Plagiarism

This is the assignment I usually teach on the third day of school. But it could be used to teach about plagiarism at any time of the year. The homework assignment is an introduction to some social studies vocab that I use throughout the year: Content, context, citation, conclusion, corroborate and communication.

This slideshow has been designed so that you can give each child a copy on google classroom, and also project it on the board, so they can follow along. If you would prefer to give this assignment as worksheets, you can make a copy of my google docs version, which is included in the lesson as a link.

Objectives

I can…

…define plagiarism… by reading the article and explaining what plagiarism is in my own words and by identifying if different scenarios are plagiarism, while explaining my reasoning.

…create a citation… by creating practice citations and then creating my own for a chosen website.

Included in this lesson:

- Slideshow with all activities in agenda included, also some examples of modifications I made in the past for a few of the slides.

- Document version of the lesson.

- Optional google classroom plagiarism checker activity.

Agenda

1. Do Now: Hold a discussion on what students already know about plagiarism
2. What is plagiarism reading and questions: students learn the basics and then answer some questions. They have to define plagiarism in their own words. 
3. Are these plagiarism scenarios: Students must determine if different scenarios are plagiarism or not and explain why.
4. How do you cite your sources in social studies reading and questions. I give students a simplified citation format, but the article tells them to ask their teachers how they should actually cite during a lesson.
5. Practice citing sources: Students are given information and they must format it into a citation. There are also modified versions of these slides for students who need a bit more guidance. They are bright blue. If you do not want to use the modification, you can delete them. If you choose to use them, make a copy of the slideshow and use them to replace the slides directly before them. 
6. Exit slip: find your own source and cite it. Students apply their knowledge to a source they choose off the internet. I have learned that you may have to demonstrate to the kids how to copy and paste a URL off of a webpage.

Homework: Vocabulary assignment: thinking like a social scientist. This is at the end of both the slides and the document. I have found that the amount of time this slideshow takes has varied greatly by class and year. Having the homework helps make sure we don’t run out of activities. 

I keep this assignment all year. In the past, I have had children plagiarize, sometimes repeatedly, and their parents claim the child does not know what plagiarism is. I show the parents that their child completed a lesson where they explicitly practiced identifying plagiarism and defined it in their own words. If the child either did not complete the lesson or did poorly on it, this can also be an opportunity to reteach. You can also have them complete the assignment as part of earning back assignment credit after plagiarizing.

This lesson also includes a short optional extension activity for google classroom: Google offers a plagiarism checker that you can turn on for students to check their own assignments in google docs. If you use this feature and you would like the students to get familiar with it, feel free to use this, it is linked in the slides. You must turn on the plagiarism checker when you assign this assignment with the document attached for this activity to work,  I have had mixed results with it working correctly, and tech is always changing, but it is another option you can think about.

Note about standards: This lesson does not go over evaluating if a source is reliable. It only goes over what plagiarism is and some basics of citation. It supports the selected standards but does not thoroughly cover all aspects of them.

If you are interested in the other lessons I teach at the begining of the school year, this lesson is also included in my Begining of school bundle on TPT