How to help your child avoid plagiarism?

Your child’s teacher has just informed you that your child was caught plagiarizing (i.e., copying someone’s work). Now you’re wondering what you can do to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Not sure where to start? Here are some tips that can help.

If you’re looking over your child’s work and notice that the style, size, or colour of the font changes throughout, there’s a chance that certain parts were copied from somewhere else. The same is true if the writing style appears to vary (e.g., some sentences are in past tense while the majority is written in present tense). 

Here are some questions you can ask your child if you come across these inconsistencies:

• Can you summarize the assignment for me?
• Can you explain what this section is about? 
• Can you tell me what this big word means?
• Etc.

If they can’t answer your questions, the text may not be entirely their own work. In this case, you can ask where they found certain information. 

In an age where people can illegally download music, images, and software and stream movies and TV series without paying, it can be hard for younger generations to appreciate the importance of intellectual property and copyrights. That’s why many students don’t understand why they need to cite their sources.

What’s more, imposing penalties for plagiarism does nothing to prevent students from continuing to do it. So, instead of focusing on the consequences of plagiarism, try explaining to your child what plagiarism means and why they should follow best practices to avoid it. Here are two points you can use to start the conversation:

1. Citing sources demonstrates the scientific value of your work

What’s the difference between opinion and fact? An opinion is a person or group’s perception of something. It is based on beliefs and not on science. A fact, on the other hand, can be proven true or false. When a student uses and cites credible sources to support their research, they demonstrate that their own work is credible and verifiable. 

2. Sources help give an idea of your thought process

When students cite the sources they use in their schoolwork, it gives the teacher the information necessary to understand where they found their ideas and how they arrived at their conclusions. Think of a school assignment as a treasure chest sealed by dozens of locks. Without the keys to those locks, the teacher is left having to guess what the chest contains. Properly citing sources is like giving them the keys, which allows them to figure out the student’s argument and how they arrived at it. 

If your child has used a text or part of a text (from a book, website, dictionary, newspaper article, etc.), an image, an artistic work, or any other work that they didn’t create, have them indicate the source in their assignment. If they can’t remember where they found the information, it’s best to remove that section from their work to avoid plagiarism.

The rules for citations usually vary from school to school, and sometimes from teacher to teacher. Ask your child what guidelines they were given for their assignment. If none were supplied, you can contact their teacher or refer to the Alloprof article (French only) on the topic. 

In short, learning to properly cite sources isn’t easy. It can be a challenge for students in elementary school, high school, and even university. That’s why parents can be a valuable ally to schools by helping their kids understand the concept of plagiarism. They also help students develop good habits for the rest of their academic career.