How to Prevent Plagiarism

UCLA’s Office of the Dean of Students explains how to prevent and handle plagiarized writing. It provides a plagiarism handout you can distribute and discuss with your students to increase their awareness of what cheating is and what the consequences are: The Office Dean of Students “Information for Faculty”.

Fortunately, your students will probably be familiar with the concept of plagiarism before they enter your classroom. 95% of undergraduates attend fist-year orientation, which includes a Dean of Students video presentation about plagiarism. So if they do cheat on your watch, it’s not your fault. No matter what you covered—or didn’t—in class, no matter what you missed on their drafts, you are not to blame. Remind your students to go to the “Don’t Get Busted” section on Bruin Success with Less Stress for a refresher.

In addition, the College has purchased a "plagiarism prevention system" for use campus-wide called Turitin.com Turitin compares submitted student writing to a vast database and then generates an "Originality Report" for the instructor. many courses are using this program through the Turitin link on MyUCLA. As your faculty instructor for details.