This document summarizes a presentation by Dr. Thomas Lancaster on student plagiarism. The presentation addresses what student plagiarism is, why it is important to take it seriously, how to prevent it, and how plagiarism detection software can be used. It encourages audience participation through questions and discussion. Lancaster provides background on his extensive research on student cheating and examples of plagiarism. He discusses reasons to use software like Turnitin and the need for a robust process in investigating potential plagiarism. The presentation also stresses the importance of prevention through good assessment practices and promoting academic integrity to students.

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Student Plagiarism
What Is It?
And What Should We, As Academics, Do About It?
Presented by Dr. Thomas Lancaster
at Coventry University
on Monday 19 September 2016
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
thomas.lancaster@coventry.ac.uk
@DrLancaster

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Background To The Workshop
on Student Plagiarism

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Workshop Questions
What is student plagiarism – and how do the ways in which
students plagiarise differ across academic disciplines?
Why is it important to take student plagiarism seriously?
What can be done to prevent students from cheating and
plagiarising?
How can plagiarism detection software be used as part of a
robust academic integrity process?
What other types of threats to academic integrity are emerging
alongside student plagiarism?

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Your Involvement Is Much Encouraged!
Twitter Please tweet observations, comments,
quotes, photos, discussion topics
@DrLancaster
@covcampus
Live Please join in the discussion, ask
questions and contribute stories

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My Background
Active researcher in student cheating and
plagiarism since 2000
PhD in this field (“Effective and Efficient
Plagiarism Detection”) successfully completed
in 2003
Regular speaker and consultant on student
plagiarism, academic cheating and related
issues
Have wider teaching and learning interests in
student employability, professional online
presences, social media marketing,
entrepreneurship
Senior Fellow of the Higher Education
Academy
Working with Codio 2016

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A Few Of My Publications On Student
Plagiarism
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2015). The Implications of Plagiarism and Contract Cheating for the Assessment of Database Modules. 13th International Workshop on Teaching,
Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2015), Birmingham, UK, July 2015.
Lancaster, T. (2013), The Use Of Text Matching Tools For The Prevention And Detection Of Student Plagiarism; in Plagiarism Phenomenon In Europe: Research Contributes To
Prevention, Dias, P. and Bastos, A. (editors): Braga : Aletheia - Associação Científica e Cultural da Faculdade de Filosofia da Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2009). Automated Essay Spinning – An Initial Investigation; 10th Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in Information and Computer
Sciences, University of Kent, August 2009.
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T. (2006). Eliminating the Successor to Plagiarism? Identifying the Usage Of Contract Cheating Sites. 2nd Plagiarism: Prevention, Practice and Policy
Conference 2006 - organised by JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service, Newcastle, UK, June 2006.
Lancaster, T. and Culwin, F. (2005), Classifications of Plagiarism Detection Engines. In ITALICS 4(2). http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/italics/Vol4-2/Plagiarism%20-
%20revised%20paper.htm.
Lancaster, T. and Tetlow, M. (2005), Does Automated Anti-Plagiarism Have to be Complex? Evaluating More Appropriate Software Metrics for Finding Collusion, 22nd ASCILITE
Conference (pp. 520-529). Brisbane, Australia, December 2005.
Lancaster, T. and Culwin, F. (2004). Using Freely Available Tools to Produce a Partially Automated Plagiarism Detection Process. 21st ASCILITE Conference, Perth, Australia, December 2004.
Lancaster T. and Culwin F. (2004), A Comparison of Source Code Plagiarism Detection Engines. Journal of Computer Science Education 14.2.
Lancaster T. and Culwin F. (2004), A Visual Argument for Plagiarism Detection using Word Pairs; 1st Plagiarism: Prevention, Practice and Policy Conference - organised by JISC Plagiarism
Advisory Service, Newcastle, UK, June 2004.
Culwin F. and Lancaster T. (2001), Visualising Intra-Corpal Plagiarism. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Information Visualisation, London, UK, August 2001.
Culwin F. and Lancaster T. (2001), Plagiarism Issues for Higher Education. Vine 31(2), pp. 36-41.
Culwin F. and Lancaster T. (2001), Plagiarism Prevention, Deterrence and Detection. Higher Education Academy.
Culwin F., MacLeod A. and Lancaster T. (2001), Source Code Plagiarism in UK HE Computing Schools, 2nd Annual Conference of the LTSN Centre for Information and Computer Sciences,
University Of North London, August 2001.
Lancaster T. and Culwin F. (2001), Towards an Error Free Plagiarism Detection Process. Proceedings Of The 6th Annual Conference On Innovation And Technology In Computer Science
Education, Canterbury, UK, August 2001.
Culwin F. and Lancaster T. (2000), A Review of Electronic Services for Plagiarism Detection in Student Submissions. 1st Annual Conference of the LTSN Centre for Information and Computer
Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, August 2000.
Plus my PhD thesis – and a whole load of publications on contract cheating

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http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster
A selection of my contract cheating talks available on my SlideShare account
(the slides from today’s workshop are also available on SlideShare)

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Should We Be Worried About
Student Cheating And
Plagiarism?

