Elementary Lessons

Writing-Plagiarism Advice for Lessons

Grades 1-12

Teachers and school administrators often have a difficult time trying to help students recognize and avoid illegal copying of the work of others. In fact, many educators have a difficult time determining if a written piece is actually plagiarized. Educators wonder if students have worked especially hard on the assignment, if students have finally followed the directions given, if parents or others have offered extensive guidance, etc.

Those who are experienced in working with student writing usually have a sense of when the writing is does not belong to a student. Although encyclopedia-type (especially children's reference) copying is generally easy to recognize and prove plagiarized, copying from other sources is not. Educators, even if they "know" the work is copied, are hesitant to accuse a student unless they can locate the exact source of the material. Some will have a conference with a student asking the student about the writing without making any accusations. Some will let the writing go, and afterwards have lessons on how to use reference material. Some will talk to parents at conferences and parent meetings about helping students with writing without copying.

What follows are a few suggestions that may help students avoid plagiarism:

1. Do not encourage students to copy from sources, even when they are in the primary grades. When students first start writing simple reports, teachers should not accept sentences and paragraphs copied from books. Teachers should discuss the material with the students and have them write ideas in their own words. Some students, of course, especially those with good memories, will write down information similar to what is in the books or what has been discussed. However, this method will not get students into the pattern of opening a source and copying from it.
   
   
2. Be cognizant of copying that may be involved in oral reports. Encourage students avoid copying in reports that are given in front of the class.
   
   
3. Educate parents about copying. Encourage parents to help students learn to put information into their own words.
   
   
4. Educate parents about how much help is too much help. Some reports that appear plagiarized are often not; they are the result of help from over zealous parents, another relative, or a tutor. It is best to tackle this problem with parents at the beginning of a school year or at least before reports/term papers are begun. Accusations after work is complete often cause hard feelings between parents and teachers, especially when a parent/relative is working hard to help a child with school studies.
   
   
5. Select topics that are appropriate for the age and ability level of the students. If a student cannot handle/cannot understand a topic, copying will often result.
   
   
6. Develop a language arts program that gives teachers topic suggestions for different grade levels. What topics can a average fifth grader handle? A bright eighth grader? An academically gifted sophomore? A learning disabled junior?
   
   
7. Require all teachers who teach language arts, social studies, and science to include writing as part of their courses. Grade 1 students may write short sentences, Grade 10 biology students may write lab reports, Grade 8 social studies students may write reports on geography of selected countries, etc. Science and social studies teachers should work with language arts teachers in a joint effort to help students avoid copying. From Grades 2 or 3, require that most tests in language arts, science, and social studies have at least a brief essay or sentence-answer question.
   
   
8. Give students guidance in resource writing from the earliest grades. Develop a sequential language arts program that gives teachers ideas about introduction and review of writing using facts and opinions.
   
   
9. Have teachers do initial work with students in class when they are writing reports. For example, when students in Grades 5-8 are writing Daughters of the American Revolution history essays, teachers might take them to the library/media center to select sources, help them find online sources, help them find CD sources, etc. Students could then bring these sources to the regular classroom where the class would discuss the topic of the essay. The teacher could go over samples of reference material and work with students on how to use this material to write their essays with copying.
   
   
10. Have teachers of Grades 4 up show students how to quote material and give credit for material. Middle school teachers, especially, should show students how to quote brief statements. Many students are hesitant to quote and will copy instead. Teachers must make students comfortable with quoting, while at the same time, emphasizing that very long quotes in relatively short essays should not be used.
    
    
11. Have students who are writing longer reports and term papers bring sources either in book, photocopy, or printout form to class. Give them time to review their report/term papers by checking through their writing and comparing it with the source material.
    
    
12. Have teachers collect source material (whenever possible) along with long reports and term papers. They can then use the source material if they have questions about students' work. Teachers will not have the time to look up, for example, all the web sites visited.
    
    
13. Help students with how to tackle long-term reports. Work with them on a schedule of what they might do when.
    
    
14. If report/essay topics are determined by a source outside of the school/school district, work with the organization requesting the reports/essays so that topics will be appropriate for the students involved.
    
    
15. Encourage teachers to help Grades 3-8 students use a "slant" on a topic that will avoid plagiarism. Middle schoolers often, for example, have a difficult time not copying when writing about historic or scientific topics. These problems can be lessened if teachers will help students use different "point of views" when tackling their writing and organization. When writing about a President, the student could pretend to be writing from the President's son's or daughter's point of view. Facts from sources then can be woven in, but the viewpoint will help the student use the information and put it in his or her own words. Middle school students enjoy writing from the viewpoint of a space traveler or an animal, a relative of a famous person, or an inanimate object. Although this beginning statement from a fourth grader on a report may sound a bit silly to older readers, it helped the child write a splendid essay using factual material, "Hello, I am the Mayflower, and I had a tough time."
    
    
16. Help students understand that they must follow the same "rules" when using information from online sources. Some, especially young students, think they may copy from these without crediting. When they print out the information, somehow they think it belongs to them.
    
    
17. Consider the problems of copying as ones to help students avoid rather than problems to detect and penalize.
    
    
18. Help students learn to enjoy writing and use sources to enhance their writing. Teacher enthusiasm, encouragement and support are so important for success in this area of learning.

 

Suggestions for Parents: The suggestions given will be useful for home use. It's very difficult for children to understand problems related to ownership if parents and teachers encourage copying from encyclopedias and books when children are young. If we say after an article is copied word for word and read that this is wonderful, how will they understand when later we say that what was wonderful is now illegal? Even when young students copy from books, we should make sure they cite the book and author and that they realize that this content does not belong to them. "Someone else wrote it." They need to understand this. As they get into the end of the primary years, we can encourage reading content for report and then putting the ideas in their own words. The author and book should still be listed, of course. As they mature, teaching them how to quote short passages will be very useful. If they understand that these are the rules, they should find writing term papers and reports much easier when in middle and high school and in college.

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