Tips from Southern Indiana Faculty for Preventing Plagiarism
Give students clearly written assignment sheets that explain your expectations in regards to documentation (what style you wish them to use, etc.).
Offer to help (for example, look at drafts or outlines).
Stagger due dates for different parts of a paper. For example, make the bibliography due a week before the final paper. Do not allow deviation from the due dates or last minute topic changes.
Specify what materials students can use (for example, two Internet sources, three journal articles, etc.) or assign two or three smaller papers throughout the term rather than a single large one.
Assign narrowly focused topics rather than broad general ones or ask students to write about current events as they relate to class materials.
Change the paper topics each time the course is offered. This practice will prevent students from appropriating work done by former students.
Tell students in advance that you will randomly check sources in the bibliography.
Request that students hand in copies of their sources or a photocopied page from the sources cited in their paper, or include an annotated bibliography as part of the assignment, or tell students that they can only use references that have been published within the last five years.
Require students to hand in notes or outlines with their paper because you are looking for evidence or original thought or thought progression.
Do a lesson on plagiarism. There is a PowerPoint lesson on the Library's Plagiarism & Documentation Library Guide. Call attention to syllabus statement.
Assign students to research and write a short paper on plagiarism.
Require personal reflection as part of the assignment.
Direct students to sites that explain paraphrasing and citing.
Require students to take the Plagiarism Quiz and turn in results.
Use SafeAssign. It may serve as a deterrent and will remind students that plagiarism is an issue.
