Say it in your own words!
When writing and discussing what you have learned from various sources, including blogs, it is easy to make the mistake of using others’ ideas, words, or images without clearly acknowledging the source of that information. This practice is called plagiarism! You can learn to avoid plagiarism by making sure you credit others’ ideas, facts, quotations, etc. Another way to avoid plagiarism is by paraphrasing, or restating a text in your own words. This is a good way to test your comprehension. View a powerpoint on identifying plagiarism, and then view a powerpoint that helps you practice paraphrasing. Another great resource on successful paraphrasing is provided by Indiana University’s writing tutorial services. Check it out!
Plagiarism is a problem we have to deal with all the time in education. The internet has made it very easy to copy others' work. Educating students about how to avoid plagiarism is important. Your post is very helpful; this is something I need to address with my class, too.
Also, how do I get to your students' blogs?
-Mrs. Emmert
Posted by: Mrs. Emmert | September 05, 2007 at 10:33 AM
Hi Mrs. Emmert,
Stay posted for our student blogs! They are just learning! Hopefully, this Friday we can post comments to your students' writing.
Posted by: MaryAnnRicketson | September 05, 2007 at 03:27 PM
My students loved the comments. They were so excited to hear from high schoolers! Check out our blogs again soon (click on my name to get to it). We just posted Venn diagrams. Have you used those before? How do these help you in school?
Posted by: Mrs. Emmert | September 12, 2007 at 10:11 AM
Venn diagrams are great to use as a prewriting activity for compare/contast writing. Students can "see" the similarities and differences between whatever is being compared. My students enjoyed commenting to your students. We were impressed by some of the students' poetry and the design of their blogs.
Posted by: MaryAnnRicketson | September 12, 2007 at 11:09 AM