Plagiarism Prevention
From the Elton S. Karrmann Library at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville
Copyright Defined
The moment an original work is fixed in a tangible medium, it is copyrighted. Therefore poems, Web pages,
paintings, photographs, novels, songs, videos, computer software, or architectural drawings are copyrighted
the moment the “author” has expressed herself or himself in an original work. Using this logic, it is true that
the following expressions are also copyrighted: texts of advertisements, choreographed dances, maps, statues,
and stuffed animals.
For a summary of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA), visit the U.S. Copyright Office’s
Web pages.
Text of the Copyright Law of the United States of America
Visit the Karrmann Library’s Copyright Web page for links to UW-Platteville and UW System copyright
guidelines and more.
Note: Intellectual property and free speech are protected in a society where ideas and creativity are like a
“currency”. Access to the ideas of others may be “free”, but once those ideas are fixed into a medium, they are
protected by copyright. (Renaud)
Plagiarism Defined
Plagiarism is stealing or using the writing or ideas of others as though they are one’s own. The word comes
from Latin, plagium which means “kidnapping”.
From WEST ENCY AM LAW V7, 2nd edition, copyright 2005 Thomson/Gale:
“Plagiarism is theft of another person’s writing or ideas. Generally, it occurs when someone steals expressions
from another author’s composition and makes them appear to be his own work...plagiarism can be based on
the appropriation of any form of writing, music, and visual images.
“It is not necessary to exactly duplicate another’s work in order to infringe a copyright: it is sufficient to take a
substantial portion of the copyrighted material. Thus, for example, plagiarism can include copying language
or ideas from another novelist, basing a new song in large part on another’s musical composition, or copying
another artist’s drawing or photograph.”
In the interest of helping students avoid plagiarizing, here are some errors that students
sometimes make:
1. Out and out copying
2. Paraphrasing without attribution (simply re-wording is not enough)
3. Failing to attribute a quotation
4. Misquoting
5. Mixing the author’s words with one’s own
6. Citing a paragraph with no indication of what came from whom or where
7. Failing to document interviews (Brownlee 27)
8. Downloading an official document from the Web, altering the language or data, then submitting it with a
research paper as supporting material (Stebelman 3)
9. Unauthorized collaboration on an assignment that is supposed to be an individual effort
Reasons why students cheat that instructors might bear in mind:
1. Time pressures
2. Grade pressures
3. Leniency of professors (including allowing students to do independent work without supervision)
4. Prevailing attitude that anything found on the Internet or purchased from a paper mill is “fair game” and in
the public domain
5. Lack of awareness of some types of plagiarism (Gourlay 20)
6. Lack of competence of students to do the work (Love 5)
“...believe that, given enough time, resources, and motivation, all
students are capable of original work.” (Johnson 552)
Dissuading Plagiarism
Instructors can:
Talk with students about why academic integrity matters.
Define plagiarism and discuss with students that there are different levels of copying someone else’s work, but
it’s still cheating.
Deal with issues around plagiarism early in the semester so that assessments and grading are easier at the end
of the semester. (Renaud)
Discuss how instructors are responsible for the integrity of all the grades of all the students. (Renaud)
Explain that there is no difference between plagiarizing a printed essay and one that appears on the Web.
(Stebelman 2)
Encourage students to trust their voices, to be original, to “own” their papers, and to recognize the difference
between writing a report (listing facts) and writing a research paper. (Renaud)
Encourage students to realize they are a part of the exchange of intellectual ideas, and citing sources is an
important part of this exchange. (Dunn)
Explain to students that instructors have experience with detecting plagiarism. (Ryan 22)
Discuss the existence of paper mills, and show familiarity with them. Download a typical paper from a paper
mill and discuss its strength and weaknesses with the class. (Clayton 3)
Talk with students how to research properly, including how to evaluate printed and electronic resources and
how to cite them.
Collaborate with librarians in teaching researching methods and in creating assignments. (Scribner 2)
Work with students during the process of writing papers. Review thesis statements for papers, require outlines
and rough drafts to be handed in. (Clayton 3)
Work on research strategies together in classes.
