Plagiarism on the Net

Grade level?
Sixth Grade Science Class integrating Ethics in Technology (can integrate with any other subject, just change the report topic).

Unit objective?
Teach students what Plagiarism is and how to avoid it in the context of writing a class report. This is to be the first time during the school year that you cover or teach how to write a research report using the internet.

What resources do I need?
Access to a computer lab that has access to the internet.

Web sites to use?
Student sites:
1. Avoiding Plagiarism
2. Plagerism... an ugly word
3. University of Northern British Columbia article on Plagiarism

Teacher sites:
1. From Now On, The Educational Technology Journal, Vol 7|No 8|May|1998, article on Plagiarism
2. Cut-and-Paste Plagiarism: Preventing, Detecting and Tracking Online Plagiarism

Active learning activities for students?
Students will learn how to search the internet for information on a teacher selected topic for an internet research report, read a few websites on plagiarism - what it is and how to avoid it - and write the report, correctly citing the resources found on the internet.

The lesson:
Spend some time in class defining and discussing what plagiarism is (this could be done in the lab also, using the student web sites or in class after students have had a chance to review the student web sites in pairs).

An example of a lesson on Mt. Saint Helens can be found at:
Mt. Saint Helens Lesson

Have students complete the report in the lab. I actually tried that lesson with my sixth graders but didn’t emphasize the plagiarism part as much as do here. I’m adding this to my lesson. An example of the kids’ work can be found at: student's work. As you can see, the bibliographies are sorely lacking. I found three to four visits to the lab wasn’t enough and had so much trouble with students losing their work and having to start over. What I did to avoid the whole plagiarism issue, and what caused the losing work dilemma, was require that students take notes from the internet sites on paper by hand. I didn’t teach them how to copy-n-paste so none of them even tried. With the web sites and a lesson on plagiarism, I feel more comfortable now going ahead and showing my students how to copy-n-paste.

Specific outcomes for students at the end of this unit?
Emphasis here is on learning the steps needed to research using the internet as well as to learn about plagiarism and how serious an offense it is, and to learn how to avoid it.

How will students demonstrate those outcomes?
As teacher guides the student through the lesson, teacher watches for correct use of search engines. As students begin to copy the information, teacher helps students quote and paraphrase the information found. Students are encouraged and praised for writing their own thoughts and feelings about the information they found. Finally, the final product is checked for correct citations in a bibliography.

How much time will it take?
Three to four 1-hour computer lab sessions with some in-class build-up and follow-through.