TO CHEAT OR NOT TO CHEAT

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TO CHEAT OR NOT TO CHEAT

• SUSAN EDGREN, Ph.D.
• AND
• SHARON WALTERS, Ph.D.

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WHAT IS CHEATING

• Plagiarism
• Submission or use of falsified data
• Submission of work that is not the students own
• Use of an alternate/stand-in/proxy during an
  examination
• Supplying unauthorized data to another student
  including past assignments and/or exams
• Collaboration in the preparation of an assignment
  unless it is specially allowed by the instructor
• Using crib notes or looking off another students
  paper during an exam

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Why Students Cheat

• According to Robert Kennedy, students cheat for
  three reasons
• Everybody does it!
• Unrealistic demands for academic achievement
• expediency or the easy way out
• Source http//privateschool.about.com/cs/forteac
  hers/a/cheating.htm/

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• According to Robert Harris
• Students are natural economizers. 
• Students are faced with too many choices, so they
  put off low priorities. 
• Many students have poor time management and
  planning skills. 
• Some students fear that their writing ability is
  inadequate. 
• A few students like the thrill of rule breaking. 
• Source http//www.virtualsalt.com/antiplag.htm

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Why Students Cheat

• A national survey by Rutgers' Management
  Education Center of 4,500 high school students
  found that 75 percent of them engage in serious
  cheating.
• More than half have plagiarized work they found
  on the Internet.
• Many of the respondents did not see anything
  wrong with cheating Some 50 percent of those
  responding to the survey said they don't think
  copying questions and answers from a test is even
  cheating.
• Source http//archives.cnn.com/2002/fyi/teachers
  .ednews/04/05/
• highschool.cheating/index.html

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• The results of the most recent CAIs Assessment
  Project showed
• 70 of students admit to some cheating.
• Close to one-quarter admitted to serious test
  cheating in the past year.
• Half admitted to one or more instances of serious
  cheating on written assignments.
• Source http//www.academicintegrity.org/cai_resea
  rch.asp

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• CAIS ASSESSMENT STUDENT RESULTS
• While 10 of students admitted to engaging in
  such behavior in 1999, almost 40 admit to doing
  so in the Assessment Project surveys.
• (77) believe such cheating is not a very serious
  issue.

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• CAIS ASSESSMENT FACULTY RESULTS
• Faculty are reluctant to take action.
• Surveys of almost 10,000 faculty in the last
  three years, showed 44 of those who were aware
  of student cheating in the last three years, have
  never reported a student for cheating to the
  appropriate campus authority.

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CAIS STUDY

• The number of students self-reporting instances
  of unauthorized collaboration at nine medium to
  large state universities increased from 11 in a
  1963 survey to 49 in 1993. This trend seems to
  be continuing between 1990 and 1995, instances
  of unauthorized collaboration at 31 small to
  medium schools increased from 30 to 38.

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High School Students

• Studies of 18,000 students at 61 schools,
  conducted in the last four years, suggest
  cheating is also a significant problem in high
  school.
• Source http//www.academicintegrity.org/cai_res
  earch.asp

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Goddens Model

• Kinds of Cheaters
• There are two kinds of Cheaters and two kinds of
  Cheating

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Goddens Model

• Cheaters
• Opportunistic/Pressured. Cheat if the opportunity
  presents itself, by accident or if they feel
  pressured by desperation or competition.
  Interventions will help decrease the opportunity
  for these people.
• Chronic. Will try to cheat no matter what the
  system. Education is unlikely to affect this
  group.
• Source http//www.mcmaster.ca/cll/resources/nift
  y.notes/
• david.godden/academic.dishonesty.htm

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Kinds of Cheating

• Cheating
• Detected those incidents that are discovered.
• Undetected those incidents that happen, but are
  never caught.

