As a writing tutor I frequently encounter students who think copying source material and switching words around or inserting a few of their own is the easy way to get a written assignment done.
One student I worked with this semester tended to collect several sources and copy the words of serval authors directly by connecting them with words of her own here and there. First, that qualifies as plagiarism, second it shows no evidence of thought, and third, the draft is often poorly organized or makes little sense. Her common response was that she cited the sources.
Another student has a habit of following a chapter or other reading selection section by section in order, without demonstrating any understanding of the reading selection.
When I have worked with such students a few times, I come to expect spending most of the tutoring session asking for clarification of such a document. They frequently come to the writing center, because they do not get good grades on this kind of work.
Too often, when I ask for verbalization of a BIG IDEA, CLAIM, or THESIS STATEMENT, students are unable to do it. They may not have read the material at all, attempted to skim it, looked it up on Cliff Notes or Spark Notes or worse “watched the movie”. Sometimes students will listen to an audiobook, which may work for comprehension, but they find it difficult to refer to parts of the text and cite page numbers. Using an audiobook makes it difficult to refer to passages for clarification or quoting directly.
These students and many others like them need to gain a basic understanding of why instructors assignment written work.
I often explain to students that the purpose of the writing assignment they are working on is to
- demonstrate comprehension of text material
- develop and demonstrate understanding of a particular topic or problem
- show evidence of thought by expressing the assignment ideas in writing
- let the professor evaluate how well you understood and/or how well you write
I emphasize that written assignments are an opportunity to learn and grow, rather than something to merely complete and be done with it. Needless to say, this often may not sink in!
I refer to a commonly stated rule for the amount of borrowed material that should appear in a written assignment.
Only about 10% of the final copy should consist of directly quoted material.
Two websites with comprehensive advice for avoiding the problems mentioned here are:
“Nine Things You Should Already Know About PLAGIARISM”
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k70847&pageid=icb.page342054
“Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing”
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/563/
The OWL Purdue handout would be an excellent way to examination what plagiarism is and examine differences among quotations, paraphrases, and summaries. It provides several examples of summary, appropriate paraphrasing, and incorporating quoted material. The tutor could print the handout for the student and go over it section by section OR that can be done viewing the handout on the screen.
Below are two sites that have examples of improperly used paraphrasing.
- “Paraphrasing Without Plagiarizing”
https://www.douglascollege.ca/~/media/0400EA745B254FC4B879D3740B65B825.ashx?la=en
- “How to recognize plagiarism”