Introduction

Plagiarism is an ever growing problem in a society that is so technology rich. As an educator I see this on a first hand basis year after year. My students have a hard time understanding that if you are going to write down someone's idea, that you must give them credit for it and cite your source. Homework assignments that may have my students write an essay on the Rise and Fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, sometimes turns into zero for the assignment, referral to the office ,and a phone call home for academic dishonesty because a student copied and paste an entire essay from online.

Software

Plagiarism detection tools are plentiful in today's technological society. They sometimes serve as deterrents to students and helpers to instructors. Some of the plagiarism detection tools are: TurnItIn.com, Viper, PlagerismChecker.com. Doing a search in Google can sometimes do the job as well.

Assessments

I believe that the creation of effective assessments is the best way to ensure academic integrity. The student has no choice but to demonstrate mastery of the knowledge being assessed. Performance assessments in the form of short answer or application based assessments basically makes it impossible to cheat without being caught.

Knowledge is Power

Clear expectations should be established from day one of the class on the policy of academic integrity. Not only should it be explained, it should be an integral component of the syllabus. Something that students can always go back and refer too.  Something worth mentioning to the class is what Palloff, R. & Platt, S. (n.d.) refer to about student's plagiarizes of themselves by taking a previous assignment from another class and turning it for their current class. Develop a mini  lesson on this topic and assess your students. I have done it and it has cut down on the first time and repeat offenders of plagiarism in my classroom.

References

Palloff, R. & Platt, S. (n.d.). Plagarism and cheating. {Video Presentation}.