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Resulting Hypothesis

• The largest group is Opportunistic and
  Undetected.
• Goal To decrease the size of this group by
• Reactive deterrents and increasing detection
  measures
• Proactive decreasing opportunity and motivation
• Source
• http//www.mcmaster.ca/cll/resources/nifty.
• notes/david.godden/academic.dishonesty.htm

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How Students Cheat

• Web Paper Mills sells term papers to students
  (the slogan of Papers4Less is "The marketplace
  for students' papers.")
• Rather than reading a book for English class,
  students log on to the high-tech version of
  CliffsNotes at sites like http//www.antistudy.co
  m or http//www.pinkmonkey.com.
• Cut Paste from Internet Site.

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• Example Cheat Sites
• Schoolsucks.com
• Papers4less.com
• Cheathouse.com
• EZwrite.com
• Genius Papers.com
• Term Papers on File.com
• Research Assistance.com
• Cheapest Best Term Papers Ever
• Term Paper Help from Itchy Brains
• Jim The Friendly Research Assistant
• MorePapers.com - Paper Store
• PaperTopics.com
• Knowledge Reports
• Paper Store Enterprises - Essays on Robert Frost
• Jim the Friendly Research Assistant
• Term Paper Help Line
• Math Reports - Paper Store

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Examples of Online Plagiarism

• Borrowing from a database
• Go to the EBSCOhost http//www.lib.siu.edu/cgi-bi
  n/encore2/ebsco database.
• Search for full text articles about the subject
  "monarch butterfly migration."
• Choose the article entitled "Monarch Migration"
  and highlight the text.
• Now go to the Edit menu and choose Copy.
• Launch your word processor and type some text.
• Return to the Edit menu and choose Paste.
• Align and edit the text and your paper is
  complete.
• Source Shasta College Library
  http//library.shastacollege.edu/howtocheat.html

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Examples of Online Plagiarism

• Joe Shasta
• Zoology 101
• September 13, 2000
• Zoology class example
• MONARCH MIGRATION
• The monarch butterfly travels many miles during
  its migration each year. Hard as it is to
  believe, the beautiful and delicate wings of the
  monarch carry this butterfly from as far north as
  Canada as it heads toward Mexico every fall,
  traveling thousands of miles. While the
  scientific community puzzles over how a creature
  that weighs only half a gram can make such a
  treacherous journey, the backyard conservationist
  can simply enjoy these colorful visitors every
  fall and spring.
• Although you aren't likely to see a large
  cluster of butterflies migrating like a flock of
  birds, you will notice monarchs everywhere in the
  fall. In the North, gardeners will start to see
  butterflies migrating as early as the end of
  August. September and October are the main months
  to look for the migration in the rest of the
  country. In the spring, the monarchs retrace
  their path returning home.

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Examples of Online Plagiarism

• Downloading a free paper (for an English class)
• Point your browser to the ChuckIII's College
  Resources http//www.chuckiii.com/ site.
• Scroll down and click on the "Free Essays and
  Free Book Reports" link.
• Scroll down the next page and click on the link
  that says "DONE!! Now show me the papers."
• On the following page notice the warning about
  plagiarism. Scroll down and click on the
  "English" link.
• Scroll down the page and click on "Black Like
  Me."
• Click "File" at the top of the browser.
• Choose "Save As..."
• Change file extension to ".txt" and click the
  "Save" button.
• Open your word processor and open the file
  "Black_Like_Me.txt."
• Edit any unwanted information and place your name
  on the paper.
• Source Shasta College Library
  http//library.shastacollege.edu/howtocheat.html

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Other Examples

• Acquiring a paper (for an Education class)
  Students can gain access to free paper databases
  by submitting a paper they have written or
  creating a link to the paper mill site from a web
  page of their own.
• Point your browser to the Cheathouse
  http//www.cheathouse.com/ web site.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click
  on the "LOGIN Regular User" link.
• Scroll down and click on the "Humanities" link.
• Scroll down and click on the link entitled
  "Education."
• Scroll down and click on "Public vs. Private
  Schools - Which is Best for a Child?"
• Launch your word processor and open the file
  "210.txt."
• Edit the unwanted information and place your name
  on the paper.
• Source Shasta College Library http//library.sha
  stacollege.edu/howtocheat.htm

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Paying for a Paper

• There are many sites on the Web that offer
  research papers for a fee. The cost is usually
  around 10 per page for already prepared essays
  and up to 30 per page for custom written papers.
  Some sites even advertise that they will write
  your thesis or dissertation for you.

