If an assignment can be plagiarized…
Mar 21st, 2009 by Cathy Nelson
I have heard some version of this comment twice in an 8 day period–once last week from Doug Johnson, and again earlier this week from Will Richardson.
If an assignment can be plagiarized, it’s probably not very valid.
Well, maybe not the same exact wording, but roughly the same idea. How many times do I cringe at assignments that I know will be easily copied/pasted from an online website, encyclopedia, or database, or copied word for word from a book. I’m not sure there are many of my students savvy enough to realize they can find papers easily online for purchase, but when my kids spend more time looking for pictures than information, there is a big clue they are probably planning to use the copy/paste function for both info and pix.
In a session we shared about assignments that lent themselves to plagiarism, and how we could deal with them–propose action statements. Here’s an example shared at conference recently:
A teacher shares that her kids are coming to research animals. Librarian asks which animals, and the teacher says the kids can choose any animal they want. The librarian asked her how she would keep this from becoming just another boring assignment? The teacher asked if the librarian had any ideas? Of course she had some. After a brief intoxicating conversation, the teacher settled on allowing students to choose an exotic animal and then research its potential as a household or domestic pet. The project now had an essential question, and the assignment allowed students to have choice, a definite component of an engaging lesson. The librarian was disappointed though because she had gone on a torrent throwing out ideas for how to get a real audience by having the 
kids use their research to make PSAs for news clips to be used on the school news program. The librarian also wanted to use the recent media frenzy over the recent mauling of a family friend by the family’s pet gorilla, a topic sure to instantly engage the students and get them thinking in the right context for answering their essential question. The collaborating teacher, though could not allow that much time for the project. She shared her tight schedule and the need to be ready for upcoming high stakes testing, so settled on the research paper for now, with thoughts for collaborating more later. Excited that at least the appetite was whet, it would have to be enough.
How does one not walk away deflated with a conversation like that? The librarian did say she felt she’d made headway with the teacher even if only a little.
If an assignment can be plagiarized, it’s probably not very exciting or engaging, much less valid.
Wonder if posting the above phrase as a banner in the teacher workroom would get me in trouble. Must’t be negative. So how could I post it with a positive spin? Let’s break out the Schlecty manual for creating engaging work. Here’s my first attempt:
Students love assignments that call for creativity, collaboration, choice, authenticity, and excitement. They don’t even realize the assignments are standards-based and that they are learning. Does this resemble any of your classroom assignments or homework?
Image: ‘Dissatisfaction‘
www.flickr.com/photos/63766699@N00/373337322
take a look at this: http://inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2009/stepping-on-toes-the-delicate-art-of-talking-to-faculty-about-questionable-assignments/
Hi Cathy,
If it would be of help to you and your readers, here is a link to a Kappan article I wrote on the subject of improving research assignments to reduce plagiarism:
Plagiarism-Proofing Assignments Phi Delta Kappan, March 2004.
http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/plagiarism-proofing-assignments.html
Keep up the good work!
Doug
I have found that when the lesson becomes relevant to students, they are more engaged. Students are smart enough to know when they are given “busy work.” I think it was great that the teacher was open to ideas suggested by the librarian and I’m thankful the librarian was there to guide her. I think once the “door is open” and the teacher sees how successful this lesson turned out, it will lead to more engaging and relevant lessons.
I really like relevant, engaging research projects, but may I put in a word for the boring, easily-plagiarized assignment for younger kids? As a former public librarian, I can’t tell you how frustrating it is for kids to have an assignment that requires them to have information that is unavailable in the books or databases or websites accessible in the school or public library. When they’ve never had to write a state or animal report that introduces them to the sources, they don’t have the background for the basic research they’re going to have to do. When their brains are not developed enough for an assignment that requires higher-order thinking skills, these assignments become exercises in frustration.
The assignment in the example requires a lot more in-depth work than the teacher seems to realize. The students have to determine what they need to know (population/habitat/geography isn’t going to be enough here, and hopefully the class as a whole will be considering what kinds of information they need rather than the teacher giving a list of required facts), then FIND that information (maybe not so easy to get information about docility or hostility at the student’s level), then compile the information and move on to thinking about the pet-worthiness, with trips back to find more information. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a great opportunity for kids to learn research skills – and I think the librarian shouldn’t be disappointed in this project – but this is MUCH more time consuming than using a few books and websites to burp up an animal report – and even those are going to take kids a while.
Authentic assignments and assessments take longer to teach, take longer for students to complete, and sometimes sacrifice content in pursuit of process or sacrifice process in pursuit of timely completion. These are all things to consider when pushing for better, more active, more authentic learning. The value of engagement cannot be overstated, but one can still be engaged while pursuing straightforward descriptive knowledge on a topic.
In the public library, in the academic library, and now in the school library, I see far too many students and teachers who lack basic research skills because they never did those boring old easy-to-copy/paste assignments (whether they didn’t do them because they copied/pasted, or because their teachers had worksheets to fill in each piece of information is debatable.) As librarians and teachers we should not forget that just because we’ve had certain educational experiences, that doesn’t mean our students have. You still need to walk before you run.
