Managing Plagiarism through Web Resources

Willem Botes
Department of Genetics
Stellenbosch Univesity
wcb@sun.ac.za

Keywords: E-learning, Wikipedia, Plagiarism

Background

Writing skills and getting students to practice it is extremely important. In order to introduce this in my teaching, students are asked to write several essays during the semester on topics related to the subject of population genetics, but also their specific interests. The idea is that it not only enhances their ability to communicate, but also makes them more interested in the course. Unfortunately institutions of higher learning have reported an increase in reports of plagiarism during the past couple of years. One of many easy sources for learners to plagiarize is Wikipedia, an open source-based free encyclopedia.

Summary of work

In order to facilitate a proactive response to plagiarism and also to help students receive exposure to an elementary peer-review process they were instructed to publish their essays as Wikipedia articles.

Summary of results

During the first year (2005) only a limited number of students were able to publish their essays on Wikipedia. The process of submitting articles to Wikipedia and managing the whole process was more time consuming and technically difficult for students than originally envisaged. During 2006 this was mediated, however, by organizing students into groups and making each member of the group responsible for a subsection of a longer article and thus part of the publishing process.

Conclusion

The feedback I received from students was varied. Students with less experience in html found publishing their essays on Wikipedia difficult, but the general feedback was positive. Students commented on the fact that they were able to receive feedback on the end result from not only me as lecturer but also their peers (and the Wikipedia community at large).

Powerpoint presentation