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How big a problem is academic dishonesty at Grinnell?

What does research says about how the college as a whole can help prevent academic dishonesty?

Most of the research on plagiarism and academic dishonesty in general focuses on the climate of the institution: if honesty is clearly a value advanced and championed by the institution, then students are less likely to cheat. If you want to read more about how this may be done, please check out the website of the Center for Academic Integrity: http://www.academicintegrity.org/index.asp.

In general, in order for students to understand that the institution values honesty, they must hear their teachers discuss that value. It follows that, if professors make the values, conventions, and assumptions of academic honesty part of the regular conversation in courses, these values will become clearer to students. The tutorial is one place -though only one place-where discussions can occur that make it clear that honesty is a value.

How can I work toward a culture of academic integrity in my courses?

One effective method is to talk about the value of academic citation in a positive way, perhaps by talking about how citations function in your own work. That is, talk about whom you cite, who cites you, and how it feels to be cited. Talk about cases of dishonesty or plagiarism in the news--unfortunately there are plenty to discuss--that involve different cultures and different ways of borrowing ideas and words. Talk about why such things happen, and what happens to those involved. Talk about how you keep track of your sources and cite them. In general, helping students see the importance of citation, the way it functions in academia, not only gives them models but also helps them understand the importance and complexity of the practice.

What can I do specifically in the tutorial to encourage a culture of academic integrity?

Have discussions about the issue-not just once, but throughout the course. Focus students' attention on the practice of citations in the texts they are studying. When you assign a paper, encourage discussion about citing sources, using sources, and crediting sources.

Use your syllabus to clarify your expectations about academic honesty: will you require them to cite sources if they are using only one common source? Will you require them to cite sources if the idea comes from class discussion, either in class or on a blackboard discussion group? What if the idea comes from you? Whatever your answers, discussion of such questions can help students appreciate that citation is an important part of writing.

Encourage questions about citation. Demonstrate how everyone has to consult authoritative sources to answer such questions. Model the frequent use of style handbooks when students have questions.

How can I teach writing in a way that minimizes the possibility that students will violate the rules?

Generally, you can make it clear that good citation practices are an integral part of good writing. You can encourage students to write drafts, and make sure you see those drafts. You can emphasize that "going back to put the citations in later" is not the optimal method of integrating citation into your paper.

You can have students do the exercises to practice the format of citation, the rules of paraphrasing. Remember that paraphrase is not an easy process, so you should give students plenty of practice in order to master the skill. Have whole-class discussions where you compare versions of paraphrase, so that students can see how a paraphrase can be more or less effective.

You can make writing assignments authentic individualized learning tasks connected to the content of the course. In addition, you might require students to use specific sources or types of sources; you might require that the writing assignment cite class discussions. Such methods reduce the temptation to download papers from other sources.

You can include in your writing assignments a focus on the process of writing. For example, you might require preliminary bibliographies early in the process of writing; you might require annotated bibliographies; you might require an early attempt at a thesis, and revisions of that thesis as the writing progresses. If students must report to you as they make steps in the process of writing, they are less likely to find themselves tempted, the day before the due date, to download something off the net and hand it in.

You can use your syllabi to tell students what system of citation to use; in fact, you can use that format yourself in the syllabus. In addition, you can discuss issues relating to academic integrity in your syllabus. For example, one professor at Oakland College, Bill Taylor, makes a personal connection to his students when he begins a course. He writes them a letter that lays out his responsibilities and theirs in reference to academic integrity.

How can I make sure that students understand what I mean when I ask them to collaborate?

First and foremost, give them directions, preferably in writing, as to what is or is not acceptable. Remember that different faculty members allow and encourage different types of collaboration. Do not assume that what you assume are the limits are the limits that everyone sets. Be specific. For example, do you require each student in a group project to write a paper independently? What do you mean by independently? The more specific you can be in your directions, the less likely will students be to misunderstand.

If you require students to turn in a group-written paper, make it clear that all of them should read the finished project, since each of them is responsible for the whole project.

Shouldn't the college invest in a plagiarism-detection tool like turnitin.com?

The college has chosen not to do so for three reasons: first, since turnitin.com adds any papers submitted to its own database, the ethics of using the service is debatable; second, often a search engine like Google is as effective at finding web sources that may have been used in papers (use a suspicious series of words from the paper as your search terms); third, it is usually more effective to invest resources in the prevention rather than the detection of plagiarism. Generally, our focus should be not on seeking out tools to detect plagiarism, but on creating a culture where students are less likely to try to cheat.

Where can I find more information about how to teach so as to minimize problems with academic dishonesty?

The Bedord/St. Martin's Workshop on Plagiarism, written by Nick Carbone, offers recommendations for teaching, discussions about search engines, and links to other useful sites on plagiarism: http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/plagiarism/pages/bcs-main.asp?v=chapter&s=01000&n=00010&i=01010.01&o=|00510|00520|00530|00030|00040|00050|00990|00980|00490|00480|00470|00460|01000|99000|00010|&ns=0

In addition, Robert Harris, author of The Plagiarism Handbook: Strategies for Preventing, Detecting, and Dealing with Plagiarism, has a valuable website "Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers" that discusses strategies of awareness, of prevention, and of detection: http://www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm