I would love to be able to find it--but can't! I've typed in phrases from it and search words around the theme, but no luck! Any teachers out there have any tricks for finding plagiarized essays?
2007-03-12 13:51:57 · 13 answers · asked by justme 2 in Education & Reference ➔ Primary & Secondary Education
ask your 6th graders to provide you an extreme specific and narrowed reference page as the last page of the assignment so that you can look for their info source easily. like for example: http://www.chemguide.co.uk/mechmenu.html#top for an website; if from books then: let them state the article name, author of the book or article, and the edition of the text. This is how my teacher tell us....he's really good at busting people who copy and paste word for word.
2007-03-12 14:05:23 · answer #1 · answered by L 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have absolutely no luck finding it, you can call the student in for a Q&A session. Emphasize how impressed you are by the essay, and ask some questions about it. The student can't look at the essay while you are asking.
You never know -- the kid may have written it him or herself and is showing some talent all of a sudden. The questions should let you know if the child actually understands what s/he wrote, or stole it.
Plagiarism should be discussed and defined in the classroom, and backed up with little exercises in identifying plagiarism. (Little story problems that describe a method, then ask, Is this plagiarism? Then followed up by an answer, and a question session.)
It's a difficult question even for adults -- there's a fine line between parody and plagiarism. Of course, your student shouldn't be parody-ing an essay! But, if you can find out his/her method, and why s/he did it, I think you'll go a long way toward helping the student.
2007-03-12 21:04:01 · answer #2 · answered by Madame M 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The easiest way is to scan the entire document and do a search. (most search engines cannot handle this) You mentioned that you have already searched for key phrases, but did you consider unusual word choices. Look for key words that are atypical. The other possibility is that your student got the essay from a paid site. The only way to really catch anyone is to attempt to purchase the same paper yourself. Make sure that the administration knows about this before you begin because the activity may actually come back to haunt you in the future. There is a way for the internet service provider to track the history of this person's web searches, but that usually involves legal action unless the student did the activity at school. If the student did it from a friend's computer or someplace like the public library, your search may be in vain.
Officially, the only thing you can do is to report your suspicions to the administration, report it to your student advisory board if you have one, or request that everyone answer questions from the essay orally. All of these would involve some significant effort on your part, and possibly some embarrassment. You might let the student know of your intentions, to encourage them to come forward and admit their transgression in return for a lighter punishment, but be prepared to carry out your bluff, and make sure the administration will back you up. Be prepared to have a policy in place for this type of infraction in the future. This isn't the last time it will happen to you.
Oh, the most successful method is to have the entire class write another essay and have a parent teacher conference to discuss the disparity of quality between the first and second essay. Most parents will take your side, especially when they are faced with being liable for their child's criminal actions if they are prosecuted! The school counselor can vouch for the disparity in the writing style, the change in overall vocabulary and the amazing change in voice. Hope this helps.
2007-03-12 21:07:52 · answer #3 · answered by MUDD 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The quickest way is to type in a suspicious phrase into Google. Be sure to put quotation marks around it. If there is a positive match, you will nail it. I have used this technique many times with good success. Just be aware that students often plagiarize in one paper from more than one source. Sentences and paragraphs can be stolen from multiple sources to make up one essay. Good luck.
2007-03-12 21:35:48 · answer #4 · answered by whitebuffalo 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
www.turnitin.com This is a website that many school districts belong to, and if yours doesn't, you should find out if you can get it. Basically, you have students email their paper to the site and turn it in to you. The site will email you if a student cheated. There's a chance that the student didn't plagiarize it, but that a mom or dad wrote it for them. If you suspect this to be the case, discuss it with colleagues to see how they have dealt with it and then confront the student/parents if necessary.
2007-03-12 21:43:05 · answer #5 · answered by Sit'nTeach'nNanny 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
have you had him in front of you and ask him about what he wrote. if he wrote it he should know everything in it. you can even trick him if he did not write it, by asking( example ) if there are some words that are totally out of place for a 6th grader to use in a sentence -- ask him...what does the word mean or if their is not a word in there make one up and see if he bites. i know that's not totally right but plagiarism is worse..no 1 wins
2007-03-12 21:08:53 · answer #6 · answered by james 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a student in a high school in North East Ohio, and I do not have a direct answer for you, but I have a tip for the future. Around 7th grade our school began using a website, www.turnitin.com , for major papers. Essentially, a teacher registers each class, and each student is given a password. They type their paper in a word document, and turn it in to the website, similar process to when you attach a doccument to an email. Once the paper has been turned in to the website, www.turnitin.com has this handy feature, that checks the paper agaisnt all other papers turned in through the site. It has been a fruitful endeavor since the beginning of its institution at West Geauga High School, and I highly reccomend it for the future.
2007-03-12 20:58:31 · answer #7 · answered by westgwolverine7 1 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Try Plagerism.org . You can type in phrases into the database and you can see if it has been copied. It has many different options and is the most thorough of all engines.
I hope that you find what you are looking for!
Austin
Note: Turnitin.com is good too. There are many different sites like this. Try them out and see which one you like best.
If plagerism becomes a problem, have your students email you their papers. That way, all you have to do to see if they had been plagerized, is copy and paste them into the site.
2007-03-12 20:58:40 · answer #8 · answered by Charlie 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, if you can't find anything that he plagerized online with any of the websites like turnitin.com, than maybe one of your 6th grader may have gotten help from an older family member, a friend, or someone else? Always a possibility.
2007-03-12 22:13:33 · answer #9 · answered by Asuu 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a 6th grade needs to be confronted with it and if denied need to be believed,,,, chances are the parents helped,,,, i have learned from being a teacher that parents will help,,,and when i have conferences i always will say to the ones that look like that got help,,,, that the child is in 5th grade so we need to know what they are capable of,,,, and i will also say we do not need to know if you as a parent are capable of the work
2007-03-12 20:59:55 · answer #10 · answered by cmhurley64 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