@Doug Johnson:
Thanks for sharing the Kappan article. Recently we had an after school staff development on an engagement cube, which featured Marzano’s characteristics of learning on one face of the cube, Bloom on another (though the only characteristics represented were appl, anal, eval, & synth–missing creativity), and then a third face showing some characteristics of engagement. I shared your article with our SD person talking about this engagement cube. I hope our staff will revisit this conversation again, but hopefully not in a dreadful after school meeting, where the vast majority simply do the seat time and watch the clock. I think the topic is a worthwhile staff development better spent during a workday where folks can hash the topic out in good discussions (instead of watching the clock.)
@K Wolicki, You make a valid point here, and many schools are striving to address just what you are bothered by through vertical planning. ELA departments –and I can say this is true at least at my school–purposefully meet to ensure that planning goes cross curricular as well as vertical (from one grade to the next). This is a result in all likelihood of high stakes testing, and SC has one of the most rigorous assessments nationwide (which explains our poor performance when compared to other states–states with less rigorous assessments.) Our curriculum standards are written with a process focus now more so than just content focus, so it is essential that we all step up to the plate and teach higher order thinking skills. The vertical planning is an attempt to address those who may not have the foundation so it can be strategically addressed in the curriculum. But we do students a huge disservice when we don’t teach them to think. I agree on many levels with your comment-particularly assignments that are outdated or with no real source for information available. But I applaud the efforts of the teacher who strives to make students think. Vertical planning addresses the scope and sequence of research assignments, and after talking to many at conference the other week, i can say this is something happening all around our state. Thanks for taking time to visit and comment.
I think the key is in what you are expected to do with the information that you find. Get the facts, then apply them in a manner that requires critical thinking. Instead of the grade 5 state brochures (do they really need to know the state flower of Idaho?), have students plan a vacation in the assigned state: what would they see, eat, select as a representative souvenir? Compare a large city with a small town in the state – advantages, disadvantages. This could then be expanded into a class discussion of lifestyle choices, career options, etc.
It’s difficult to be creative, and original, when you’re just regurgitating facts!
Cathy,
This post is right on the money. Been there, and in fact, I’m going to post about this so I can amplify on my thoughts more!
[...] Cathy Nelson builds on some thoughts from others (and another) that caused me to take her refined thought about creating assignments that students can not blankly plagerize: Students love assignments that call for creativity, collaboration, choice, authenticity, and excitement. They don’t even realize the assignments are standards-based and that they are learning. Does this resemble any of your classroom assignments or homework? [...]
Thanks for the response, and I read your new post. Thanks for pointing other visitors here. I’s sure we do not have the same readership. Overlapping circles can have its perks.
“Authentic assignments and assessments take longer to teach, take longer for students to complete, and sometimes sacrifice content in pursuit of process or sacrifice process in pursuit of timely completion. These are all things to consider when pushing for better, more active, more authentic learning. The value of engagement cannot be overstated, but one can still be engaged while pursuing straightforward descriptive knowledge on a topic.”
Right on target! We are in an era where there is SO MUCH information and pressure to cover so much material in every content area. To have a really successful project, where many resources are needed, and where students need to demonstrate compentency in several areas (research skills, time management, tech skills, collaboration, etc.), adequate time is of the essesnce. These projects often take weeks and often require “sacrificing” coverage of content. That’s not necessarily bad — my own belief (as a teacher and drawing on my own memories of being a student) is that these type of projects have significantly more impact on student achievement and on how students view their own school experiences than most other school activities.
[...] friend Cathy Nelson recently wrote a post entitled “If An Assignment Can Be Plagairized.” We attended the same pre-conference session at the recent South Carolina Association of [...]
i agree with the statement that ‘if an assignment can be plagiarized its not a good one’ but different reasons. Very notion that can an assignment can be plagiarized is somewhat flawed. You can copy/paste contents of an assignment but unless you get the idea behind the content, you have not completely plagiarized it, if you want to call it that. Cross-questioning about the assignment really gets most plagiarizers but if they know more than what they’ve plagiarized i don’t think its piracy/plagiarism/emulating or benchmarking. Knowledge has imparted what it was supposed to do if students ‘get’ what was expected of them. I don’t suggest that teachers should accept similar assignments from multiple students but i think cross-questioning and tricky standardized and objective questions should be used to evaluate the meat of the matter to ensure learning as opposed to ‘inane’ stress on ‘subtlety’ of words and content in an assignment in a class.
Hi Cathy,
This time of year in California, if you visit most any elementary school library, you’re likely to find 4th grade models (for the most part, parent done) of California missions, 5th grade state reports, and 6ith grade country reports on display. Hmmm….same reports, and in the same order, as when I attended elementary school MANY years ago. The only thing that looks different is the presence of a pod of computers. But in reading a few of the reports, it appears the computers may not be getting much use for any type of project-based learning.
Thanks for addressing such an important issue.
Gail Desler
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