What is Cheating?

There are many reasons that today’s students cheat when completing assignments. The bottom line is that they do it because they want a good grade. It is often easier to borrow someone else’s work rather than completing the assignment for the sake of learning. Methods of plagiarism have evolved from those used years ago. Students have gone from copying from books, to ordering custom term papers and essays form the internet. Due to the wealth of resources available on the internet, cheating has become appealing for many students. This is a growing problem for teachers, as it can be hard to detect. What is internet plagiarism? How do students use the internet to cheat? How can teachers effectively detect cheating and what resources can we use to do so? What can we as teachers do to encourage our students to do their own work and discourage them from cheating? The purpose of this guide is to answer these questions.

Internet plagiarism is copying information from the internet and using this information as your own, without crediting the source of the information.

Students do this in a variety of ways, including:

1. Using fictitious citations, rather than actually doing the research.

2. Copying research papers which are free, or purchasing them.

3. Constructing a paper by using edit to cut and paste paragraphs and/or sentences from various sources.

4. Quoting a source without using quotations.

An assignment may be plagiarized if you notice the following:

1. The assignment is extremely well written, with numerous detailed facts, and no citations.

2. The assignment is not consistent with the student’s past work, meaning that it seems far above their academic ability.

3. The assignment seems as though it does not flow, and the formatting may not look quite right. In papers which are cut and pasted by students, this often occurs.

4. A research assignment seems out dated, or the citations are very dated

5. You find words in the assignment that most adults would need to look up in a dictionary to confirm their meaning.

6. The assignment has a URL from the site it was printed from.

The following resources can be used when cheating is suspected:

1. First, take the time to speak to the student. Plagiarism is a serious allegation, and it is important that you are sure it has occurred. By posing a question or making a statement to a student in a non-accusatory but professional manner, you may be surprised what the student may reveal. For example: “Something about this paper seems different than the others you have handed in to me. Maybe we should talk about what is different. Do you have any ideas?”

3. Use plagiarism detection software which may be purchased at sites such as:

Plagiarism.com

Eve Plagiarism Detection System

1. An important step in the right direction is to inform students about plagiarism. Many students have a very general idea what it is, but are surprised to learn that even using someone else’s ideas, not necessarily words, requires that the author receives credit.

2. Explain why it is wrong, and that it is a form of lying as well as stealing. Although these are strong words, it is the truth of the matter and may get your student’s attention.

3. Inform your students of the penalties associated with cheating

4. Explain how doing your own work is beneficial, since you will be learning skills necessary to succeed in the future both academically and in the business world. Students can learn valuable information on the topic they are researching, as well as the research process itself. Simply stated, you are not learning if you are cheating.