Maintaining academic integrity is critical to the sustainability of a civil society and to the democratic process. Educators across the disciplines are growing increasingly disturbed by the level of plagiarism on university campuses. The author contends that developing supportive ways of empowering students to become more independent writers in the learning process is essential. The assumption that students come to class equipped with the rules of effective writing has proven erroneous and misleading. Additional explanations and individual sessions to check assignment drafts can be extremely helpful in sustaining academic integrity. It should be noted that submission of assignments through any of the electronic plagiarism prevention resources such as Turnitin to determine originality is not a corrective remedy or a deterrent. Teaching students how to write is preferable to relying on electronic devices. (Contains 1 table.)