Note:
Since the request above, I have learned of some interesting software and other resources to help prevent and deal with cheating. For example, our university has a 7-8 hour tutorial on academic integrity that students may be assigned to complete as punishment for an academic integrity violation. This program, which is called MITT, as well as other resources, can be found on the webpage for the Center for Teaching and Scholarly Excellence, with a central focus on academic honesty in one section.
Dealing with Cheating (Summary of Listserv Responses from the SPSP Listserve to the Query Above):
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I tell students that if they are caught cheating there is a good chance that they will be permanently expelled from college and that they have a written record of this incident in their file forever that will be accessible to all future employers. (All of which is true, at least at my university.) That usually does the trick.
I suggest that you make assignments requiring students to express personal opinions and reflect on personal experiences. For instance, if you had just discussed attribution theory in class, you might require of students a 1-2 page paper describing an incident in which they appropriately or inappropriately made attributions. They would also be required to explain how the consequences influenced the subsequent relationship's development.
I also encourage your having students take quizzes in class and then watch them like a hawk. It is far more difficult for them to cheat when asked to respond to on-the-spot questions in class.
I, quite frankly, encourage you to avoid assigning long papers. Long papers are threatening to students and also avail them the greatest opportunity to cheat, as they then are especially tempted to purchase papers off the internet.
Assigning papers as punishment is a bad idea. This reinforcing the idea that writing is something that they do when they have been bad. It seems to me that we should instead be encouraging them to think as writing as an opportunity for them to be creative and show what they know, not punish them for borrowing other's ideas.
Lastly, when cheating is detected, then I recommend using the biggest hammer possible to stamp out the behavior. An F on the assignment is not enough. An F in the class, along with a referral to the Dean of Students, is the most appropriate action. Of course, taking this action is a pain in the neck, as the university makes the professors jump through many hoops to make the charges stick, but in the long run it is worth it.
Incidentally, 20/20 broadcasted this past Friday evening a very disturbing segment on plagiarism and cheating. It is quite obvious that many, many students to not think cheating is cheating. This orientation in itself warrants serious investigation. Something has gone terribly wrong with the way we orient students. We need to figure out what to do about this.
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I am sorry that this is happening to you, but it will hardly come as a surprise to you that a lot of us are facing similar challenges. In my experience there is no silver bullet to deter cheating except rigorous enforcement of the rules (which, in my experience, some colleagues are leery to do because it takes time, effort and having to adopt a prosecutorial mindset and distrust of the student, who even in the face of the most blatant plagiarism will present you with some sob story). It appears that this is also something that is supported by a recent meta-analysis on the factors that increase or decrease the incidence of cheating:
Whitely, B. E. Jr. (1998). Factors associated with cheating among college students: A review. Research in Higher Education, 39, 235-274.
This review contains a lot of cues as to what works and what doesn't--and I certainly have learned from it and have implemented some of its insights.
Admittedly, I don't have much experience with take-home assignments, but I would consider the idea risky in and of itself. Yes, that's sad and maybe a bit cynical, but I am not sure that having students do an assignment on the disadvantages of cheating would do the trick for a lot of the cheating students. It would be just another assignment to be written with the help of time-honored techniques. Admittedly, I haven't seem much student-to-student copying, but in my experience re student papers, there are quite a few students who routinely cut and paste from the internet. Sometimes, they may have the best intention of "rephrasing" some of the cribbed material, but surprisingly often they tend to "forget" about this earlier intention.... In brief, enforcement (and talking about the rigorous enforcement of the anti-pangrams rules) is your best bet. I also make a point of telling my class when I caught someone (of course without revealing the identity of the student): I present the nature of the evidence and how I caught them. Students usually gasp at the thought of doing something that stupid--and something that immoral.
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First, let me express my sympathy to you. It is hard to return to a group of students with any enthusiasm as their teacher when you know several of them have committed an academic form of infidelity.
My experience is that fewer students cheat than most faculty think and it is easy to overreact and generalize. Also, it is curious, that quite a few faculty themselves admit to cheating in one form or another at least once in their days as students. So, there is a small but unavoidable, unstoppable percentage of cheating going on in one's classroom. It just comes with the turf, and yes, you have to deal with it, but do not take it personally.
Also, I've been surprised how many students are not clear about what cheating is. For example, many students do not know how to cite a direct quote versus a paraphrase (an issue discussed very well in the APA Style manual, see section 3.30, as I recall). And many students think it is OK to study from a blackmarket old test (note that some faculty reinforce this by passing out old tests). But on the other hand, when students cheat (e.g., buying term papers) they know what they are doing.