Assign annotated bibliographies or lists of works to be cited.
Require recent sources in bibliographies. Many paper mill papers cite old sources.
Give assignments which are closely tied to the individual course goals. (Clayton 3) For example, assigning a
paper on hybrid vehicles is too broad. Students need to learn how to narrow topics, and paper mills often offer
papers on broad topics only. (Stebelman 3)
Help students avoid plagiarism or over use of secondary sources by making the writing process a multilayered
one (turn in thesis statements and have a conference with students), requiring scans or printouts of the first
page of each source, and requiring students to annotate their bibliographies—which are also graded. (Renaud)
Teach how to cite resources correctly.
Discuss the consequences of plagiarizing and what has happened to former students who were caught
plagiarizing.
“Although plagiarism is...understood as a deliberate act of
dishonest rule-breaking for personal gain…(this study reveals) a proportion of plagiarism is committed via confusion
over how to integrate and reference source materials into
academic writing…” (Gourlay 19)
Factors which inhibit students from plagiarizing:
Student’s desire to learn, to be fair to authors, to be honest and ethical in their work
Student’s perception of a need to know information once he or she is employed, and plagiarizing would cheat
them out of learning
Student’s fear of being caught, including an understanding that instructors are knowledgeable about the
literature in their fields
Student’s dislike of feeling guilty, including the concept that the time and energy it takes to make sure they
aren’t caught is just not worth the effort
Student’s understanding that it is dangerous to skew data and thus misinform people. (Love 4)
“We need to provide students with tools that will help them
see what they are doing is wrong before they give the final
version of the research paper to the instructor.” (Janowski 1)
Investigating and Identifying Plagiarism in Student Papers
When to suspect plagiarism:
The level of sophistication of the writing in the paper is above expectations for the course level.
The context changes within a student’s paper. For example, a student quotes a statistic from Great Britain, and
the sources in the bibliography are published in the United States. (Ryan 22)
Footnotes or parenthetical references are missing. Plagiarizing students, if confronted with missing footnotes
or parenthetical references, may point to a bibliography and claim ignorance of the need for footnoting. When
this happens, an instructor could schedule time to discuss the issues in the paper or in the sources in the
bibliography. If the student doesn’t have a working knowledge of the subject matter, he or she probably
didn’t write the paper. (Ryan 22)
References are proven to be false. Instructors can check to see if the sources listed in the student’s
bibliography are real. (Ryan 22) One hint might be whether or not the library holds or subscribes to the
titles. Another hint might be whether or not the book is out of print.
Tools to help identify plagiarized papers or phrases
Use Web search engines with exact phrase searching.
If plagiarism detection includes uploading student papers into a database, be sure to remove the student’s
name. (Grugel)
Julie Ryan, in her article “Student Plagiarism in an Online World”, states, “The (Web) provides plagiarists
with a rich library of material from which to gather information, but it also provides professors with a powerful tool to check sources and catch the word thieves.” (Ryan 22)
Consequences of Plagiarism Established at UW-Platteville
For regulations within the University of Wisconsin System visit The W isconsin A dministrative Code,
Chapter UWS 14 for the established “Student Academic Disciplinary Procedures”.
Instructors need to be familiar with a student’s rights and due process. (Grugel)
It should be noted that cheating is cheating, and ignorance of the law is not an excuse. Students who have not
cheated deserve fairness.
Paper Mills, Essay Mills, Internet Paper Mills
Term paper mills, or businesses that sell papers to customers, have been in existence for decades. Many term
paper mills have printed and online searchable catalogs of the papers they offer for sale. (Anderson 371)
Because of the unethical nature of this process, that is, students purchasing papers from mills and submitting
them as their own work, the author of this web page is choosing not to link to any of these term paper mill
sites. Examples of the sites may be found by searching the Internet for “term paper mills”.
Internet Resources for Fighting Plagiarism
Web sites have been developed to help detect plagiarism. Additionally, tools and subscription services have
been developed which cross-reference student papers with other papers to find structural similarities.
(Mirsky 98)

