Plagiarism is one of the most common forms of academic misconduct and deliberate plagiarism can be significantly reduced by effective assessment design. Griffith Institute for Higher Education (GIHE) provides professional staff development and resources to assist staff with assessment strategies and has developed the following good practice guide:
Students are not always able to apply generic study skills in a discipline-specific context so where possible students should be given the opportunity to learn how to avoid plagiarism in their core assessment tasks. GIHE has developed the following tip sheet to assist you.
One of the most difficult forms of cheating to combat is buying essays or contract cheating as evidence is required. The following advice in relation to assessment practices may assist with this problem:
- Change assessments frequently.
- Personalise the assessment.
- Ask for work in progress from students.
- A written assignment could be accompanied by a written exam question, a ten minute viva or an in-class supervised task.
- Ask the students to include research notes, feedback , a draft essay or an action plan with their final assignment.