Lying to ourselves: Plagiarism

Wearing my academic, non-art-historian hat today...

In my work as a professor and now as an academic dean dealing with cases referred by other faculty, I have seen a lot of plagiarism.  It comes in all forms: most usually out of laziness and further out of procrastination.

Today what I'm writing about is our "intent to deceive" and rationalizing.  I actually think very little plagiarism (as opposed to some other forms of academic dishonesty like looking at someone else's test, etc.) comes out of a real intent to pass off words as one's own, in order to take credit for the idea or phrase.  Some is a process of immediate rationalizing, and it happens as quickly and easily as the cutting and pasting. 

"I read it and it's clearly right because that's what I would have said too."
"I couldn't say it better."
"This person's an expert and I'm just a student."

But when caught, there's a whole other level of rationalizing that happens:

"I didn't take that much. It's like 2 sentences."
"I didn't take any exact words.  I wrote each paragraph in my own way."
"I thought that I only had to use quotes and citations if I took the words directly."
"I thought if I cited it at the end, it would be enough."
"I didn't know how to cite it."
"If I had meant to plagiarize, would I have taken it directly from SparkNotes (or some equally easy source)?"

Of the rationalizations that make me angriest are the ones that actually do suggest that the speaker is completely aware of the rationalization:

"I e-mailed you my notes copy by mistake. It wasn't what I meant to submit."
"I left off the citation page."
"I didn't think you would notice. I did it on my last paper and you never said anything." 
"I didn't think it would matter that much.  This isn't a big assignment."

Lying is apparently a very normal developmental thing we do to cover ourselves when we commit a wrong.  (a nice discussion that summarizes our childhood lying is here in Slate.)  Rationalizing and lying seem to be hand and hand here.

Repeatedly comes the advice that parents (read here teachers) should not give the child the opportunity to lie.  In the Slate article the example is: rather than saying "Did you take the cookie?", react with "I know you took the cookie and now you're full and the consequence is no cookies tomorrow night."  So the advice to professors is often--give assignments that don't encourage the behavior. I often do this--choosing artists and artworks about whom there is little written (and I often have students who say "I couldn't find anything on the internet" to whom I reply, "yes, I know").  Choosing assignments that directly require synthesis of ideas and new applications of ideas is a lot of work and it doesn't always get at what we want the student to learn.  There are reasons why certain assignments are commonplace--they get at the heart of the matter for understanding.

Also repeatedly comes the advice to separate the lie from the misdeed.  I had a case where the student had not done the assignment for a professor within the parameters of the assignment but then had lied and said that he had done it as she had asked.  This happened twice.  The student was reluctant to separate the lie from the misdeed, in part because he didn't feel he had committed a misdeed.  

Also repeatedly comes the advice to create a culture of honesty.  If every professor discusses plagiarism as clearly and fully as possible...If every assignment were set up so as to encourage specifics and synthesis...If every student valued the interaction with professors, tutors, and peers enough to use their resources well and wisely...If every infraction were dealt with swiftly and clearly according to agreed upon policies...If we model right behavior in our own public lives/words....If we encourage students to value honesty...

I'm doing these things.  I'm creating new assignments often.  I discuss plagiarism in my class.  I have writing examples up on Blackboard and I walk students through them before the first paper.  I could do more peer review so as to have them catch each other...They use SafeAssign (a version like Turnitin which helps catch plagiarism).  I make it clear that there are consequences for not including citations.  I try to warn them repeatedly of due dates, extra help resources, etc. so that I am not encouraging situations that force them to panic and plagiarize.  We do lots of in-class writing to hone their skills (and so I know who they are as writers).  We have multiple paper assignments.  I extensively comment and review plagiarism offenses when they occur; I penalize them and follow through on what I have stated on the syllabus.

I know I have colleagues who do these things, more who do than do not.

So is it just human nature?  Is this an intractable problem?  Do we just cut it down as small as we can and deal with the instances as they inevitably come? 

What do your institutions (past, present, future) do that's working?