Plagiarism: What it is and how to avoid it.

Day 1:

Hi everyone! Your teacher has just assigned you a research paper and has told you to avoid plagiarism. You think, "Sure, no problem. What's plagiarism?" Hmm, good question. Today, you will find out.

To begin our investigation, please click on the link below to see a powerpoint presentation about what plagiarism is. As you go through the powerpoint, answer the questions on the answer sheet.

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/hoodmarine-425841-plagiarism-intro-education-ppt-powerpoint/

Welcome back! Now you will read some more about plagiarism and some strategies that can help you not plagiarize your work. Look at the link below and go to page 2 which is entitled "Plagiarism steals ideas." As you read the page, remember to answer the questions on your second answer sheet.

http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/school/plagiarism.html

Day 2

Welcome back! Last time we met, we found out what plagiarism was and ways we can prevent ourselves from doing it. Today, you will  learn how to paraphrase and find out how to identify plagiarism.  To begin,  click on the link below. You will have ten minutes to go through the activity.  Follow the directions on the screen, click on next and previous arrows to go through the different screens. When you are finished, click your back button on your browser to get back to this page.

http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/

Welcome back. While we wait for the rest of our classmates to complete the activity listed above, check out the page below. Pay close attention to the paraphrasing examples on the page. We will talk about this page together as a class.

http://web.archive.org/web/20090201070323/http://richmond.k12.va.us/schools/jones/Copyright-Kids/text3.htm

So, now that we have all done the interactive activity, let's talk about the page above. On this page we saw three examples. Only one of the examples was the correct way to paraphrase a passage. Remember, paraphrasing means putting someone's else's ideas into your own words. That means you simply can't just change one or two words in a passage.  So, what can we do to become effective paraphrasers? Let's find out! Click on the link below. Make sure you check out the examples on the page. As you go through the site, complete the graphic organizer.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/619/01/

Day 3

Welcome back!  Let's see what you remember about plagiarism from the last class.  You will begin by having a discussion with a partner.  Open this link and talk about the four situations described there.  As you come up with an answer, be sure to explain why you think the actions of the students are okay or not.  Be prepared to defend your answers in a large group discussion.

https://web.archive.org/web/20061029162328/http://openc.k12.or.us/citeintro/elementary/docs/plagiariswksht.pdf

Great! Now it's your turn to put what you learned about paraphrasing into practice. You will be broken up into pairs. As a group, you will click on the link below. When you do that, you will see some paraphrasing examples. As a group, you will determine if the writer plagiarized. If the writer did plagiarize, explain why his/her paraphrasing was incorrect. Then correct the writer's mistake by writing a better paraphrase of the material.  You will have ten minutes. We will share our answers with the other groups.

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson1062/plagiarismexamples.pdf