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Other Methods

• We have found that students are using high-tech
  methods to cheat. For example, cell phones with
  cameras and PDAs can be used to store crucial
  information needed during exams and are less
  obvious than paper cheat sheets.
• Saving stuff on calculators
• Baseball caps notes under brim
• Retaining copies of exams
• Obtaining copies of instructors manuals from
  publishers

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How to Prevent

• Educate
• Clarify the distinctions between plagiarism,
  paraphrasing, and direct citation.
• Make students aware of consequences of cheating.
• Spend time at the beginning of the term
  discussing standards of academic scholarship and
  conduct. Have Academic Dishonesty Policy on
  Syllabus.
• Be very clear about how you define plagiarism and
  cheating.

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How to Prevent (Cont)c

• If cheating occurs, respond swiftly with
  disciplinary measures and formal action.
• Take visible actions to detect dishonesty so that
  students know you will not tolerate cheating.
  (Even if you don't actually carry out all the
  actions you say you will take, honest students
  will appreciate knowing that you care enough
  about academic integrity to take precautions.)
• Source http//teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/prevent.
  html

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How to Prevent (Cont)

• Inform students you will be checking all papers
  for possible plagiarism
• Turnitin
• Google search
• EVE
• Forbid the use of picture phones, PDA's and
  pagers in exam rooms.
• Look for crib notes anywhere and everywhere. (gum
  wrappers, tissue paper, etc.).
• Surveillance Systems

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How to Prevent (Cont)c

• Design assignments with specific goals and
  instructions
• Know what is available online
• Require oral presentations and/or portfolios
• Submit essays electronically
• Use a full text search engine (Altavista, Digital
  Integrity) or a Plagiarism Search Service.
• Source Kim McMurtry http//www.thejournal.com
  /magazine/vault/a3724.cfm?kw

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Cheating on On-line Tests

• Take test in a computer lab
• Show lab monitor ID
• Construct tests so that only a certain amount of
  time is allowed
• Random selection of questions

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TURNITIN

• Plagiarism Detection Service Turnitin Spreads to
  4,000 Schools
• Instructors have students submit their papers to
  a dropbox within Turnitin or they can create a
  dummy student account and just scan papers they
  suspect might be plagiarized.

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Sample Case

• Recently we had a faculty member contact us
  because he felt a student had plagiarized on an
  assignment.
• Scanned paper and ran it through Turnitin, EVE,
  and did a google search on some of the sentence.

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Turnitin

• Since this student was enrolled in a print-based
  course, the first step was to scan in the
  original paper and then upload it.
• With Turnitin you can either have your students
  create an account and submit their papers or you
  can upload papers you need to verify.
• It is quite easy to upload papers.

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Turnitin

• Step 1 Login
• If this is your first time using Turnitin you
  will create a user profile. Your school or
  university must pay a licensing fee to use this
  service.
• Then you will need to add a class. I normally
  add one class and use it for all of our Distance
  Education courses.

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Turnitin

• Step 2 Add a class
• When you first log in you will receive a message
  indicating you need to add a class.

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Turnitin

• Step 2 Add a class
• Click on here and add the class. Please note If
  you were going to have students submit papers you
  would have to e-mail them the enrollment
  password.

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Turnitin

• Step 2 Add a Class
• After you have added a class you will be assigned
  a class ID. If students were going to directly
  upload their assignments they would need this ID
  number along with the password you created.
  Click on the title of the course to add an
  assignment.

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Turnitin

• Step 3 Create an Assignment
• Once you click on the class name Individualized
  Learning Program you will receive a message the
  no assignments have been created. Click on the
  link and create an assignment.

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Turnitin

• Step 3 Create an Assignment

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Turnitin

• Step 3 Create an Assignment
• Make sure there is a link for the assignment.
• Click on submit and upload the paper you want to
  check.

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Turnitin

• Step 4 Upload an Assignment
• Notice non-enrolled student under author.
• Click on Submit

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Turnitin

• Step 5 Evaluate an Assignment
• The one major drawback with having your students
  submit papers directly to Turnitin is that it
  removes the formatting.
• To evaluate the paper click on class home at the
  top of the screen and then select the inbox next
  to the assignment you previously created.

