We could start by ceasing to teach students to technically avoid "plagiarism!" accusations with the simple-minded application of a thesaurus. "Write it in your

We could start by ceasing to teach students to technically avoid "plagiarism!" accusations with the simple-minded application of a thesaurus. "Write it in your own words." Which often becomes s/word/similar word/. This was never a good idea. There may have been some tiny amount of value in this approach[1] when it was required to actually find a thesaurus and a dictionary and learn new words, but that is certainly lost today when there are myriad tools which will automatically do this for you. I'd still argue that it does more harm than good since it teaches students how to use others' ideas without attribution. [1] Not as an exercise to instil honesty or principle, but as a simple vocabulary and grammar teaching activity.