The Los Angeles Times runs a story on the death of the term paper (plagiarism) in college and high school. True enough. Ken Masugi’s method of dealing with it is right and that is what I try to do. It works. Here is Ken at The Remedy, in full:

"What has been the case for at least 10 years (certainly in my own teaching experience) has become front-page news in the Los Angeles Times: The death of the term paper, partially through internet plagiarism but as much from lack of standards in the high schools. My own strategy in these paper wars, fought at the college level, was to assign take-home examinations that required unconventional responses incorporating close reading of primary texts. I suspect those serious about educational reform will have to fight on both primary and secondary levels of education, as well as on the college level."