Cheaters & plagiarizers...

My ninth grade global students just tuned in their first major research paper for me (they've done small ones during the year and DBQs, but this is their first BIG one) and I was SHOCKED at how many plagiarized! I caught them by putting random sentences into google and seeing what came up. Probably about 1/3 of all the 60 students that I teach copied at least parts of their papers from the Internet. The worst part was, we did 2 days with the Library Media Specialist on plagiarism and citations!! I am so disappointed, especially since it means I have to fail eveyone who copied! I'm not stupid, and I know a lot of them cheat, but I never knew it was to this magnitude.

Has anyone else had a similar situation? What would you do? Also, are you as shocked by this as I am?

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

My students (hs) do this ALL THE TIME.

If I ask them to write a paragraph describing something, they will go on the Internet, use Google, and copy/paste... even the best student in one particular class does this!!!!! It's so obvious too!!! It's like they refuse to produce an original thought. I don't find it shocking so much as I do frustrating.

I haven't figured out a good way to put an end to it. First time I'd let them know you know they cheated & make them do it over. Next time call parent & they get a 0 or something like that. Maybe in your school, if it continues you could get your chairperson involved.

Good luck

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

I'm sorry. It happens all the time for me too, and I absolutely hate it. I get a pit in my stomach when google actually returns results, and it's been happening for me for 8 years now.

We have an honor code in my school, so the rules are laid out plainly and simply for them depending on how many offenses they have. It's made things a lot easier because we can just point to it when parents complain.

It's so disheartening to think that they think they can get away with this. I can't understand how they think it's ok. It's STEALING, plain and simple. I also can't stand that they seem to think we're stupid. Here's what I like to tell them: if YOU can find it, I can find it.

Good luck. I know how disappointing it is. I usually pull out that word, too. They generally hate to know they've disappointed you.

If you want to know our policy, FM me, and I'll send it to you.

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

Well, I teach younger students, but my oldest ones are in 8th grade, and I spend a looooooooooooooong time going over plagiarism and citation with them before we start our research projects. STILL, I had issues with this.
Here's what has worked for me, so far:
While it's taken a load of extra time, I stopped everything we were doing, and forced them to do a short research assignment and put things into their own words. It took a couple of days, and we talked about ways that they can actually reword information without just adding a comma or a period and claiming it for their own. I found that many of them actually didn't know how to summarize something they read, so they just copied and pasted instead.
Now, mind you, I'm their music history teacher, but it was important enough for me to go over with them.
I also told them very clearly that I google anything that doesn't sound like they came up with it on their own. I think that's the part that got them scared enough to stop plagiarizing.
They also must give me a complete bibliography and webliography, and I take the time to actually check them. Since so many of them use the internet to do research, usually their sites are the same, so you start to remember the wording as you go along.
I hope that helps, but I approach it as a learning experience and make them understand that I will not tolerate it and force them to own up to it.
Last year I had to call almost an entire class worth of parents in for conferences over this and had all of their kids redo their papers. Their parents were horrified and grateful at the chance for the kids to learn a valuable lesson. Good luck!

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

I basically did everything you suggested. We spent 2 days going over how to avoid plagiarism. I required a complete bibliography. We did research in the library. I told them that I would google everything. But still, I caught 1/3 of the class. I know a lot of teachers simply don't check, and my admin doesn't deal very severely with cheaters for some reason, but I am planning on giving the plagiarizers 0s on the assignment (it's a test grade) to set an example. As much as I hate to say it, for most of them, it is sheer laziness, and for some others, it is being overwhelmed. Still, it's no excuse. I guess there's no good answer It's just all very disappointing... I thought they were better than this.

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

Posted by booklove83

It's just all very disappointing... I thought they were better than this.

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

Every year I have this problem. I am a HS English Teacher so at the beginning of the year I make my plagiarism policy very clear. I even explain to them how easy it is to catch them but still they think they are smarter than me. I am a mean teacher though and read their papers aloud to the class and while they are gloating about how "great" their essay is I then tell them where I got the info from. This usually deters the rest of the students from doing it for the rest of the year. They also get suspended and a Zero on the assignment. My school luckily has a strict policy on this situation.

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

I'm also a high school global teachers...I have found a few papers this year that were plagiarized....I'm lucky that my school has an honor code policy and there is a system in place that allows for the school to deal with it...it is my choice on what to do with the actual grade...I give them zeros...it really has an impact...many of them, believe it or not, thought it was okay if they copy a paragraph or two or more, as long as the whole thing isn't copied...I give about two essays a quarter and explain plagiarism every time...I think most of them have got it, especially after their friends tell them I gave them a zero...oh...I also call the parents, however, sometimes that backfires and then you found out that it was the parents that actually wrote the essay and they plagiarized!!!! It just turns into a whole cycle of lies!!!

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

I work in higher ed, and we see this too (no matter how much we try to tell students they could lose everything by plagiarising). The school I work for subscribes to a service called "Turn it In" which allows a teacher to upload papers in word documents and then actually will provide you with a percentage of plagiarism for the paper. I believe they provide services to k-12 institutions as well.

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

How did it go today? Did you talk to them? I hope they were sorry.

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

I even had a student (a good one too) who turned in their paper with the webaddress still on the bottom.


I received the same paper from 2 different students who didn't know each other - they both got it from the internet.


It's a huge reason that I went MLS

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

I just had 2 really good, honors students turn in obviously plagiarized papers. I confronted them, took a line from from the paper, typed it in Google, and there it was. I called there parents immediately and informed them of the situation and requested a conference. They were given zeros for the papers, and this grade was averaged in to their report cards. During the conference, I reminded them that if this was college, they would likely be expelled. I gave each an assignment to research the Academic Integrity of 2 universities that they are interested in attending and write a 2 page paper analyzing their findings and relating it to their experiences. I gave them a rubric for the assignment, too. I told them that thier grade on the paper would replace the zero they were given, if they hand it in on-time. I know that they will both take advantage of this because they are high achievers who hated recieving a report card today with an 80 in my class. I know this might not be a popular response. I think as a high school teacher, my objective shouldn't be to punish, but to teach--I tried to use this as a teachable moment.

Re: Cheaters & plagiarizers...

As a former library media specialist, I think that prncss's method is key. I was amazed by how many students didn't actually know how to take information and put it into their own words (and these were 12th graders!). When I started doing lessons where they practiced this, we (me and their subject teachers) definitely noticed less plagiarism during the next few assignments.

I saw so many teachers that either didn't care about plagiarism or would threaten to give 0's when they noticed it, and then never followed through with it

Not to excuse your students who are guilty of this, but I really think that the mixed messages students get from their teachers as a whole contribute to the mentality that they can get away with it, b/c a lot of the time, they probably do!

Message edited 5/11/2008 2:11:25 PM.