Identifying Plagiarism
Preventing academic misconduct is always better than policing it.
But, sometimes you notice a problem and wonder if the work you are marking was really created by or fully authored by the student who submitted it.
It is your responsibility, according to the academic misconduct regulations to follow up judiciously with your concerns.
Educator judgment
It is important to keep an educator’s mindset. As the instructor, you are the most likely to be able to identify academic misconduct.
This is because you are most closely connected to:
- the student and the course,
- the purpose of the assessment, and
- the instructions given to students about acceptable and unacceptable processes.
It is the rules you set and the instructions you give that are the foundation for what constitutes academic misconduct in your course.
Possible Plagiarism Flags
Seeing atypical errors and inconsistencies may be sign of plagiarism.
Issue | Plagiarism? | Other explanation? |
Sudden shift in tone, style, verb tense | Could indicate copy and paste from materials not produced by the student | Poor writing skills, missing skills for formatting or referencing practices, lack of attention to final details before submitting |
Formatting inconsistencies like font type, size, color or margins | ||
Referencing problems, for example
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Unexpected vocabulary or jargon, including technically correct language not used in the course | Could indicate use of an assignment from another course, an assignment produced by another author or service (contract cheating* or GenAI*) | Reliance on materials or advice from beyond what is provided in the course |
Surprising quality of student work, or dramatic improvements when compared to prior work | Could indicate assistance beyond what is permitted | See below |
Comparing student work to their prior work
- Check that your sense of surprise about the quality of student work is based on good information.
- First impressions, assumptions, and biases sometimes set up lower expectations than are valid or fair.
Improvements may be about student effort, better understanding of assessment criteria, removal of time pressures, or your impact as an educator.
To assess “improvement” be sure to compare writing or assessments that the student completed under similar conditions and expectations.
Differences | Examples |
Criteria the student is working towards: |
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Time constraints and opportunity to edit: |
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Effort over time: |
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Read this post for advice on how to talk to students about your concerns.