Zwick Melissa, Springer Melanie L, Guerrero Julia K, DiVentura Daniella, York Karen P
Stockton University, Galloway, NJ 08205.
J Microbiol Biol Educ. 2019 Aug 30;20(2). doi: 10.1128/jmbe.v20i2.1751. eCollection 2019.
Unintentional plagiarism frequently occurs in undergraduate writing assignments because students are unaware of the complexity of correct paraphrasing and citation rules. There is often a lack of formal instruction in science courses on proper paraphrasing and citation to reduce plagiarism. To address this deficit, we developed a brief activity to teach students to recognize the range of paraphrasing and citation errors that can result in plagiarism. The activity was used in a biology-focused scientific literacy course, but it can be incorporated into different instructional settings, with undergraduate students of all levels. During this classroom activity, part 1 addresses the nuances associated with proper paraphrasing and citation in scientific writing and part 2 asks students to practice paraphrasing and properly citing a passage from a scientific source. Pretest results revealed that students were proficient at identifying plagiarism when a citation error occurred but were less proficient at recognizing improper paraphrasing (patchwriting or direct plagiarism). Posttest results indicated that the activity was effective at increasing the students' ability to recognize a paraphrasing error even when a correct citation was present. Students also reported higher confidence in their understanding of what constitutes plagiarism and that they are more confident in their ability to properly paraphrase and cite scientific source content.
无意抄袭在本科写作作业中经常出现，因为学生们没有意识到正确释义和引用规则的复杂性。科学课程中通常缺乏关于正确释义和引用以减少抄袭的正规指导。为了弥补这一不足，我们开发了一个简短的活动，以教导学生识别可能导致抄袭的各种释义和引用错误。该活动在一门以生物学为重点的科学素养课程中使用，但它可以纳入不同的教学环境，适用于各级本科生。在这个课堂活动中，第一部分探讨科学写作中与正确释义和引用相关的细微差别，第二部分要求学生练习对科学文献中的一段内容进行释义和正确引用。预测试结果显示，当出现引用错误时，学生能够熟练识别抄袭，但在识别不当释义（拼凑写作或直接抄袭）方面则不太熟练。后测试结果表明，即使存在正确引用，该活动也能有效提高学生识别释义错误的能力。学生们还表示，他们对抄袭的构成有了更高的信心，并且对自己正确释义和引用科学文献内容的能力更有信心。
