Re: Plagiarism and possibly much worse!

[dmr2899@usl.edu (Denise Rogers)]

Lisa,

I am wondering whether you feel comfortable asking the student if he could
bring in his sources.  This should help you get a sense of whether the
student is indeed plagiarizing.  I had a similar problem with a student
when I was a writing center tutor.  The student brought in the source, and
when I sat there making comparisons between the text and the essay, the
student got the message that I did not think everything was okay.  Finally,
I could turn to the student and say, in a very friendly and sympathetic
voice, that I would be happy to look over the essay when she had cited her
sources.  I explained what plagiarism was and I even tried giving her
guidelines for the amount of material she should cite (ballpark:  30%; that
is, something like a thesis should be mostly their ideas).

If you ask to see the sources, I don't think the student would get upset
unless the student knew he or she was plagiarizing.  If the student
doesn't, this tactic lets them know what plagiarizing is and how to avoid
it.  From then on, it's up to them.

Denise Rogers