Copyright Clearance Center

Copyright Management Center from Indiana University

Copyright Website This site provides practical real-world copyright information.

Dupli Checker This resource is a free online tool for plagiarism detection.

Glatt Plagiarism Services Site to help deter plagiarism and encourage academic integrity.

International Center for Academic Integrity “The ICAI works to identify, affirm, and promote the values
of academic integrity among students, faculty, teachers, and administrators.”

Plagiarism in Colleges in the USA By Massachusetts attorney and Electrical Engineering professor
Ronald B. Standler, this resource concentrates on the serious legal issues of plagiarism, reviews court
cases in the U.S. of plagiarism by students and professors, and offers statutes and court cases about
companies that sell term papers.
Internet Resources for Fighting Plagiarism, continued

PlagSpotter Tool for online duplicate checking and monitoring.

United States Copyright Office

WATCH (Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders) From the Harry Ransom Humanities Research
Center at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Reading Library, WATCH is a database
containing the names of copyright holders or their contact persons.

World Intellectual Property Organization
Citation Guides
For help citing resources according to MLA and APA styles, use the style manuals.
For additional help visit the UW-Platteville Karrmann Library’s Citation Guides and Writer’s Resources Web
page.
List of Works Cited
Anderson, Gregory L. “Cyberplagiarism: A Look at the Web Term Paper Sites.” College & Research Libraries
News 60.5 (1999): 371-3. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 March 2016.
Boisvert, Ronald R., Irwin, Mary Jane. “Plagiarism on the Rise.” Communications of the A CM 49.6
(2006): 23-4.
Brownlee, Bonnie J. “Coping with Plagiarism Requires Several Strategies.” Educator 41:4 (1987): 25-29.
Clayton, Mark. “Term Papers at the Click of a Mouse.” Christian Science Monitor 89:232 (1997):1-4.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 March 2016.
Davis, Lajuan. “Arresting Student Plagiarism: Are We Investigators or Educators?” Business Communication
Quarterly 74:2 (2011): 160-163. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 18 March 2016.
Duggan, Fiona. “Plagiarism: Prevention, Practice and Policy.” A ssessment & Evaluation in Higher Education
31.2 (2006): 151-4.
Dunn, Karen. “Is Plagiarism Getting Worse?” Plagiarism in Wisconsin Colleges and Universities. WAICU
Conference. Marquette University Raynor Library, Milwaukee. 18 Oct. 2004.
Gardiner, Steve. “Cybercheating: A New Twist on an Old Problem.” Phi Delta Kappan 83.2 (2001): 172-175.
George, Sarah, Anne Costigan, and Maria O’Hara. “Placing the Library at the Heart of Plagiarism
Prevention.” New Review of A cademic Librarianship 19:2 (2013): 141-160.
Gourlay, Lesley and Deane, Janis. “Loss, Responsibility, Blame? Staff Discourses of Student Plagiarism.”
Innovations in Education and Teaching International 49.1 (2012): 19-29.
List of Works Cited, continued
Grugel, Christopher. “Detection.” Plagiarism in Wisconsin Colleges and Universities. WAICU Conference.
Marquette University Raynor Library, Milwaukee. 18 Oct. 2004.
Janowski, Adam. “Plagiarism: Prevention, Not Prosecution.” Book Report 21:2 (2002):26-28. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 18 March 2016.
Johnson, Doug. “Plagiarism-Proofing Assignments.” Phi Delta Kappan 85:7 (2004): 549-552. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.
Love, Patrick G. “Factors Influencing Cheating and Plagiarism Among Graduate Students in a College of
Education.” College Student Journal 32:4 (1998): 539-50. Academic Search Complete. Web.
6 March 2016.
McLester, Susan. “The Accidental Plagiarists.” T H E Journal 38:1 (2011): 39-40. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 30 Jan. 2016.
Mirsky, Steve. “Copy That.” Scientific A merican 286.4 (2002): 78-78. Academic Search Complete. Web.
29 February 2016.
“Plagiarism.” W est’s Encyclopedia of A merican Law. 2005 ed.
Renaud, Christine. “Prevention.” Plagiarism in Wisconsin Colleges and Universities. WAICU Conference.
Marquette University Raynor Library, Milwaukee. 18 Oct. 2004.
Ritter, Kelly. “The Economics of Authorship: Online Paper Mills, Student Writers, and First-Year
Composition.” College Composition and Communication 56:4 (2005): 601-631. JSTOR Arts and
Sciences III. Web. 18 March 2016.
Roig, Miguel. “Can Undergraduate Students Determine Whether Text Has Been Plagiarized?” Psychological
Record 47:1 (1997): 113-123. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 March 2016.
Ryan, Julie. “Student Plagiarism in an Online World.” A X EE Prism. 8.4 (1998): 20-24.
Scribner, Mary Ellen. “An Ounce of Prevention: Defeating Plagiarism in the Information Age.” Library Media
Connection 21:5 (2003): 32-35. Academic Search Complete. Web. 30 Jan. 2016.
Stebelman, Scott. “Cybercheating: Dishonesty Goes Digital.” A merican Libraries 29:8 (1998): 48-51.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 14 March 2016.