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Poster advertising coursework production services,
found somewhere in Coventry

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Thousands of UK nursing students caught cheating on courses
Stephanie Jones-Berry
20 July 2016
https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/newsroom/news/thousands-uk-nursing-students-caught-cheating-courses-61161
“Plagiarism expert Thomas Lancaster told the Times that
nursing essays by the ‘high hundreds or low thousands’ were
sold to students through companies each year in the UK.”
“Channel 4 Dispatches investigated the multi-million pound
industry where university students pay companies to write
their coursework.
Dr Thomas Lancaster, Britain’s leading expert on academic
cheating says: ‘The vast majority of students of course are
completely honest but I’ve seen estimates of £200 million a
year going through these [essay writing] sites.’”
Channel 4 Dispatches
http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/dispatches-investigation-reveals-extent-of-student-
plagiarism
Dispatches – Channel 4

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“A Council of Deans of Health spokesperson told Nursing Standard the
numbers represented a small minority of the 70,000 nursing students in
UK universities.
The spokesperson said: ‘Although any instance of plagiarism is a cause
for concern, these figures over three years represent a tiny minority of
students, fewer than 1% per year.
‘The vast majority of students work hard, are honest and are a credit to
their future profession.
‘While it is obviously worrying if websites are deliberately targeting
nursing students, these numbers are also a sign that universities take
plagiarism seriously and are willing to tackle it.’”
Thousands of UK nursing students caught cheating on courses
Stephanie Jones-Berry
20 July 2016
https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/newsroom/news/thousands-uk-nursing-students-caught-cheating-courses-61161

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Discussion Questions
Do academics take
plagiarism seriously?
Do universities take
plagiarism seriously?

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What Exactly is Student
Plagiarism?

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Discussion Question
What is student
plagiarism and what does
this look like in your
academic discipline?

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Examples of Plagiarism
Ashford University presentation
(captured from Twitter photograph)
Source code collusion
(demonstrated inside Codio)
Graphic design plagiarism
http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/matthewklaber/502/scavenger.html

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A (General) Definition of Plagiarism Is…
Taking the words or ideas
of another and using
them without
acknowledgement
This general definition is based loosely on many others,
including my previous published research

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Trying to source the general definition of plagiarism in Google

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contract
cheating using
an essay mill
essay spinning
(a.k.a. back
translation) using
Google Translate
services
that claim
to fool
Turnitin

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A “cat and
mouse” game
Image from http://pixabay.com

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Discussion Question
So, why use Turnitin?

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Why Use Turnitin?
To support students
with developing their
academic writing
To discourage students
from cheating
(fear of being caught)
To demonstrate a
commitment to
maintaining academic
standards
To provide consistency
and fairness across the
board
To build up a database
of student work for
international
protection
To protect the value of
qualifications for
honest students
To catch students who
do not cheat well
enough!
These are just a few possible reasons – there are many more!

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Examples illustrating reasons to use Turnitin

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Software Used As Part Of A
Robust Plagiarism Detection
Process

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collection analysis
confirmationinvestigation
Four-Stage Plagiarism Detection Process

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Application to Turnitin
Turnitin shows similarity not plagiarism
Need to investigate high and low matches
Small similarity matches on Turnitin can
represent crucial plagiarism
Small similarity matches on Turnitin can
identify contract cheating

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Discussion Question
What similarity
score on Turnitin
requires formal
investigation?

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Prevention Comes Before
Detection

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Discussion Question
When aiming to
preserve academic
integrity, what makes a
good assessment?

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(Some Possible) Examples of Good Practice
When Setting Assessments
Original assessments,
without model answers
available online
Work with students to
design assessment tasks
Introduce localised
knowledge into
assessments
Require students to
reflect on the process of
assessment
Assess within a
simulated work
environment, requiring
active engagement
Educate students on
academic integrity and
the value of completing
their own work
Introduce a supervised
element to assessment
Assess the process, not
just the end product
Assess using mediums
that appeal to students,
such as social media,
online video and blogs
These are common examples from the literature – but be wary of the potential for outsourcing these

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Academics have a duty to
take reasonable measures
to remove any
temptations for students
to cheat

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Be Active In The Promotion Of
Academic Integrity To
Students

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International Day of
Action Against
Contract Cheating
October 19, 2016
http://contractcheating.weebly.com