Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Plagiarism, and supports the standard of integrating information from various sources while avoiding plagiarism. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students:

  • Why might someone be tempted to plagiarize someone else’s work? 
  • Why shouldn’t you plagiarize? 

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read the description on the Plagiarism topic page.
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
  • Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the following articles: “Real Life” or “Did You Know?” Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS

Assign the Plagiarism Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic. 

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND
Students synthesize their ideas and express them through one or more of the following creative projects. They can work individually or collaborate.  

  • Make-a-Movie: Create a tutorial that explains how to check your work for plagiarism. 
  • Make-a-Map: Make a concept map that identifies different ways to use a quote from an article in a research paper. 
  • Creative Coding: Code a meme about the perils of plagiarism. 
  • Primary Source Activity: Examine images and read a letter, then cite details to answer the accompanying questions.

More to Explore

Related BrainPOP Topics: Deepen understanding of digital literacy with these topics: Citing Sources, Copyright, and Research

Teacher Support Resources:

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments