Using Source Material, Plagiarism, Individuated Instruction, Scaffolding Learning Techniques.