4 Combating Plagiarism increase in the accessibility and quantity of information everyone is expe- riencing. While there will always be students who plagiarize intentionally through laziness or defiance, research shows that much of plagiarism at the high school and university level is unintentional. It is caused by a lack of understanding and skill with citations, paraphrasing, and the ethical management of information (Wilhoit 1994, 161 Roig 1997, 121 Davis 1994, 56 Radunovich, Baugh, and Turner 2009, 30 Evering and Moorman 2012, 37 Childers and Bruton 2016, 13). As educators, we tell students not to plagiarize, but we do not explain how to stop. Instruction works. It is necessary for students to understand citations, paraphrasing, and the variable authorship and publication cycle of digital sources. This can be in the classroom or through computer modules. There have been many substantive recommendations in the professional litera- ture for proactive instruction to reduce plagiarism. Actively teaching the conventions of paraphrasing, citations, and quotations in writing assign- ments has been shown to also increase students’ overall understanding of plagiarism (Whitaker 1993, 510 Barry 2006, 383 Chao, Wilhelm, and Neureuther 2009, 40 Craig, Federici, and Buehler 2010, 55 Kashian et al. 2015, 251). Writing and Plagiarism Plagiarism is a broad, abstract concept. It is not just a problem with the ethical use of information. It is an academic writing problem (Wilhoit 1994, 161). Paraphrasing and summarizing are important areas where stu- dents require instruction and feedback. Poor paraphrasing and summariz- ing are often noted as plagiarism through Turnitin and other plagiarism checkers. Rebecca Moore Howard (1995) has used the term “patchwriting” to describe the process as “copying from a source text and then deleting some words, altering grammatical structures or plugging in one-for-one substitutes” (as cited in Howard 1993, 233). Learning how to integrate and synthesize secondary-source informa- tion is another area of need (Eckstein 2013, 100). Rebecca Moore Howard (1995, 796) and Howard and Davies (2009) have noted that patchwriting, “a blending of the learners and phrases with those of the source,” is a sign that “learners employ when they are unfamiliar with the words and ideas about which they are writing.” Instead of punishment, this creates an opportunity to work with students on understanding unfamiliar texts and integrating secondary-source information (Howard and Davies 2009). This process can take place in the classroom during the writing process. When students are inexperienced with the information synthesis of unfa- miliar sources, writing revisions, along with practice with paraphrasing and
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