Taking Center Stage – Act II (TCSII)

A Portal for Middle Grades Educators

Ethics and plagiarism

As noted above, students today usually are familiar—and comfortable—with using the Internet to find information. The Internet is a handy place to do research, but it is also a tempting source for plagiarizing material. Many schools now use plagiarism software to check essays and research papers for unattributed use of materials.

However, checking for plagiarism is only step two. The first step is for schools to teach ethics and responsible ways to use and cite material from a variety of sources. Districts usually develop policies on the use of borrowed information and acknowledgment of sources. Schools may print the policies in the student planners. The beginning of the school year or a research project is a good time to review such policies. Students can discuss what they know about ethics and what plagiarism means. Teachers can use illustrations from music, movies, iPods, and the Internet to illustrate the widespread problems associated with free access to ideas.

Related Links

• Digital Citizenship: Using Technology Appropriately (Outside Source)
• #604 Ethics: Cheating and Plagiarism (PDF; Outside Source), In the Mix, Public Broadcasting Service.
• Ethics Codes (Outside Source), Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.
• Teaching Cyber Ethics (Outside Source), The Cybercitizens Partnership.
• Digital Ethics (Outside Source) Cable in the Classroom.
• Digital Ethics (Outside Source), Instructional Technology.
• Tools for Teachers (Outside Source), Committee for Concerned Journalists.

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