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Turnitin

• Step 5 Evaluate an Assignment
• You can have it show low to high of plagiarism
  depending on how strict you are. I normally
  select all of them.
• Then click on the down arrow next to report.

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Turnitin

• Step 5 Evaluate an Assignment
• The report for this students paper showed 100
  plagiarism. To view the Turnitin Originality
  Report click on the box next to 100 or whatever
  number is there.

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EVE

• EVE Plagiarism Detection System software can be
  purchased for 29.99 at http//www.canexus.com/eve
  /index.shtml
• There are step-by-step screens to walk you
  through the process.

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EVE
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EVE
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EVE
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EVE
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EVE
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EVE
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EVE
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EVE
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EVE

• EVE was given a 5 Cow rating by TUCOWS - the
  highest possible rating from the TUCOWS network!

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Google

• I went to www.google.com and typed in several
  sentences but the first ones I did produced no
  matches. Since I knew in advance that this paper
  had been plagiarized I kept trying until I
  located the in site.

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Sanction Procedures

• Follow Chain of Command
• Department Chair
• College Level Dean
• Informal Hearing
• Formal Disciplinary Procedures
• Formal Charges

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Steps

• Once it had been determined that the student had
  plagiarized the following steps were taken.
• The faculty member was contacted and told that
  yes, he was correct and that the paper had been
  copied almost word for word from the Internet.
• Letter sent to student along with a copy of the
  Student Conduct Code offering them an opportunity
  to meet with the faculty member, the chair, and
  the Director of Continuing Education.

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SIUC Student Conduct Code

• A. Acts of Academic Dishonesty
• 1. Plagiarism, representing the work of another
  as ones own work
• 2. Preparing work for another that is to be used
  as that persons own work
• 3. Cheating by any method or means
• 4. Knowingly and willfully falsifying or
  manufacturing scientific or educational data  
  and representing the same to be the result of
  scientific or scholarly experiment or research
• 5. Knowingly furnishing false information to a
  university official relative to academic matters
• Soliciting, aiding, abetting, concealing, or
  attempting acts of academic dishonesty.
• http//www.siuc.edu/policies/policies/conduct.htm
  l

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Consequences

• Can range from
• A. Failure of an assignment, quiz, test,
  examination or paper A failing grade (F) may be
  assigned for the work in connection with which
  the violation occurred.
• B. Failure in a course A failing grade (F) may
  be assigned for the course in which the violation
  occurred.
• Revocation of a Degree An academic degree
  previously awarded by the university may be
  revoked on proof that it was obtained by fraud or
  that a significant part of the work submitted in
  fulfillment and indispensable to the requirements
  of such a degree was obtained via academic
  dishonesty.
• To Expulsion A permanent involuntary separation
  of the student from the university.

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Faculty Members Decision

• Student never contacted us so the faculty member
  decided to simply give the student a failing
  grade on the assignment.
• Previous faculty members have required the
  student to retake the course.

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Why Faculty Are Not Doing Their Part

• Main reason cited is lack of time. The university
  judicial process is labor intensive and the
  punishments frequently bear little connection to
  the crimes, they say.
• Source http//chronicle.com/colloquy/99/cheat/
• background.htm

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• Donald L. McCabe surveyed 1,800 students on nine
  campuses in 1993 and found that 70 of the
  students had cheated at least once during their
  college careers.
• Mr. McCabe asked 800 professors at 16
  institutions if they had ever reported cheating,
  40 said "never," 54 checked "seldom" and a mere
  6 picked "often.
• Source http//chronicle.com/colloquy/99/cheat/
• background.htm

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• Contact Information
• Susan Edgren, Ph.D.Assistant DirectorDivision
  of Continuing EducatioNMail Code 6705Southern
  Illinois UniversityCarbondale, IL 62901E-Mail
  sedgren_at_siu.edu618-453-5659
• Sharon Walters, Ph.D.Program ManagerE-Mail
  sharon_at_siu.edu618-453-5669