My own style as a teacher is to work harder on avoiding cheating than on detecting it. For me, cheating occurs any time there is a weak correlation between student grades and learning. So, focusing on improving learning goes a long way toward reducing cheating. For example, because students work harder and learn more when they can exercise control by picking from a menu of assignments, they are less likely to cheat. If these assignments invite engagement by being important, interesting and uniquely relevant to the lives of students, there is less cheating (i.e., give assignments that require students to connect learning to their own unique experiences). Cheating is also reduced when you ask students to work on the processes of learning as well as the outcomes. For example, asking them to submit an outline of a paper, or a project prospectus, then a rough draft with comments from a peer reviewer, and lastly, a final revised paper that they themselves have graded and commented on (i.e., addressing the question, "if I were to revise this paper one more time, how would I make it even better?"). Giving assignments that one can't find a copy of on the internet, is an idea consistent with the above prescriptions, for example, I recently asked students to use Pruitt's theory and research on conflict and negotiation to suggest solutions to a problem they are currently having with administration over parking fees and fines.
Doing in class, classroom assessment during a course is a good practice in teaching and is associated with less cheating (probably because it shares control of the learning experience with students, see Angelo and Cross, 1993). Doing this and anything else that improves your performance as a professional has got to reduce the amount of cheating.....and if not, at least the guilt students feel.
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I take a very social psychological attitude toward cheating,
which is to say I think ANYONE will cheat if the psychological press is strong. Of course, some people are more inclined than others. However, when the stakes are high (and classroom grades are considered pretty high stakes for many students) and the means are easy, people will cheat.
I find penalties only marginally successful. Cheating is often difficult to observe and difficult to verify. Student judiciary systems provide little or no enforcement. It is also noteworthy that the threat of a lawsuit from a parent, even in cases of verified cheating, often makes universities back down (e.g., see the description of such a case about 16 years ago in the Chronicle of Higher Ed.).
My approach, at least for classroom exams, is to make cheating difficult. I make multiple forms of exams. I have LOTS of proctors, typically 4 of us for a 100 person class. If I see anything that even remotely resembles someone looking at someone else's exam, I immediately move the students with wandering eyes. I don't allow anyone to leave the room once the exam starts unless they are finished. Once the first person who finishes has left, I don't allow late students in. Students wearing baseball caps must turn the caps so that the bills face backwards. Students must remove all books, papers, etc. from their desk tops.
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I minimize cheating by giving assignments that must be individualized. For example, in my social psychology survey course, students write a 3-page paper every week where they apply the material being covered that week to some example from their own lives. That makes it impossible to cheat! In my research methods course, I assign "mini-studies" that the students also individualize, e.g., one assignment asks them to conduct a correlational study looking at the relations between self-esteem and some other social psychological construct, which consists of a measure they have to create themselves. Again, it would be very difficult to cheat on such an assignment.
As for punishment, you probably should check with your chair and/or dean. At many universities, instructors have no discretion regarding punishments. For example, at my university the only punishment for demonstrated cheating is an E in the course and possible suspension from the university. The rules are set up so that even if the evidence of cheating was crystal clear, if an instructor tried to impose a different (e.g., not as severe) penalty and the student complains, the student would win because of the deviation from rules. Hardly fair, but then again, cheaters don't usually spend too much time worrying about fairness.
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Our University has invested in plagiarism software (JISC), but scanning all work is not plausible due to the number of assignments and students. The decision was that if a faculty member suspected plagiarism in a particular paper, that paper was to be fed through the software. The software provides a percentage representing the amount of plagiarized work. Our decision was that less than 10% would result in the work receiving the lowest passing mark (6/20) whereas anything over 10% would automatically result in the receipt of no points (0/20).
For all of the suspected cases last year, the system reported a significant amount of plagiarism and all received no points. Not only does the software contain something like 6 million sources, the software "learns" so that once an essay as been scanned through, it becomes part of the system (thus catching student-student copying).
As far as any proactive steps, we are also planning to start to randomly scan 10% of each class on each assignment... but that is the best that we've come up with thus far.
Here is some information about the JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service:
http://online.northumbria.ac.uk/faculties/ art/information_ studies/Imri/Jiscpas/ site/jiscpas.asp
[Web site editor's note: This link is now broken]
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Hi, I am not too interested in after the fact "punishments" but would rather set up the situation to inhibit plagiarism. What I do for term papers is have students turn in a Xerox of each article they use in the paper -- including the reference section (I return the paper and the Xeroxed copies of the articles through campus mail or in a box outside my office after the class is over), so if there is any questions about wording I do not have to find the article myself in the library and it sends a CLEAR message the student I can and will check the articles since I have them. They are reduced a percentage if an article is missing (weighted by the number of articles missing). I also have them turn in an electronic version of the paper (CD or attachment in an email) so that I can check plagiarism against past papers turned in for my classes or my colleagues classes. If they do not turn in the electronic version they receive a zero for the paper assignment. The message is clear to the students. This requirement also servers as a benefit for the students because they often loose papers and need them some time after the class ends. I tell them I will email them the electronic version of their paper in the future if they need it for a writing sample. They seem to appreciate the option.
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Including a warning regarding a zero-tolerance consequence regarding cheating in the syllabus may help in the future, but who knows? I had a bunch of plagiarism cases my first semester, and when word got around that I do, in fact, take every single one to the honor court, I had many fewer cases the following semester, and none this semester (so far).
Very often, they plead ignorance when it comes to the boundaries between paraphrasing and plagiarism, so you have to be very specific as to how to avoid it. I think an assignment on the societal consequences of plagiarism is a good idea - maybe have them do some research on Jayson Blair for a recent, real-life example of a cheater's demise.
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We've been having a lot of trouble lately, too. Last year, we instituted a departmental policy as follows:
1st offense: receive zero on the assignment
2nd offense: receive a zero in the course
3rd offense: recommend expulsion from the university
We put the policy on every course outline. I make sure to talk about it on the first day of classes, and make it really clear what does and does not count as plagiarism. If there are any infractions, we document everything in writing, and put it on file in our department, and with the registrar's office, so people in other departments can inquire to see if the student has a record. We take instances in other departments into consideration when calculating our "three strikes".
.I gave at least a dozen 1st offense, zero on the assignment penalties last year, but only one zero in the course. So far, no one's been expelled. I hope if word gets out that we're serious, they'll think twice...
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Does your university have a plagiarism policy? If you are able to detect that they have copied from each other you should be able to hold them accountable under that policy. The "long essay" sounds a bit grade-schoolish to me; far more effective would be to remind them that plagiarism will get them a University sanctioned penalty ranging from 0 on the assignment, to failing the course, to expulsion.
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First, you should probably check with your university to see if any formal procedures are in place. Here, I can report (and have) plagiarism to the university, and penalties (depending on intent and level of schooling) range from getting an F for the course, to having to take more courses, to being expelled from the university (always with a permanent mention on their transcript). The profs are not allowed to take matters in their own hands (and frankly I'm happy not to have to do it).
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I have students cheat and/or plagiarize on homework assignments and formal papers. My solution for cheating on homework and papers is to give both students a zero and see who comes to see me and listen to their explanation. Based on what they say, they will often be given the opportunity for making up 50% of the points they missed. In the case of plagiarism when there is only one student involved, they are assigned a zero and, if they come to see me, they are given the opportunity to rewrite the section to make up a maximum of 50% of the points they have missed. In all the instances of plagiarism/cheating, I have had only one student who did not come to see me regarding the assigned grade of "0" and that student dropped before midterm. Students are told that if any such behavior occurs in any future assignments, they will be given an "F" in the course.
When homework assignments are given out, I will specify whether the assignment can be worked on in groups or whether it is an individual effort only. In the instances of individual effort only, I remind the class the section in the syllabus regarding academic misconduct and go over the penalty they will incur if they cheat.
I take cheating and plagiarism seriously, but many of the students do not OR do not understand what plagiarism is. I did have an incident with a foreign exchange student from Japan who plagiarized just about all of her paper. Her explanation to me was that she was not the expert, so she was taught to write what the expert said until she had enough schooling so that she is now the expert.
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To me, it seems like you've tried the "carrot" approach. The "stick" approach may now be necessary. I state in my syllabi and reiterate at the beginning of the semester that anyone caught cheating or plagiarizing on an exam or assignment will receive a "0" for that exam or assignment (no exceptions). In terms of plagiarism, I think it important that students be taught what is and is not plagiarism--so I cover it for classes with written assignments.
