In writing assignments, educators are often faced with students submitting varied degrees of plagiarized written work. The purpose of this project was to show that the key to combating plagiarism was providing students with challenging assignments using technology as the medium and giving them autonomy to design websites (Sabieh, 2003; 2002). In accordance with their course objectives, the students learned the steps to create APA research papers. I, advocating a five-step plan, had succeeded in getting 50% of my class of 30 to write documented research papers, plagiarism-free.

Many students are tempted to plagiarize. This remains a challenge for teachers who must incessantly combat laziness, language barriers, incorrect application of research methods, and students’ management of time.

I used Heineman and Willis’(1988) definition of plagiarism when I taught my students the steps used to conduct research writing. Accordingly, the definition of plagiarism is an

attempt to pass off the ideas or the language of someone else as your own. If you use information, speculation, a full sentence, or even a particularly vivid or unusual phrase that you found in your research, you are absolutely obligated to acknowledge it, normally in a note, as clearly and specifically as possible. (Heineman & Willis, 1988, p. 57)

Students claimed to understand the definition of plagiarism and to know how to avoid plagiarizing.

To accompany my teaching of the research steps, I created my research project. My five-step plan for the project was as follows:

STEP 1: Provide a challenging assignment
STEP 2: Provide clear steps to follow
STEP 3: Minimize students’ fear of technology and of creating a web page
STEP 4: Ensure students’ understanding of the research steps
STEP 5: Ensure students’ plagiarism awareness

The sample had been made up of 30 students enrolled in a class of remedial university English. The students were majoring either in science, computer science, or engineering.

The students were given the assignment in class, and it was considered challenging because they were expected to hyperlink their written work in the paper to the original source and to color highlight the parts that they used from the original source. The hyperlinks were to be from the in-text documentation entries or the reference page entries to the original source. Here is the complete assignment.

THE ASSIGNMENT

Read the following assignment carefully. I have divided it up into three parts for clarity.

Part One: You are to apply the steps covered in Heineman and Willis’ (1988) Writing Term Papers book to write a documented research paper using the APA format on a topic of your choice. This is due the week before the end of the semester.

Part Two: Along with that, you will be expected to create a web page on the topic to include your paper, your resources, and any visuals on the topic. This is to be used at the end of the semester when you orally present your topic to me and to the class.

I do not expect your web page to be sophisticated or complex because this is primarily a class of English, first and foremost. I will provide you with basic guidelines to follow from Lowe’s (1999) Creating Web Pages for Dummies: Quick Reference and you may be able to use any web page editors available on Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. I do not expect you to learn HTML (hypertext markup language) to complete this assignment. I do not expect you to publish your web page. I repeat, this is a class of English.

If you do not know how to use a computer, the Internet, or the technology, please see me as soon as possible so that I can help you become familiar with what you will need to carry out the assignment.

Conditions to make note of:

1. Material that is to be put on the webpage must be related to the topic, must be documented, and must be grammatical and written in proper English. Languages other than English may be put on the site if they are to be used as source material in the term paper.
2. Your written work must be shown to me to ensure that there is unity of thought and coherence maintained throughout the endeavor.
3. Resource materials that are to be used as part of the term paper must be linked to the in-text documentation and to the reference page documentation. Moreover, the link to the in-text documentation should open to the original source to show a highlight of the material used.

Part Three: The steps and the tentative working deadlines to be met by you are as follows. Please make sure that you turn in the work on time; this will ensure that you receive a point for meeting the due dates and that you are keeping up the pace of the overall plan of work. Feedback, cooperation, and brainstorming with me or your peers, especially those learners that are computer literate, are all essential parts of ensuring that your work is creative, autonomous, and unique—as it should be for a research report.

Week 1: General topic & preliminary outline
Week 2: Narrowed topic & the start of a working bibliography; create site and start to put material on it
Week 3: Update on the preliminary outline
Week 4: APA documentation of source material & note-taking
Week 5: Note-taking and in-text documentation
Week 6: Formal outline & ensure documentation on site correct
Week 7: Draft and documentation
Week 8: Final touches of paper and site
Week 9 onward: Presentation of paper and website orally

The results of a class of 30 students were as follows: 50% of the students wrote documented research papers, plagiarism-free; 35% presented papers with minor traces of plagiarism, and 15% presented incomplete assignments: Some submitted outlines, pictures on the website, or fragmented notes.

In conclusion, I believe that the project proved to be successful. I created a challenging assignment that used the technology as a partner to create plagiarism awareness. The five-step plan forced active educator and student role playing. Students became responsible learners and worked diligently to create the outcome.

It is easy to create projects, similar to this one, that are effective for teaching language development. I recommend that educators think creatively about how technology can help them deal with issues. I was able to combat plagiarism that semester more so than in any other semester. I was able to make my students into active and responsible learners; I was proud of the students’ research work and web pages, and they, too, were proud of their projects, not only as an end product but as a measure of their learning growth.

References

Heineman, A., & Willis, H. (1988). Writing term papers (3rd ed.). Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Lowe, D. (1999). Creating web pages for dummies: Quick reference (2nd ed.). Foster City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide, Inc.

Sabieh,C. (2003). Preoccupation with a webpage: Mastering academic writing unconsciously. EgypTesol Journal, 2(1), 57–73.

Sabieh, C. (2002). An ELT’s solution to combat plagiarism: “Birth” of CALL. Proceeding of the International Conference on Information Technology and Universities in Asia (ITUA 2002). Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press. ERIC ED 465 290.

Dr. Christine Sabieh is professor at Notre Dame University. An advocate of CALL and a certified online instructor/trainer, she does education consultancy, workshops, publishes, and participates in conferences on a national, regional, and international level. She serves as a member of TESOL’s CALL-IS Steering Committee (2013–2015). Christine loves to travel, mixing in her professional presence with culture exploring and shopping sprees.