Competency - Citation Pearl (Snowballing)

In keeping with my focus topic, I used Project Muse and searched for plagiarism.
792 results were returned, including Buying in, Selling Short: A Pedagogy against the Rhetoric of Online Paper Mills. Ritter, Kelly. Pedagogy, Volume 6, Issue 1, Winter 2006, pp. 25-51. Looking at the subject headings:

• Cheating (Education) -- United States.
• Plagiarism -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States.
• Report writing -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States.
• Web sites -- Moral and ethical aspects -- United States.

I focused on Cheating (Education) – United States which brought up 50 subjects which in turn brought up:

Cheating (Education) – United States 3 articles
Cheating (Education) – United States – Prevention 2 articles

I chose to focus on the 2 articles on prevention:

Organizational Theory and Student Cheating: Explanation, Responses, and Strategies Bertram Gallant, Tricia. Drinan, Patrick.
The Journal of Higher Education, Volume 77, Number 5, September/October 2006, pp. 839-860 (Article).

Abstract:
Studies have described and analyzed the problem of student cheating as well as institutional responses to the problem. However, organizational theory has been neglected. Viewing student cheating and institutional responses through the lens of organizational theory can inform strategy and instill fresh approaches to the management of the problem.

The Complexity of Integrity Culture Change: A Case Study of a Liberal Arts College Bertram Gallant, Tricia. The Review of Higher Education, Volume 30, Number 4, Summer 2007, pp. 391-411 (Article).

Abstract:
The concept of academic integrity has been resurrected in both literature and practice in response to a perceived problem of student academic dishonesty. Most specifically, academic integrity advocates suggest changing the student academic culture to normalize academic integrity and reduce occurrences of academic dishonesty. Theories of organizational culture and change (e.g., Schein, 1992) suggest, however, that such a change process will be complex. This study fills a void in the literature by providing an examination of the integrity culture change process at one case institution and offering considerations for the facilitation and empirical investigation of integrity culture change

These seemed to be more theoretical than practical, so I clicked on Educational Leadership (one of the subject headings) and came up with nothing I deemed relevant.

I decided to go back to ‘report writing’ from the original hit.
Two articles came up. One was the original one (Buying in, selling short), the second was:
Researching in the New Public Access. Hudson, Brian P. Pedagogy, Volume 2, Issue 2, Spring 2002, pp. 257-261 (Article).

Subject Headings:
• College students -- United States.
• Report writing -- United States.
• Internet -- United States.

I then clicked on Internet and came up with some good material (50 subjects).
Looking down the list, there were subject references such as internet access for library users, internet and teenagers, internet in education, and internet research. Most of these did not relate to my search but one article came up under ‘internet research’ which I found interesting:

Illiterate or Lazy: How College Students Use the Web for Research.
Thompson, Christen. Libraries and the Academy, Volume 3, Number 2, April 2003, pp. 259-268 (Article).

Abstract:
This article reviews several studies of student usage of the Internet to determine how they use the Web for research. Preliminary data suggest that the majority of students begin a research assignment with the Internet, most often with a commercial search engine. What is not known is whether students have adequate information literacy skills to find authoritative information and then to evaluate the information for use in their research. Evidence indicates that there is yet room for improvement in how students conduct research, as well as how library instruction is designed.

I think this article in addition to the very first one I found (Selling short) to be the most useful and applicable to my initial query. Selling short, in particular, offers class-based inquiry lessons that have the students evaluate the quality of essays available from so-called paper mills. In addition, the author states that:

"Faculty across student levels, and across the disciplines, should also invent active, collaborative methods of involving students in writing assignments that question existing dichotomies between authorship and economics across fields and majors. To avoid the preaching that our students ultimately tune out, let us also seek to locate the ethical and moral inquiry, and resulting quandaries, in student writing itself. I hope that faculty, regardless of area of study or field of expertise, will promote such inquiry into academic dishonesty with their students. Such a pedagogy would characterize students as active scholars, or makers of meaning in the research, rather than passive receptors of information who seek, in Survivor style, to "outplay, outwit, outlast" the academic system that has turned a deaf ear to the siren song of authorship-for-sale on the World Wide Web" (Ritter, 2006).

Although both of these relate to college students, I think some of the material could be applied to high school students who often take dual-credit and advanced placement courses at the college level. Both articles would assist a librarian in designing library programs to help students improve their research skills and avoid the lure of plagiarism.

As to the strategy itself (Citation Pearl), I feel a certain ambivalence towards this method. While it did garner two relevant documents, I did not feel the level of satisfaction that I felt using the Building Block Search. It is, however, good to have as many tools as possible when searching for information on the Web. Also, if what you are looking for is not clearly defined in your mind, this strategy will allow you to build a scaffold as you peruse records and subject headings that will ultimately lead you in the right direction.