Preventing visual and spatial plagiarism
Although students are often exposed to examples of plagiarism in written work, they may not understand how this information applies to their non-text based academic work. It is important to provide students with specific examples and direct teaching of what constitutes plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct in the visual arts.
Visual and spatial plagiarism prevention resources
The definition of plagiarism in the visual and spatial arts is identical to what is typically thought of as plagiarism in written materials. That is, plagiarism is “the use in whole or in part of the work of others without crediting the source of the work through appropriate documentation” (University of Manitoba, 2010, p. 12). These resources will help you help your students avoid visual and spatial plagiarism.
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Visual and spatial integrity tutorial
Email Brenda Stoesz to gain access to this UM Learn tutorial.
This tutorial was created in collaboration with members of the Faculty of Architecture, Fine Arts Library and The Centre for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. -
Architecture/Fine Arts Library, The University of Manitoba
The UM Libraries provide many resources for teaching students how to cite properly. Visit the Architecture/Fine Arts Library website for a link to a guide for documenting images.
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UM Copyright Guidelines
The Copyright Office provides support to students and academic staff on the fair use of source material in the visual and spatial arts.
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College Art Association (CAA)
The College Art Association (CAA) is an international organization for the visual arts. The organization has developed a number of resources (e.g., slide decks) to promote best practices in the fair use of copyrighted materials. Find the Code of Best Practices in Fair use on the College Art Commons Fair Use page.
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The Visual Communication Guy
Dr. Curtis R. Newbold, assistant professor of communication at Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT, has created and shares his resources for teachers of writing, communication and design. Many of the teaching resources are in the form of edugraphics.
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The Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA
The Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA provides several strategies for preventing visual plagiarism, including the submission of multiple drafts of student work (i.e., sketches), providing direct instruction for citing images and adding personalized components to assignments.
Further reading on visual plagiarism
- Ethics in Graphic Design. Battling Visual Plagiarism.
- Editorial Photographers United Kingdom and Ireland. Visual plagiarism: when does inspiration become imitation?
- Editorial Photographers United Kingdom and Ireland. Design plagiarism: Myth or reality? written by Paul Wallen, a senior designer at ESPN the magazine, who describes his personal experience with regards to visual plagiarism. He also poses the question: does visual plagiarism exist? Various designers have provided their views on the topic.
References
University of Manitoba. (2010). Suggested disciplinary actions for academic dishonesty infractions. Retrieved February 10, 2020, from https://umanitoba.ca/student/media/RUBRIC_StudentDisciplineWorkingGroup.pdf
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