Teaching students to avoid plagiarism: What works and what doesn’t

Plagiarism has long been a concern in classrooms. As educators, our primary defense has been threats and punitive action. I argue, however, that many students do not fully understand what constitutes plagiarism and therefore unintentionally plagiarize. Under this theory, I tested the hypothesis that instruction would educate students in recognition of plagiarism. The instruction consisted of three treatments: no training, representing what I had done; training with a homework assignment, what I was doing; and training with an online tutorial, what I had hoped to do. Our findings changed my approach, and hopefully my students’ view of plagiarism forever.