“You asked about levels of acceptable “copying and pasting from the internet without attribution”. Any act of using others’ material without attribution is plagiarism. Don’t think about ‘how much’ is acceptable, but think about why it has happened. Here are some questions to consider:
- Have you given the students sufficient training around attribution practices? (In-text citations, end references, paraphrasing, direct quotation, building arguments around evidence…?)
- Have students been asked to sign a declaration of originality, and have you checked they understand what this declaration means?
- Are there indicators of malicious intent to deceive (paraphrasing sources to cover tracks on Turnitin, file properties suggesting multiple authors, references to texts/websites from well outside the scope of a module’s reading or normally accessible resources) or positive attempts to cite, used clumsily (end references, but no in-text citations, or citations placed at end of paragraphs, without clear attachment to the right sentences).
That’s a starting point, but apologies, I feel like this is the kind of thing that needs a bit more of a conversation. Let me know if you’d like me to come over and chat some time, or arrange something online.”
My PgCert Journey 