La course à la citation

Initial situation

The Scientific Information Division (DIS) plays an important role in training the academic community in information skills. Every year, over 150 sessions are given in the Bachelor’s and Master’s courses of the various UNIGE faculties.

To tackle the sometimes sensitive issue of plagiarism, a board game (“La course à la citation”) has been developed. It is based on the contents of InfoTrack (see corresponding project), the information skills training platform, several modules of which deal with plagiarism and citation.

Project implementation

“La course à la citation” is a board game based on the codes of the ladder game. Its aim is to make students aware of good citation practices and the risk of plagiarism in a fun way.

Players play individually or in pairs for a maximum of eight per board (4 teams of 2). The aim is to cover the entire board from start to finish, answering questions correctly. Each square corresponds to a theme: plagiarism or quotation. Each correct answer allows you to advance between 1 and 3 squares, depending on the difficulty of the question. Special squares move players forward or backward on the board.

The average game lasts 25-30 minutes. It is generally preceded by a theoretical introduction, an InfoTrack module and/or another practical activity related to the theme.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, an online version was adapted using Wooclap.

Thoughts and advice

” La course à la citation ” is a “cross-disciplinary” game that has already been used in several Faculties and disciplines. Some questions can be adapted to certain disciplines, but this is not necessary in the majority of cases.

As the rules of the game are simple, students can quickly get to grips with it and play independently, thanks to the answers and explanations provided on the cards. However, the team found that it was very useful for trainers to listen in on discussions between players, so as to be able to clarify certain aspects of the answers. With this in mind, a maximum ratio of 15-20 students per trainer is necessary.

Students enjoy this activity and quickly get into the swing of things. It’s sometimes difficult to stop teams who haven’t finished the game in the time allotted for the course.

The game helps to diversify the type of activities proposed to students, to raise new questions and to revise concepts.