The best way to deal with plagiarism is to prevent it from ever happening in the first place. Prevention includes educating students on (1) what plagiarism is, and (2) the long-term consequences of plagiarizing. Plagiarizing can destroy a student's legal career before it even gets started. Therefore, deterrence is the best gift we can give our students. The criminal justice system uses fines and imprisonment, not just to punish crime, but also to deter it. If people know the laws and what can happen to them if the break them, most people will choose to not violate them. The same is true for law students who might otherwise plagiarize. If they understand what type of behavior is forbidden and what is at stake if they are caught, very few, if any, will do it. It will not seem worth it to most students. There might be a couple of risk takers or people who wait until the last minute and panic, but these students will be few and far between.
Below are some recommendations for preventing plagiarism in the classroom. A professor can use any or all of these to try to keep the risks of students plagiarizing to a minimum. These are sample recommendations only.
Consider including any of the following in your course syllabus:
"Plagiarizing or plagiarism, which means using, intentionally or not, a written document or electronic recording reflecting the ideas or words of another as one's own without proper attribution to the source of those ideas or words." (page 76).
“Plagiarism of any part of the paper will result in an “F” and/or other sanctions deemed appropriate by the Professional Conduct Court.”
These guidelines can be attached to a syllabus, posted in Canvas, or handed out anytime throughout the semester. Consider requiring students to read the guidelines and sign them thereby explicitly acknowledging that they understand what constitutes plagiarism and what can happen if they plagiarize.
This course may employ plagiarism-detection software, including Turnitin, for any required assignments. Turnitin compares submitted work to sources available on the internet, archived databases of essays, journals, books, and other publications, and its database of assignments submitting in the past at Emory and other universities. Work that generates concerns about originality or citation methods will be reviewed and submitted to the Honor Council as appropriate. This software does not substitute for the judgment of the instructor and other authorities in the detection of plagiarism, and other methods may be employed in this course to determine that all work abides by the standards set forth in the Honor Code.
Turnitin Plagiarism Reviews are available for all assignments and papers submitted via Canvas and can be found in the Assignments tab in Canvas. Canvas administrators and specialists are available for consultation appointments, questions, and trouble shooting.
Create a culture of plagiarism awareness and deterrence in the classroom by discussing the following:
Consider making these a part of the course grade: