How Can We Prevent Plagiarism? Classroom & Coursework Tactics

Break Large Assignments into Scaffolded Checkpoints

One of the best ways to prevent academic integrity violations is to break up major projects into smaller, sequential steps that students complete throughout the term. Instead of asking for one research paper due at the end of the semester, require a topic proposal, annotated bibliography, rough draft, and final draft due at staggered intervals. This kind of scaffolding clears up multiple issues: students won’t panic at the last minute about submitting an essay they’re not proud of and flip to a bought paper, you’ll get a view of their authentic work process, and students will be guided before they get into a time crunch.

Students who wait until the final weeks before a deadline are significantly more likely to commit plagiarism. Crush the “deadline” emergency room with these interim deadlines. And you’ll have a paper trail of the original work: when you assign research materials and successive drafts for submission, you’ll establish clear evidence of each student’s individual process.

Scaffolding helps build student confidence. Undergrads often get bogged down in fear of failing major assignments, and that fear can make them more likely to cheat. When you require sequential steps with timely grading and feedback, they’ll feel ownership of their product. You could ask for research questions each week, source analysis, smaller drafts of an outline, a peer review group, a revision plan—each of these steps offers further checks on their research methods and makes plagiarism increasingly illogical.

Design Unique, Context-Specific Assignment Prompts

Typical writing assignments are designed for plagiarism. Every one of these is something you can get online if you Google it. Make your assignment prompts specific and idiosyncratic to the time, place, and course you’re teaching. Now, it’s impossible to purchase or copy from. Rather than asking everyone to write about the climate change debate in general, ask them to write about the way the debate manifests in your county’s school board meetings. Rather than asking for a standard literary analysis, ask for an application of economic theory to contemporary society. Ask them to produce a podcast episode about a particular play and how we think of it in this day and age.

Make your assignments tightly linked to classroom discussions, readings, and activities. When assignment prompts are not so generalized but instead suggest class readings, debates in your seminar, or something observed in your local area, the pre-made papers become useless. Students need to pay attention to your course.

Add elements that make it logistically difficult to copy and paste. Ask students to meet with local stakeholders and incorporate them into their assignment. Ask them to apply course concepts to their experience with a specific example. Ask students to produce visual analysis—charts, infographics, artistic representations—along with written analysis. For assignments with multiple unique elements that must be tied together, it’s easier to write the original assignment than copy and paste. You can also make it harder to cheat by changing up assignment prompts every year so students can’t just pass down their assignments.

Establish Clear Academic Integrity Policies Immediately

From day one, students need to understand what plagiarism is, and how collaborations are permitted. Too often, academic infractions are rooted in confusion over the boundaries of plagiarism, especially as it pertains to paraphrasing, self-plagiarism, and what is permissible in a collaboration. Even graduate students have misconceptions about what counting as plagiarism is.

Clearly articulate definitions of plagiarism in your syllabus, outlining differences between permissible collaboration versus prohibited copying, citation requirements, the consequences of violations, and where to get help. Use specific, concrete examples of what is permissible and what is not in your particular field. Citation conventions differ between fields. This is why it's important for students to see examples of what permissible attribution looks like in your discipline. During the first week, spend class time discussing the policy and answering questions. Require signing an academic honor statement to demonstrate understanding.

The explicitness of the negative consequences of plagiarism is important for deterring it. Research indicates that 62% of students feel academic plagiarism penalties are not severe enough to prevent future infractions. Knowing that a violation will result in a failing grade, an academic conduct hearing, and notation on a permanent record increases the likelihood of the student taking the decision to plagiarize seriously. However, equally important is to assess what support mechanism are in place: is there a writing center? Do you consult with your librarian? Do you have a tutoring center? These support mechanisms should be promoted before any infractions are committed to the extent that students understand that help is available when they are struggling. The idea is to create a supportive culture where academic integrity is valued, not simply monitored.

Build Positive Classroom Relationships That Discourage Dishonesty

Students are much less likely to plagiarize in courses where they have a genuine relationship to their instructor and feel known as individuals. The tendency towards academic dishonesty rises sharply in courses where students feel anonymous, or feel that their instructor "doesn't know them." When students in large lecture courses do not know their instructor, or feel like they can go unnoticed, the rate of plagiarism soars. But when students feel that they know their instructor and that their instructor knows them, that social accountability acts to suppress plagiarism.

Small steps go a long way. Get to know student names and use them often. Hold individual conferences discussing their work. Show genuine excitement for the subject matter and interest in their ideas. Provide low bar opportunities for participation where students can ask questions without feeling embarrassed. When students feel the respect their instructor shows them, and reciprocate that with respect of their instructor, the temptation to cheat becomes a personal betrayal rather than a breach of an abstract rule.

The human connection between instructor and students also means that students are more willing to communicate for help, rather than cheating. In large impersonal classroom settings, many students feel embarrassed to admit that they don't understand material, or that an assignment deadline will be missed. However, in respectful environments where positive rapport exists, students are more comfortable bringing up their struggles and asking for help before the problems reach a breaking point. The resulting decrease in plagiarism is an unintended, but welcome consequence of great teaching!

Monitor Student Progress Throughout the Writing Process

Having ongoing check-ins on student work gives you opportunities to guide them while naturally creating accountability. Instead of only seeing the final product, encourage you students to come to you on a regular basis and share their research findings, working thesis statements, or paragraph drafts. These informal check-ins give you the ability to identify students who are struggling or displaying suspicious patterns early enough to intervene constructively.

Think about having short oral presentations where students describe the process of finding, choosing, and researching for the documents they’re citing for the paper. Students who did their own research and writing will be able to readily explain where they found their sources and what they learned from each of them. Students who plagiarized will find it difficult to describe what they found and may not be able to answer student queries. You don’t have to have a formal presentation or even grade a presentation. Simply asking students to share their work with the class for five minutes or so will be a powerful deterrent because they know they will need to share with the class at some point.

Ask students to provide copies of their sources along with the final paper. You might require students to submit photocopies of key sources in their research, PDFs of their sources, an annotated bibliography that demonstrates how they interacted with the material, or even research journals documenting the research process. These types of documentation make it more difficult to plagiarize, but also teach students valuable research and writing skills. When students know they’ll need to demonstrate their research process, they’re more likely to actually go through the process rather than skipping ahead.

Conclusion

Ending academic plagiarism is a challenge that pulls in a lot of attention on the detection and punishment side. But to truly end plagiarism, it takes a proactive instructional design that addresses the underlying reasons students plagiarize. Scaffolded assignments, giving students unique prompts that tie them to the content of the course, establishing expectations for academic integrity early in the course, building a positive and supportive classroom climate, and keeping an eye on students throughout the writing process makes it much harder for students to cheat. And it creates a course that supports learning. Most plagiarism is the result of confusion or lack of understanding about the concepts, a rush to complete assignments, fear of failure, or a lack of connection to the work. By designing our courses to support student success, clarify expectations, and hold students accountable through personalized human connection and documentation of the process, the peer pressure to cheat is given a natural partner in academic honesty. The goal isn’t catching cheaters, the goal is to design learning environments that make academic honesty the easy or natural choice.

FAQ

Q: What is the most effective way to prevent plagiarism in student assignments?

A: Scaffolding large assignments into multiple checkpoints with staggered deadlines is most effective, as it reduces time pressure while documenting students' authentic work process throughout the project.

Q: How can I make my writing assignments more resistant to plagiarism?

A: Design prompts that connect directly to your specific course discussions, readings, and local context rather than using generic topics that have countless pre-written papers available online.

Q: Should I use plagiarism detection software in my courses?

A: Detection software can be helpful for education and verification, but it's most effective when combined with proactive strategies like scaffolding and unique prompts rather than used as the sole prevention method.

Q: What percentage of students admit to plagiarizing in college?

A: Recent studies indicate approximately 68% of undergraduates acknowledge some form of academic dishonesty, with rates varying based on assignment type and institutional policies.

Q: How do I address plagiarism when I'm not sure if it's intentional?

A: Talk with the student privately to understand their process and determine if confusion about proper citation caused the issue, then provide education and a revision opportunity for first-time accidental violations.