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Using the Plagiarism Tutorial in Education:
Case Studies
THIS CASE IS AVAILABLE IN PDF FORMAT WITHOUT ANSWERS HERE.
Analysis and evaluation of cases in education provide opportunity to apply knowledge of a topic to a real life situation. Using the Plagiarism Video and Quiz together with cases in undergraduate education facilitates a deeper understanding of what plagiarism is, who it hurts, and subsequent consequences.
Students will:
- Take the plagiarism quiz as a pre-test at the beginning of the lesson.
- Complete the case analysis and discussion.
- Watch the video and take the quiz as a post-test.
- Have access to the APA current manual of style – either the book or website
- Students brainstorm other common examples of plagiarism with the instructors’ assistance. The instructor may add additional examples based on experience.
- Students work in small groups of three to write a case and exchange with another group to discuss.
Case 1: One assignment in an undergraduate teacher education course is to create and implement a lesson plan in science in their field placement. Stephanie turned her work in at the last minute without consulting her cooperating teacher and university supervisor. Stapled together with the lesson plan were several “cute” worksheets for the students to complete during and after the lesson. Stephanie found these worksheets on the Internet and copied and pasted them onto a Word document without citing the source. The university supervisor told Stephanie that her work was an example of plagiarism.
Read the case independently and work in small groups of three to discuss and answer the following:
- Why did the university supervisor accuse Stephanie of plagiarism? Explain.
(Possible answer: Copying the worksheet from the Internet without citing the source. Somebody else created this work; therefore Stephanie must properly cite and give credit to the author)
- What do you imagine Stephanie might have told her instructor?
(Possible answers: I didn’t read this in the “M” book. I didn’t know this was an example of plagiarism. I’m not that kind of person! It’s just a worksheet. I waited too long and ran out of time. My friend did the same thing and said it was OK.)
- Who was “hurt” by these actions? Explain fully for each party involved.
- (Teacher education student: She faced disciplinary action.
- The students: The student teacher didn’t consult with the supervising classroom teacher and university instructor to be sure that the students would actually apply knowledge and skills derived from the lesson.
- Cooperating classroom teacher: She is the mentor for the teacher education student and was not consulted. The classroom teacher is responsible for the students’ learning and is held accountable.
- Other teacher education students: Incorrect information circulates and others may do the same thing.
- What should Stephanie have done to avoid this conflict?
(Give herself more time to do a more thorough job. Consult with the cooperating teacher and the university supervisor. Most importantly, make sure the worksheet fits with the lesson AND includes the complete citation in correct APA format—the style for the School of Education)
- What actions do you believe the university supervisor should take? Explain.
(Stephanie should be made aware of her mistake. She should have to rewrite the entire lesson plan and include worksheets with proper and correct citation. Consult with the cooperating teacher and university supervisor before turning in the assignment. Ask the university supervisor or a librarian for correct citation protocol)