(This posting includes two PowerPoints which you are welcome to use with your students.) *

ESL students often don’t realize how easy it is for their teachers to know when they have plagiarized on an assignment. In fact, it’s so easy that even students can identify plagiarized sentences. I have found that once they realize this, they stop doing it.

To demonstrate how easy it is, I use the following PowerPoint composed of three slides.

In the first slide, using an inductive approach I start with this:

A student wrote this on an essay about learning a foreign language.

Learning a foreign language is difficult.  In my school, we studied
reading, writing, speaking and listening in the same class.  I learned
to read well but not speaking.  Aside from this caveat, the integration
of the four skills is the only plausible approach to learning a foreign language.

Do you think any of these sentences were copied from a source
(e.g. a book, magazine or Internet)?

It is so easy for all of the them to identify a copied sentence:

Aside from this caveat, the integration of the four skills is the only plausible approach to learning a foreign language.

In the second slide, I explain why it’s so easy:

It’s very easy for instructors to know when an ESL student plagiarized (copy) from a source because the style and vocabulary level is different from the student’s usual style and level.

Then I contrast the copied sentences to one that is in the student’s own style:

There were problems with this type of class.  However, teaching all four skills in one class is the best method.

In a second PowerPoint presentation, I contrast two ways that they can avoid plagiarism:

If you want to pass college courses, you need to write advanced-style answers about reading passages.

Advanced style= using your own word and style to answer a question.  GOOD.

Simple style=putting quotation marks around sentences from a passage instead of using your own words.  (This is not cheating, but it can look lower-level).

Plagiarism= copied sentences with no quotation marks. (ILLEGAL.  You might fail the assignment, fail the course.)

In the second slide, I show them a sentence from a source along with a comprehension question. Next, I show three responses, and they identify which response is Advanced, Simple, and Plagiarized.

In the third slide, I further encourage them to use their own words.

In this class, you should try to use Advanced style when you write answers. It’s good practice, and I can help you by checking your grammar and vocabulary.

If it’s too difficult to use your own words, you can use quotation marks.  But
I can’t help you with your vocabulary and grammar if you do.

Here are the links to the two PowerPoint presentations:

 Plagiarism in three slide ppt

 Alternatives to plagiarism 3 slides

For more about helping students avoid plagiarism, see

• Effective, Stress-Free Approach to Dealing with Plagiarism.

• Quick and User-Friendly Technique to Teach Summarize Skills of a Reading Passage

David Kehe
Faculty Emeritus

*About the free-download materials. During my 40 years of teaching ESL, I have had many colleagues who were very generous with their time, advice and materials. These downloads are my way of paying it forward.