One of the main causes for a student to plagiarize is that he does not understand the concept of the paper. As a professor assigns a broad topic, this leaves the paper open to numerous interpretations, which can tempt the student to plagiarize an applicable paper online. One-on-one interactions are ideally set between each student and professor to discuss the student's proposal for a paper. These sessions include discussing the overall theme of the paper as well as a detailed outline for the paper's structure. A professor should work closely with the student to encourage original ideas.
Students may unknowingly commit plagiarism because they did not properly cite their sources. Any significant idea taken from another author must be cited accordingly except if that idea is general public knowledge. Professors should hold separate class sessions to discuss proper referencing in their class; they can go over a list of what they consider public general knowledge and explain their text style preference including reference formats and proper in-text citation.
Source-finding sessions may be a viable option for preventing further plagiarism from offending students. As a professor assigns a topic, this is accompanied by a list of sources that the student must use in his research. Students are asked to prepare their reference choices from this list including paragraphs and ideas to be used prior to creating the essay. This method is particularly effective for more technical essays when the content remains fairly similar across different resources.
As part of a requirement for an essay, professors may assign accompanying oral reports on the same topic. These can be accompanied by an interactive presentation. Students are asked to explain the main points and arguments of their essay and will be subject to on the spot questions from both the professor and the class. This allows the professor to test the student's actual command over the topic and ability to synthesize her own essay.