What can be done about plagiarism and cheating

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What can be done about plagiarism and cheating?

• Sally Brown
• Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Assessment, Learning and
  Teaching
• Leeds Metropolitan University

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This presentation owes a great deal to

• Early work done with Liz McDowell in the nineties
  at the University of Northumbria that resulted in
  a Red Guide and a publication on the ILTHE
  website
• The work of Jude Carroll, particularly a one week
  residency at Leeds Metropolitan University in May
  2006.

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Everyone says plagiarism has increased. This may
be because

• Electronic practices make it really easy to do
• Its much easier nowadays (in the olden days, at
  least you had to copy things out!)
• There is heightened awareness of its practice
  (particularly a media frenzy)
• Students dont necessarily see anything wrong
  with it.

4
Students plagiarise for all kinds of reasons
consciously because

• Im not really good enough to be here. Theyll
  find me out soon enough
• I havent got time to do it properly because
  Ive got so much else to do
• If they are stupid enough to give us 3
  assignments with the same deadline, what can they
  expect?
• Its just so easy with the web
• I just couldnt say it better myself

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Unconsciously they do it because

• They dont really understand the rules.
• They understand the rules but just get them
  wrong.
• They have poor academic practices (dont keep
  good records, dont record where they got things
  from etc.)
• They are post-modern, eclectic,
  Google-generationists, Wikipediasts, who dont
  necessarily recognise the concepts of
  authorships/ownerships.

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Some of the questions they ask

• How much can I use? Is a single sentence OK?
• Does it count if I just say the same thing in my
  own words?
• Who am I to try and say it better than the
  author/lecturer who can say it so much better
  than me?
• Why have the rules changed since I went to
  school?

7
Are international students more likely to
plagiarise than home students? A contested topic

• Biggs, De Vita, Joughin and Carroll all have
  different takes than this
• Students from Confucian Heritage Cultures (CFCs)
  some argue have a greater tendency to do so for
  cultural reasons
• Others argue that students who are struggling
  tend to be more tempted to plagiarise (and
  international students often struggle when they
  are adapting to a new culture).

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Where do they plagiarise from

• Other students (voluntary)
• Other students (involuntary)
• Themselves
• Text books and other books and printed sources
  (more rarely nowadays)
• Web accessed materials
• Commercial suppliers
• And..

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And what about you and me?

• Recycling (How much do you plagiarise yourself?)
• Forgetting sources leading to sloppy statements
  like research suggests everyone says
  early work by.. etc
• Forgetting you didnt originate something
  yourself
• And.

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So what can we do? Four approaches

• Use strict controls
• Make the rules clear and have known penalties
• Design assessment instruments that make cheating
  difficult
• Develop a climate that will reduce the likelihood
  of cheating.

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Strategy 1 Use strict controls

• Use well-invigilated unseen, closed-book exams.
• Use computer-based tests.
• Conduct spot checks.
• Check for mark discrepancies.
• Check the identities of students being assessed.
• Install strict controls on high stakes
  assessment and worry less about the rest.

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Strategy 2 Make the rules clear and have known
penalties

• Help students to understand what are the rules of
  the game.
• Publicise the occurrences of cheating and
  plagiarism that we identify and punish.
• Students can help to police each other.

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Strategy 3 Design assessment instruments that
make cheating difficult (1)

• Use open-book rather than closed book exams.
• Use assignments which draw on personal experience
  and require evidence of it.
• Ask students to produce reflective journals and
  critical incident accounts.
• Use vivas and orals to verify that work
  undertaken is the students own
• Design assignments which are different for each
  student.

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Strategy 3 Design assessment instruments that
make cheating difficult (2)

• Devise assignments which require choice and
  individual activity related to specific contexts.
• Use Computer-Based Assessment.
• Use assignments which need to be authenticated by
  a third party.
• Ask students to submit alongside their assignment
  photocopied extracts from the key sources they
  have used and to indicate how they have used them.

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Strategy 3 Design assessment instruments that
make cheating difficult (3)

• Use group assessment.
• Involve an element of peer assessment.
• Give students tasks that require them working in
  learning teams.
• Monitor the production of assessed work.

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Strategy 4 Develop a climate that will reduce
the likelihood of cheating

• Provide a good teaching and learning environment.
• Design assessment carefully that are fit for
  purpose.
• Help students to take control of their learning.

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Strategy 4 Develop a climate that will reduce
the likelihood of cheating

• Provide assistance to students with difficulties.
• Develop student motivation.
• Consider students relationships with the course
  and institution.

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So what?

• We know what doesnt work in preventing
  plagiarism, but do we know what does?
• Can we differentiate between intentional and
  unintentional plagiarism when we are dealing with
  it (and does it matter?).
• What are the best institutional and individual
  ways in which we can combat plagiarism
  effectively?

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Useful refernces

• McDowell E Brown S 1998 Assessing students
  cheating and plagiarism, Red Guide 10/11
  University of Northumbria, Newcastle
• Stefani L and Carroll J (2001)A Briefing on
  Plagiarism http//www.ltsn.ac.uk/application.asp?a
  ppresources.aspprocessfull_recordsectiongener
  icid10

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• Case studies

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• Jordan is dyslexic. He sits his exam in a
  separate room because he is given extra time to
  complete. While the invigilator is called away,
  he notices that wall charts in the room cover the
  exam topic.

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• Hajib revises right up to the last minute. He
  stuffs his notes in his pocket just before he
  enters the exam room. During the exam he is
  tempted to sneak a look at the top sheet of notes.

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• Amanda works as an evening cleaner in the
  Faculty Office. When emptying the bins, she sees
  a draft exam paper with hand-written amendments
  in the refuse. She reads it.

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• Michael borrowed essays from two friends in the
  year above as background reading before he
  started writing so he could get a feel for what
  was wanted.

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• Mary-Lee included several paraphrased paragraphs
  from her lecturers best-selling text book,
  without specifically identifying them as quotes.

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• Damian and his mates agreed to share out the
  task of writing up the weekly labs. Each student
  then borrowed, slightly modified and then handed
  in ten labs each, having only written two each.

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• Sandy placed posters around her room, with
  quotes from the major text books so she could
  memorise them to quote in her exam answers.

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• Orla couldnt remember the source of one of her
  quotations, so made up the names of a couple of
  authors when she included it in her essay.

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• Tom found he could easily see his neighbours
  answers to the MCQs on screen in the IT lab.
  Without really meaning to, he checked his own
  answers against his mates.

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• Brian took 3 essays on the set topic off the
  Internet, read them carefully, obtained the key
  journal articles they quoted, read them and used
  this as the basis of his own essay.

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• Mel and Lee are partners studying the same
  course. They talk all the time about what they
  are studying. From time to time their essays
  contain identical sentences.

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• Pela accidentally took home her exam question
  paper from the exam room. Her flat mate is about
  to take the same module in the next series of the
  programme. She gives her the paper.