How can peer tutoring promote academic integrity and avoid plagiarism?

Plagiarism is a serious academic offense that can damage your reputation, grades, and future opportunities. It involves using someone else's words, ideas, or work without proper citation or acknowledgment. Academic integrity, on the other hand, is the commitment to honesty, fairness, and responsibility in your academic endeavors. It means respecting the originality and contribution of others, as well as your own. One way to promote academic integrity and avoid plagiarism is to engage in peer tutoring. Peer tutoring is a collaborative learning strategy that involves students helping each other with their academic tasks, such as assignments, projects, or exams. Peer tutoring can benefit both tutors and tutees in various ways, such as improving their understanding, skills, motivation, and confidence. In this article, we will explore how peer tutoring can also foster academic integrity and prevent plagiarism among students.

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1 Peer tutoring and academic integrity

Peer tutoring can promote academic integrity by encouraging students to follow ethical principles and practices in their academic work. For example, peer tutors can model and teach tutees how to properly cite and reference sources, how to paraphrase and summarize information, and how to avoid common pitfalls of plagiarism, such as copying, patchwriting, or self-plagiarism. Peer tutors can also help tutees develop their own voice and perspective, rather than relying on others' opinions or arguments. By doing so, peer tutors can help tutees understand the value and importance of academic honesty and originality.

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2 Peer tutoring and plagiarism prevention

Peer tutoring can also prevent plagiarism by providing students with feedback, support, and guidance in their academic tasks. For example, peer tutors can help tutees brainstorm ideas, plan their work, organize their thoughts, and revise their drafts. Peer tutors can also help tutees identify and address any gaps or errors in their work, such as unclear arguments, weak evidence, or inconsistent formatting. By doing so, peer tutors can help tutees improve their writing skills, enhance their critical thinking, and increase their confidence. These factors can reduce the temptation or need to plagiarize, as students can feel more capable and prepared to complete their own work.

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Megan Friess

Adjunct English Professor at Saddleback College, Irvine Valley College, and Cypress College & Creative Writing Instructor at Orange County School of the Arts
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The time management that working with a peer tutor promotes also aids in reducing the pressure and stress that students feel because of a writing assignment. Going to tutoring gives students a chance to slow down and get help if needed which helps to prevent the stress breaking point which often is the cause of desperate students turning to plagiarism.

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Megan Friess

Adjunct English Professor at Saddleback College, Irvine Valley College, and Cypress College & Creative Writing Instructor at Orange County School of the Arts
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Additionally, peer tutoring necessitates drafting. It encourages multiple drafts and revision over sitting down and writing an assignment in one go, which students may often do because of a lack of understanding of time management or because they do not understand the value that multiple drafts and revisions can bring to their writing. The need for drafting helps to prevent plagiarism because students showcase the evolution of their thinking and writing. They cannot simply copy from someone else without it becoming obvious if drafts were to be compared.

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3 Peer tutoring and learning preferences

Peer tutoring can also accommodate different learning preferences among students, which can influence their academic performance. Learning preferences refer to the ways that students prefer to receive, process, and express information. Some common learning preferences are visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and reading/writing. Peer tutoring can cater to these preferences by allowing students to choose their tutors, methods, materials, and pace of learning. For example, visual learners can benefit from using diagrams, charts, or images in their peer tutoring sessions. Auditory learners can benefit from listening to explanations, discussions, or podcasts. Kinesthetic learners can benefit from using hands-on activities, experiments, or simulations. Reading/writing learners can benefit from reading texts, taking notes, or writing summaries. By matching their learning preferences with their peer tutoring strategies, students can enhance their engagement, comprehension, and retention of information.

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Megan Friess

Adjunct English Professor at Saddleback College, Irvine Valley College, and Cypress College & Creative Writing Instructor at Orange County School of the Arts
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One-on-one peer tutoring can address learning gaps where students get left behind during their class time with the professor. Tutors can slow down, repeat in various ways, show through drawings and examples, and even work directly on a student's writing assignment. The flexibility of a peer tutoring session can be the key to helping a student who would otherwise fail or even give up on learning. The classroom, especially one with a large number of students present, does not lend itself to multiple, individualized learning preferences, but peer tutoring can help to fill that space.

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4 Peer tutoring and online learning

Peer tutoring can also be adapted to online learning environments, which have become more prevalent and necessary due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Online learning can pose some challenges for students, such as isolation, distraction, or lack of interaction. Peer tutoring can help overcome these challenges by creating a sense of community, connection, and collaboration among students. For example, peer tutors and tutees can use various online platforms and tools, such as video conferencing, chat rooms, forums, or shared documents, to communicate, share, and work together. Peer tutors and tutees can also establish clear goals, expectations, and feedback mechanisms to ensure the quality and effectiveness of their online peer tutoring sessions.

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5 Peer tutoring and self-regulation

Peer tutoring can also foster self-regulation among students, which is the ability to monitor and control one's own learning processes and outcomes. Self-regulation is essential for academic success, as it involves setting goals, planning strategies, managing resources, monitoring progress, evaluating results, and reflecting on feedback. Peer tutoring can support self-regulation by providing students with opportunities to practice and develop these skills in a supportive and constructive environment. For example, peer tutors can help tutees set realistic and specific goals for their academic tasks, such as completing a certain number of pages, answering a certain number of questions, or achieving a certain grade. Peer tutors can also help tutees plan and implement effective strategies for their tasks, such as researching sources, outlining ideas, or proofreading drafts. Peer tutors can also help tutees manage their time, energy, and emotions, by reminding them of deadlines, encouraging them to take breaks, or motivating them to persevere. Peer tutors can also help tutees monitor their progress and evaluate their results, by providing them with feedback, suggestions, or praise. Peer tutors can also help tutees reflect on their feedback and learn from their mistakes or successes.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How can peer tutoring promote academic integrity and avoid plagiarism?

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1 Peer tutoring and academic integrity

2 Peer tutoring and plagiarism prevention

3 Peer tutoring and learning preferences

4 Peer tutoring and online learning

5 Peer tutoring and self-regulation

6 Here’s what else to consider

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