Combating Student Plagiarism. An Academic Librarian's Guide

193 Pages·2008·1.2 MB·English

by  Lynn Lampert (Auth.)

Combating Student Plagiarism
C
HANDOS
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL SERIES
Series Editor: Ruth Rikowski
(email: [email protected])
Chandos’newseriesofbooksareaimedatthebusyinformationprofessional.They
havebeenspeciallycommissionedtoprovidethereaderwithanauthoritativeviewof
current thinking. They are designed to provide easy-to-read and (most importantly)
practical coverage of topics that are of interest to librarians and other information
professionals.Ifyouwouldlikeafulllistingofcurrentandforthcomingtitles,please
visitourwebsitewww.chandospublishing.comorcontactHannahGrace-Williamson
[email protected][phone].
Newauthors:wearealwayspleasedtoreceiveideasfornewtitles;ifyouwouldlike
to write a book for Chandos, please contact Dr Glyn Jones on email
[email protected][phone].
Bulk orders: some organisations buy a number of copies of our books. If you are
interested in doing this, we would be pleased to discuss a discount. Please contact
[e-mail]
[phone].
Combating Student
Plagiarism: An academic
librarian’s guide
L D. L
YNN AMPERT
Chandos Publishing
Oxford· England
ChandosPublishing(Oxford)Limited
TBACBusinessCentre
Avenue4
StationLane
Witney
OxfordOX284BN
UK
Tel:[phone]Fax:[phone]
Email:[email protected]
www.chandospublishing.com
FirstpublishedinGreatBritainin2008
ISBN:
9781843342823(paperback)
9781843342830(hardback)
1843342820(paperback)
1843342839(hardback)
©LynnD.Lampert,2008
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData.
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinorintroduced
into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
mechanical,photocopying,recordingorotherwise)withoutthepriorwrittenpermission
ofthePublishers.Thispublicationmaynotbelent,resold,hiredoutorotherwisedisposed
ofbywayoftradeinanyformofbindingorcoverotherthanthatinwhichitispublished
withoutthepriorconsentofthePublishers.Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorisedact
in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for
damages.
ThePublishersmakenorepresentation,expressorimplied,withregardtotheaccuracyof
the information contained in this publication and cannot accept any legal responsibility
orliabilityforanyerrorsoromissions.
Thematerialcontainedinthispublicationconstitutesgeneralguidelinesonlyanddoesnot
representtobeadviceonanyparticularmatter.Noreaderorpurchasershouldactonthe
basis of material contained in this publication without first taking professional advice
appropriatetotheirparticularcircumstances.
TypesetbyAvocetTypeset,Chilton,Aylesbury,Bucks.
PrintedintheUKandUSA.
Printed in the UK by 4edge Limited - www.4edge.co.uk
To my husband Andy, our daughter Rebecca,
and the rest of our pack
List of figures and tables
Figures
I.1 Respect Copyrights activity patch 1
2.1 Map of the field of composition 43
Tables
7.1 Written assignment techniques 124
7.2 Non-written assignment techniques 125
ix
About the author
Lynn D. Lampert, a native of Los Angeles, continues to live
in southern California. She is currently the chair of
reference and instructional services and coordinator of
information literacy at California State University
Northridge (CSUN). Before joining the faculty at CSUN in
2001, Lynn worked as a reference and instruction librarian
at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks,
California.
Lynn earned both a master’s in library and information
science and a master’s in history from the University of
California, Los Angeles, in 1998. She received her BA
degree in history from the University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Lynn is an active member of the Association of College
and Research Libraries (a division of the American Library
Association) and several other regional and national
professional library associations. She has authored many
publications, appearing both within and outside the field of
library and information science, focusing on information
literacy, the role of the library and librarians in combating
student plagiarism and other important issues facing
academic librarianship. Lynn frequently presents on critical
issues in information literacy and instructional
programming, and other public service issues facing
academic libraries.
Lynn can be contacted at [email protected].
xi
Acknowledgements
Many people have shaped and contributed to my
knowledge of information literacy and academic
librarianship. Writing this book would not have been
possible without certain mentors and colleagues
encouraging me to continue to write and conduct research
about the roles that academic librarians can play in
combating student plagiarism and thereby increasing
