.Shortened guidelines to avoid plagiarism include the following:

• Explain plagiarism and develop clear policies: talk about implications; include a policy in the course syllabus; establish a form of university response
• Improve the design and sequence of assignments: design assignments that require depth of exploration; start discussing writing topics early; consider establishing a course theme that generates specific questions; support each step of the research process; make the research process and use of technology visible; teach citation conventions of different written formats
• Attend to sources and the use of reading: ask students to draw on a variety of sources; design brief activities to practice citing; show students how to evaluate sources; develop reading-comprehension activities
• Work on plagiarism responsibly: distinguish between misuse of sources (carelessness, incorrect citation) and plagiarism; ask to see in-progress work; use plagiarism detection services cautiously (they’re often unreliable and don’t substitute for good teaching)
• Take appropriate disciplinary actions: heed institutional protocol; consider the goal (sometimes, making the student recreate the research process over again is better than disciplinary action such as failing the paper, failing the course, probation, or expulsion

 

 

(adapted and condensed from the WPA position statement)