Plagiarism defeats the whole purpose of a W or C course, and so we are obliged to address it. Our goal as instructors should be to prevent plagiarism, but since that is not possible 100% of the time, we need strategies for detecting and dealing with it as well. The bottom line is that students who cheat do not learn (at least not what we are trying to teach). Your students should know:

• plagiarism is against University Rules and violates the Aggie Honor Code;
• you will not tolerate it;
• you have every intention of applying a sanction should you discover it.

Types of Plagiarism

The plagiarism game has radically changed. In the past, students might just copy another student's paper or a section of some published work or buy a paper from a paper mill. Today, they might simply ask an AI bot to write it for them. 
Especially in less experienced writers, plagiarism can result from an incomplete or poor knowledge of citation and documentation standards, or from incorporating standards from one field or culture inappropriately into another. Not every culture defines intellectual property in the same way as ours; in some cultures weaving an authority's words into a text seamlessly shows superior knowledge of a field and respect for others' views. And many a student inexperienced with writing is unsure of the difference between direct quotes, paraphrases, and summaries. Finally, some students' poor note-taking habits lead them into plagiarism.
 

Prevention of Plagiarism

While dishonesty is certainly one reason students plagiarize, lack of time and ignorance of documentation and research skills are also significant factors. Evans Library Learning & Outreach provides help and tutorials for students who may simply be confused. University Writing Center consultants are also available to help students with individualized instruction. Students can learn more about correct citation using the UWC interactive lesson, Citing Sources. You can request the UWC present a classroom workshop on Avoiding Plagiarism. Also see our videos from a faculty workshop on preventing plagiarism:
Plagiarism Prevention, Part I
Plagiarism Prevention, Part II
 
Some ideas include the following:

• Include a statement about plagiarism and consequences for plagiarizing on your syllabus (sample below).
• Consider requiring students to turn in a plagiarism contract with each paper (sample below).
• Discuss plagiarism and academic integrity in the first few days of the course.
• Aid students with time management by providing due dates for drafts or workshops well in advance of the final date.
• Break major assignments into small tasks.
• Provide ample feedback during the composing process.
• Provide instruction on citation and documentation.
• Don't recycle assignments—always make at least a minor change in your expectations.
• Avoid common assignments. (Surf the "cheater" sites to get an idea of what they might be in your field.)
• Make the assignment require addressing issues from class discussions or class readings.
• Ask for oral or written progress reports—well in advance of the due date.

Plagiarism Statement for Course Policies Section of Syllabus

The following statement may be used as a model. Something like this should appear on your syllabus. You have permission to use this exact statement.

According to the Texas A&M University Definitions of Academic Misconduct, plagiarism is the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results or words without giving appropriate credit (aggiehonor.tamu.edu). You should credit your use of anyone else's words, graphic images, or ideas using standard citation styles. AI text generators such as ChatGPT should not be used for any work for this class without explicit permission of the instructor and appropriate attribution. AI text generators should not be used for:

• Creating or revising drafts
• Editing your work
• Reviewing a peer's work

Such use of AI text generators in this manner could be considered plagiarism and cheating according to Student Rule 20.  More information may also be found at https://aggiehonor.tamu.edu or you may contact me if you have questions.

If I should discover that you have failed to properly credit sources or have used a paper written by someone else or by an AI bot, I will recommend that you receive an F in this course. The Aggie Honor System Office processes for adjudication and appeals can be found at aggiehonor.tamu.edu.

You may also wish to address the use of so-called text spinners such as SpinBot or QuillBot, that produce paraphrases. These are frequently used to improve originality scores when text is run through a program like Turnitin. Students will paste flagged text into the bot, which will then create a paraphrase. 

Below is a sample of a contract you may wish students to attach to written work:
Your own work: Type the following words at the top of your test [or paper] along with your name, and sign and date it: "I certify that the following is my own work. I have worked independently in writing all answers. I have documented all citations."
The University Writing Center asks every student who consults with us to agree to a set of Ground Rules that includes a similar waiver: "Papers you bring to a UWC consultation must be your original work. We can help you learn to document your sources if you ask."

If You Suspect Plagiarism

If you should suspect plagiarism, don't begin with accusations. First gather solid proof. You can use any number of web sites designed to help find plagiarism. A very effective (and free) way to do so is through Google's Advanced Search option. Pick a key phrase from the suspected paper, run it through the search, and you may well find it.

You can also use Turnitin.com, a plagiarism-detection database to which the university subscribes. An effective approach is to ask students to submit their own papers to Turnitin; tell them you expect a clean report before final drafts are done. By checking their own drafts, many students who think they are not plagiarizing but are will be educated. You will have to visit the site to set it up so that your students can submit their work.

Turnitin is now beta testing a detection tool to flag work probably generated by AI. Packback software includes a robust detection tool. If your college does not support Packback, see your department or college liaison for the Office of Academic Innovation. 
Remember that students may not only plagiarize unintentionally as they learn the ways of academic writing; they may also plagiarize without using the web at all. No search engine or plagiarism detection software is 100% foolproof. If the web sites don't provide proof of plagiarism but you still suspect it, enlist the help of the Aggie Honor System Office. They will guide and support you.

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Additional Resources

Minimum Syllabus Requirements provides guidance about how to present plagiarism issues to students and how to deal with plagiarism at the institutional level.

Council of Writing Program Administrators: Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices.

An alternative to Turnitin.com is proposed by Bedford/St. Martin's TechTip, "Thinking and Talking About Plagiarism" posted by Nick Carbone.