How to teach a student not to plagiarize?

[Tracy]

My ds8 is a very prolific writer.  We are doing WWE2, which he breezes through. He is currently writing the second book of a trilogy that he is planning. (The first book is 50 types pages.)  So I decided to add TOG WriteAids to his curriculum this year, which focuses on essay writing.  So far, his assignments have been just to write a single paragraph on a topic that we studied that week in history.  Everything he writes is almost word-for-word from his reading material.  This child has an amazing memory, so once he has read it, it just sticks in his head. He is trying not to copy the material, but he is having trouble thinking of another way to say it. Anything he comes up with doesn't seem to him to be as good as the original. 

 

How can I help him not to plagiarize?

[Garga]

Others can chime in, but at 8 I'd let it go. I'd consider his reports a cross between copywork and original compsition. At this point, him mimicking good writing is a valuable lesson. Now, if you were writing this about an 8th grader I'd say something different.

[Farrar]

I agree with Garga. Since he's young and has this issue and is doing plenty of other writing, I'd personally drop the essays. Focus on narration instead. Maybe move ahead in WWE a little. If you want to encourage other types of writing, I'd look into ways to encourage that in other forms - like writing letters or book reviews or pretend newspaper articles. He's got the writing skills and the memory. He's maybe not quite ready to move away from narration (where you can copy the wording of things). So focus on voice a little instead and how a newspaper article has a different voice from an advertisement. Or things that require his opinion, like a movie or book review.

[eternalsummer]

What I did with DD11 when she was 9 was first I'd go through and underline 5-10 words that were the same but didn't need to be (not proper nouns, or whatever) and have her use a thesaurus if necessary to change them.

 

Then I progressed to having her change 2-3 word phrases, then entire clauses, then I'd underline a sentence and have her rewrite the sentence (by then she was already substituting other words, but often the structure of the sentence would be the same as the source material).  

 

At the same time (we were using WWS 1 at this point), they were doing sort of basic outlining, and I helped her write the outline without copying word for word, so that when she rewrote it she didn't use the exact wording because it wasn't there (they did the outlining and writing on different days so it had time to fade from memory).

[Sahamamama2]

At age 8, it's too early to be concerned about plagiarism. He's doing the best he can at this point, even if it's little more than copywork. But if you want to help your student avoid copying word-for-word, you might teach him to go through a passage and underline the key words. Perhaps you could photocopy the passage you want him to read (for information), then use that to show him how to highlight the key words. Most children that age love using highlighters, LOL! :) Then, he could copy the key words onto another piece of paper, put the original article away, and begin to write. Over time, he will learn to use his own words more smoothly.

 

When you get to WWS 1 (around age 11? 12?), there are lessons dealing specifically with plagiarism -- what it is, why it needs to be avoided, and how to avoid it. There are also lessons that teach students how to reword phrases and sentences to suit their purposes -- for example, how to turn descriptive adjectives into nouns (and vice versa), how to turn passive verbs into active verbs (and vice versa), how to use a thesaurus to find related words, and how to incorporate direct quotations into an essay. All of these skills build over time, and help the student avoid plagiarism.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't even call it that with an eight year old. In his mind, he's just writing his report. Later, when he understands the effort that a writer puts into a piece of writing, he'll have a better appreciation for why we do not "steal" a writer's work without attributing credit. HTH.

[Tracy]

Thanks, everyone. You are all right, of course. I was just looking at his rough draft and trying to find something for him to improve upon. Spelling and punctuation were perfect. Format was perfect. It was the only thing left. I do want him to keep doing the WA assignments, as they are quite varied. He will do a couple of essays, and then we will move on to letters, plays, posters, poetry, etc. So I guess my goal is just exposure at this point.  I think when he is doing his graphic organizer before writing his paragraph, I can have him use key words instead of whole sentences. He will like that, because it is less writing. But it will make him think more about writing his own sentences. 

[sassenach]

Maybe take a look at Bravewriter (for future, I think what you're doing now is great). WA is a more structure focused curriculum and BW is more of a style program. Since he has a natural gift for structure, it would be great to help him develop his unique voice.

 

I have a gifted writer and I'm finding that BW is stretching her in new ways.

[Farrar]

I also thought he sounded like a kid who would enjoy the projects in Partnership Writing from Brave Writer. Exposure to different forms seems good. Nice to have a motivated, gifted writer no matter what program you use.