Plagiarism 2011

The fifth one-day event on Institutional Policies and Procedures for Managing Student Plagiarism

9 June 2011

"I'd like to congratulate you on putting on such a fantastic conference. The atmosphere was really buzzing and good for networking, and I came away with some new ideas and lots of enthusiasm."

There was certainly energy in the air and valuable conversations were observed throughout the day at this year's event. One of the strengths of this annual gathering is that it builds on shared knowledge and experiences that have been developed since the event was first run in 2007. The event attracts a variety of staff from universities and colleges, including lecturers, learning technologists and registrars, as well as those working in quality, educational development or learning support. This year, colleagues from these different areas were able to find out about new research in the field of student plagiarism and discuss issues that arise in the implementation of policy and practice. There were also much needed opportunities to exchange good practice ideas and learn from others’ experiences.

Dr Erica Morris from the Academic Integrity Service at the Higher Education Academy helped to frame the day by highlighting emerging themes in the field, including a focus on plagiarism education, subject-specific issues and the need to look at student perspectives. New resources for the higher education community were also highlighted: Supporting Academic Integrity, the Plagiarism Reference Tariff and Policy Works.

Dr Janette Ryan, who leads the Teaching International Students project, gave a thought-provoking keynote on ‘Approaches to tackling plagiarism amongst international students: deploying weapons of mass destruction or preventing collateral damage?’ Drawing on her wealth of experience and on research, Dr Ryan pointed to the diversity of learners within cultures and how ‘we can be blind to our own academic culture’. This first keynote was followed by valuable discussion and then workshops covering: student and staff perceptions of plagiarism policies; educational approaches to promote academic integrity developed at the University of Leeds; and effectively integrating the text-matching tool, Turnitin in institutional policy and practice.

In the second keynote ‘Integrity and Incongruity in an increasingly integrated world’ Dr Teddi Fishman, from the International Centre for Academic Integrity, emphasised the gaps that can emerge between theory and practice, and led an important discussion to help shape a workable definition of plagiarism, which could be applicable for educational and professional contexts. Significantly, this ‘contemporary’ definition needs to be readily understood by students. The afternoon workshops concerned the use of the Plagiarism Reference Tariff; the role of student advocacy in unacceptable academic practice cases; plagiarism in the visual arts; and students’ understandings of, and difficulties with paraphrasing. In the final plenary, Dr Morris drew attention to future directions for the field, where there is a need to look at building connections, international perspectives and student engagement.

Resources from the event can be accessed below. If you would like to be included on the mailing list for next year’s event, please email Nicola Ranjit at nranjit@brookes.ac.uk.

“I thought the theming of the keynotes and sessions was fab .....really made the day weave together with different perspectives."

"Thank you so much for organising such a wonderful plagiarism conference. I really enjoyed it and took a lot from it. So much so in fact that I felt inspired to write a piece for the Guardian's Higher Education Network."

"Useful and mature discussions of important though intractable issues."

"Stimulating and participative day, many thanks."

Event Resources