student information literacy skills.
Ifirstbecameinterestedinthetopicofstudentplagiarism
and its connection to information literacy programming in
spring 2003. At that time I was working with journalism
students at my library at California State University
Northridge. Simultaneously the plagiarism scandal
involving the reporter Jayson Blair that rocked the New
York Times hit the news, and led me to focus my dialogues
with journalism faculty on the issues of student plagiarism,
information literacy and information ethics. I was
encouraged to conduct research in this area by Professor
Linda Bowen and other journalism faculty members.
From the research I conducted through partnerships with
thejournalismfaculty,Iwentontodevelopapostersession
and write a paper which I presented at the 2004 LOEX of
the West Conference in Boise, Idaho. This paper was
published later in 2004 as an article (‘Integrating discipline-
based anti-plagiarism instruction into the information
xiii
Combating Student Plagiarism
literacy curriculum’, Reference Services Review, 32(4): 331,
347–55).
In late 2005 the Association of College and Research
Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library
Association (ALA), contacted me to ask if I would conduct
an in-person pre-conference on the role of the academic
librarianincombatingstudentplagiarismforthe2006ALA
AnnualMidwinterMeetinginSanAntonio,Texas.Thepre-
conference was a success, leading to many fruitful
discussions with participants long after the program was
over. After that 2006 pre-conference, the ACRL went on to
invite me to create an online webcast which is now entitled
TheRoleoftheLibrarianinCombatingStudentPlagiarism.
This 1.5-hour-long program has been delivered many times
to participants across the USA and around the world. I
would like to thank the ACRL for its support of my
research and for providing me with a platform to discuss
this important professional issue with other librarians. In
particular, I would like to thank Stephanie Orphan and
Margot Sutton Conahan of the ACRL and Hope Kandel of
Learning Times for their support of these projects. I have
learned a great deal from these experiences.
In 2007 I was invited by the University of Northern Iowa
to conduct two half-day workshops on the issue of
plagiarism, sponsored by various colleges, the provost and
the Rod Library. In developing these talks and the
assessment instruments that were utilized to query students
about student plagiarism issues, I learned a great deal more
about how academic librarians, faculty and students view
theissues ofplagiarismandinformationethics.Iwouldlike
to thank the faculty and staff of the Rod Library and UNI
for their generous support of my research, travel and talks.
Special thanks go to the dean, Marilyn Mercado, and
librarianSandraWarnerformakingmyvisittoCedarFalls,
xiv
Acknowledgements
Iowa, both memorable and rewarding.
Beyond my involvement with the ACRL in raising
awarenessaboutthelinkagesthatcanexistbetweenstudent
plagiarism and the information literacy instructional
programming that librarians and libraries are responsible
for,Ihavealsobeenfortunatetohavemanycolleagueswho
have supported my work on this and other information
literacyissues.Iwouldliketoextendmysincerestthanksto
severalwonderfulfriendsandcolleagueswhosesupportand
encouragement have always managed to keep me moving
forward: Stephanie Brasley, Susan Curzon, Katherine
Dabbour, Esther Grassian and Joan Kaplowitz.
In addition, I would be remiss if I did not thank and
acknowledge my colleagues and co-workers at California
State University Northridge (CSUN) and the information
literacy coordinators within the California State University
(CSU) library system, who have always been very receptive
to investigating and developing innovative strategies that
help us to infuse information literacy into the curriculum
and culture of the campus. I would also like especially to
thank the staff of the Interlibrary Loan Office at the Oviatt
Library at CSUN for all their help in obtaining resources
that existed beyond our collection.
After reviewing my 2004 LOEX of the West paper on
discipline-based approaches to combating student
plagiarism, the late Dr Ilene F. Rockman, who was both a
closementorandcolleague,encouragedmetodomorewith
my research by thoroughly studying the instructional role
that librarians could play in the area of student plagiarism.
A colleague from the CSU library system and a passionate
advocate for applied research in the field of information
literacy, Ilene’s interest in my work and ideas continues to
inspire my studies in the area of student plagiarism and
information literacy. I will always be grateful for the
xv