Plagiarism, I think, can be a tricky concept to help students understand.  I can understand how an English Language Learner in an academic setting might be tempted to copy-and-paste someone else’s work.

This is a very short “The Best…” list sharing online resources that my students have found engaging and, I believe, helpful to them “getting it.” (Also, for my purposes, I’ve found the Plagiarism Detector to be a helpful tool to confirm that students are using their own words. Plagium is a similar too).

Here are my choices for The Best Online Resources To Teach About Plagiarism (and that are accessible to English Language Learners). They are not in any order of preference:

Plagiarism is from Acadia University, and should be accessible to Intermediate English Language Learners.  It’s an animated slideshow reviewing the problem.

The Monash University Library has an accessible quiz where users have to choose if examples show plagiarism or not. It’s not flashy, but I think it’s exceptionally effective.

Plagiarism Game.

Breaking News English features an article and exercises about plagiarism that’s specifically geared towards English Language Learners.

What Is Plagiarism? is a series of entertaining videos from Rutgers University. It, too, is probably only accessible to advanced English Language Learners.

CyberBee has an accessible animation giving background on the whole idea of Copyright.

How to Avoid Plagiarism: A Complete Guide for ESL Learners is an excellent article specifically designed for ELL’s. It even provides audio support for the text.

On a “different” note, teachers (particularly ESL teachers) might find an article titled A Different Perspective on Plagiarism thought-provoking. It comes from The Internet TESL Journal.

PaperRater is a good tool to check on if writing has been plagiarized.

Common Craft explains Plagiarism.

Simple thoughts about fair use is by Seth Godin.

Jon, a reader, writes:

The University of Florida developed three Flash games for their ‘Gaming Against Plagiarism’ project.

For some international students, ‘plagiarism’ is a foreign word is from Minnesota Public Radio.

 

Paraphrasing from Imagine Easy Solutions on Vimeo.

Skills and Strategies | Understanding Plagiarism in a Digital Age is from The New York Times Learning Network.

Stop Student Plagiarism Before It Starts is from Middleweb.

Teaching Students to Avoid Plagiarism is by Jennifer Gonzalez.

Cheating and Plagiarizing is a new article by Rick Wormeli.

Here are some resources about paraphrasing:

Paraphrasing Is Key to Deeper Comprehension is from Middleweb.

Using Evidence in Academic Writing:Avoiding Plagiarism is from The U.S. Department Of State.

E.L.L. Practice + Prompt | The Value Of Diversity is an interactive I created for The New York Times Learning Network and includes some questions on paraphrasing.

Paraphrasing Quiz

Paraphrasing

Paraphrase Craze

Top 10 reasons students plagiarize & what teachers can do about it (with apologies to David Letterman) is from Kappan Online.

Free Plagiarism Checker is a new…plagiarism checker.

GOOGLE UNVEILS TWO BIG TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS: “ASSIGNMENTS” & “ORIGINALITY REPORTS”

Improve student writing with originality reports and rubrics in Classroom is from Google. I really like the Originality Reports, and I particularly like that both students and teachers can see them.

Strategies to Reduce Plagiarism and Increase Engagement is from TESOL.

Suggestions are always welcome.

If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.