Any feedback on this web-page, or the procedure below is welcome, especially from students.
In this age of the Internet and Google, it is common for many students to cut-paste text and/or entire figures from the web onto their report. Worse, a significant number of students think that such a thing is something acceptable.
Cut-paste based plagiarism not only decreases your learning, it is also akin to stealing: taking away someone else's effort and passing it off as one's own.
To sensitize the students to this issue, I think the following procedure would help.
When submitting any report (course project, 397, 497, 498, 499, 697, 699, or 799) to me, the student(s) should also submit a handwritten declaration with the text as below. The stress on the handwritten aspect is to ensure that it does not become a mechanical signature exercise. The thought would delve on the students' mind for at least the time it takes to write it by hand.
I/we hereby pledge that the following report is entirely the original work of the author(s).
Report title:
Author name(s):
Roll number(s):
Report category: [course number, or BTP/MTP/PhD]
Report month and year:
Signature of each author, with date