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‘What did I do wrong?’ Supporting independent learning practices to avoid plagiarism

Helen HathawayHead of Academic Liaison and Support, University Teaching Fellow

‘What did I do wrong?’

• Introduction to project

• Rationale and aims

• Project team: Library, Study Advice, ISLI

Helen Hathaway

Kim Shahabudin

Clare Nukui

Liz Wilding

Rhianedd Smith

Background and scope

• Funding

• Three projects into one

• Timing! Start September 2012, finish June 2013

– Interim report Dec 2012

• Where have we been

• What have we done?

Supporting research?

• We carried out research…

…on Turnitin

…on current practice

within the University and elsewhere

• Developing researchers

of the future too

Copyright Science Photo Library

What do others think?

We carried out research…

…with Library staff

…with students

…with academics

…with learning developers

…on resources, current practice and Turnitin

“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”Albert Einstein

Library staff views• ‚The most frequent query I get is about citing webpages or documents

found on the web. Sometimes they aren’t suitable sources though, so I

have to try to steer them to something better!‛

• ‚Most of my enquiries from students come from opposite ends of the

spectrum:

1) The students who have had a piece of work back saying they

haven’t referenced properly or who know that they have no idea

about referencing

2) The student who’s sorted most of their references and has an

unusual type of material to reference‛

• ‚A lot of the students that I deal with are overseas and tend to get the

plagiarism warnings piled on to them big style so I tend to

recommend it as a way of avoiding charges of plagiarism.‛

Put yourself in a student’s shoes…

‚How should I reference an

App, a packet of crisps, a

practical protocol?‛

‚How many sources should I

use?‛

‚I know what a reference is – but

what’s a citation?‛

‚Why does this tutor want a

different referencing style

from that one?‛

‚Do I need a reference list AND a

bibliography?‛

‚Will I be marked down for

missing a comma?‛

‚I have a misconduct interview:

what happens now?‛

Copyright Photolibrary

Student comments• ‚Did referencing at school so don’t need to learn it again.‛

• ‚Didn’t do referencing at school – was totally lost when I got here.‛

• ‚One tutor wants me to reference like this, the others want me to

do it differently – I don’t understand why.‛

• ‚I got my referencing wrong in my first year and my tutor took me

on one side and told me to be more careful next time. Got it wrong

in the 2nd year and suddenly it was all regulations and zero marks.‛

• ‚Referencing is just something you have to do, otherwise you lose

marks.‛

• ‚I ran out of time, and decided I’d lose fewer marks for not

checking my references than for handing in late. I got zero.‛

Surveyed School Directorsof Teaching and Learning

• Advice and guidance on finding appropriate academic

sources of info

• Referencing principles and practice

• Feedback – when and how

• How important for Part 1, Part 2, Masters

• What are the reasons for incorrect referencing

• What is your response

• Current strategies effective or not

• Additional resources you would like?

Feedback from academics• ‚Inadvertent plagiarism' is usually explained by people being under

pressure.‛

• ‚Plagiarism can be less of a problem on modules where assignments

are designed to force students to think independently.‛

• ‚Anecdotally it seems that anxiety about referencing is seen more with

dissertations. ‚

• ‚Students can focus disproportionately on micro-details like p/pp.‛

• ‚There is a growing problem with students in English Literature

referencing e-books. ‚

• ‚International students may have been to a vast range of different

types of colleges and universities and it is very hard to know what

training and information they've been given in the past.‛

TurnitinSurvey of School Directors of Teaching and Learning and School E-

learning Co-ordinators….and others

Does Turnitin help with academic practice/ referencing?

Results evenly balanced

• ‚Definitely worth using Turnitin formatively, but does require

sufficient time - students often need more practice in note-taking

etc.‛

• ‚personally I haven't detected any significant decline in poor

academic practice‛

• ‚Turnitin is not necessarily reliable. It often fails to detect

plagiarism. However it helps to sensitise students of good academic

conventions.‛

How is it taught now?: identifying gaps

At Reading… At other institutions…

Utilising alternative perspectives?

How did we get on together?

Good

• input from people

working in different roles

• access to different

strategic issues

• differing relationships

with students and

academics

• paid project workers

Bad

• speed of decision making

• getting together at the

same time!

• differing aspirations for

the project

• different structures of

services/depts.

No ugly!Copyright Getty Images

Results of research

• Crucial to go beyond formatting and

show role of correct referencing in

academic writing

• Many students fail to engage with

skills teaching

• Students report lack of consistency

and difficulty in finding guidance

• Implications of alternative academic

cultures and experiences

Non-attributed – 1

hour looking for it

on Flickr

What have we developed?• ‘Toolkit’ of re-purposable resources

• Aimed at academics to use with their students

• Stored in Blackboard Organisation

Example: How to précis and paraphrase

Handout Slides Screencast

How is it being used?

• via Blackboard

– Staff self enrol

Recommendations

• Pre-entry information and compulsory self-test?

• Student facing resource(s)

• Recognise implications of alternative

academic cultures

• Bite sized resources for academics

to use/direct students to

Single, clear authoritative source of guidance for the future

BUT that’s another story

1974/5, Mendoza, Private collection, Bridgeman Education