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I'm not sure if this addresses your specific problem, but I have developed a unit called "Avoiding Plagiarism" which students must pass before I will accept their term papers. The unit involves reading some short pieces about what is and is not plagiarism, appropriate citations, and paraphrasing. Then, students must complete an online assignment in which they practice those skills. I don't know if this sort of assignment would stop peer-to-peer copying, but it at least would be likely to increase students' awareness about how strongly you feel about the issue (especially if you introduce it, like I do, by sharing examples of previous students who have failed the class or been suspended because of plagiarism).
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There is now software that will run on electronic versions of papers and attempt to detect plagiarism. Our school has it through the blackboard system. I haven't tried it yet. But if it's any good, it would seem easy to require students to submit papers in electronic form, and then just run every paper through it.
EG here is the message I got from our dept chair:
Turnitin.com is the new plagiarism-prevention program for which Temple has recently purchased a university-wide site license. It is available to be used in conjunction with the Blackboard course management system.
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When teaching undergraduates, I devote part of the first class to the issue of plagiarism and cheating. I establish definition for various infractions (e.g., copying a friend's work, copying ideas from published work without citation, copying exact wording from published work without citation) and so on. Then we agree to the penalty for each act: score of 0 on the assignment, F in the class, reporting to the dean of academic affairs. By agree, I mean I allow them to choose by majority vote. The students usually adopt a schema very much like what I had planned. In the one case where they were a bit light in the matter, then I altered my testing strategies slightly and changed assignments somewhat.
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When I teach stats courses beyond the intro course, I arrange for each student to have a different data set (I use real data sets from my own research and colleagues' so they have to deal with all the weirdnesses involved) that they use all semester. Thus, even though everyone is doing an assignment on say some aspect of regression, they are all doing it with different data sets. Thus, they could cheat by having someone else do it for them, but not by just copying someone else. ALSO, when I have any concerns at all in a smaller course, assignments usually involve essays and I ask that they be handwritten (neatly!). This makes more work for me, but it means that at the very least the student has had to attend enough to the assignment to copy it word for word.
I realize that these solutions do not help much in many class situations, but I thought I'd pass them on in case they were of help in at least some cases!
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At my current university, we use the system located at www.turnitin.com. I've used this for all courses in which I require take-home papers. Although the questions I asked them to answer in their papers were idiosyncratic enough that I didn't think they could buy a paper off of the web, I was afraid that students would copy papers used by students in previous semesters. Turnitin has been very useful for me because every paper that is submitted is stored in their data base, and checks current papers against past papers (including all papers in its data base, not just papers from our university. It also checks current papers against each other, and against internet sources. Most importantly, I think, students are deterred from plagiarism, because they know I'm using turnitin.
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(If anyone would like to see the attachment, please let me know. -Amani):
I attach my general psych syllabus. As you go through the dates of the semester you will find occasional assignments, with many specific questions to that days reading, or make up and answer an essay. ESSENTIAL to my effectiveness is that they must be typed. There are zero complaints about this. My reason for it is simply that it means no one is doing the assignment in class AND no one is rushed the minute before class to copy from another. This is a modern age of typing and we have multiple computer terminals in the library and elsewhere. Typing demands planning to do the task early.
I say nothing in class about plagiarism, but there is some very brief statement written. If I ever had a problem, I would say that I will shuffle the papers in my office and the second similar paper will receive no points. None of my students would risk a 50% chance of losing points by loaning it to another.
The second attachment also asks specific questions, for a major paper in junior and senior classes. The point is that anyone can look up 'schizophrenia' on the Internet, but no one can find a paper that answers these specific question. You are welcome to use word-for-word or the concepts of either of these attachments without attribution.
My bachelors is from WWU within your system (Ph.D. Social Cognition, U Tenn, 1981), so I have a good sense that your students are similar to my own. I have a sense that you may have some problem by setting them a challenge with your emphasis on the topic. Psychological reactance and reverse psychology may be an issue. Instead consider my approach to deemphasize the topic. I am as aware as you are of take-home copying, but feel I get none of it by the nature of the assignments. Both in the assignment and orally in class I emphasize the creativity involved, the fun and ease of the assignment, and that one of my goals is to INCREASE the individuality and diversity among my students by allowing them and encouraging them to think and choose in their choice of what to answer.
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On occasions when two students had handed in essentially the same work (identical lab reports, very similar papers, etc.), I showed them the evidence and told them it was obvious that they had not worked independently. I told them that essentially only one assignment had been completed and that they could divide the credit for that assignment (e.g., the 83% score) between them as they saw fit. No one ever admitted to me who had copied from whom and they divided the points equally, but I got the strong impression that they had very serious discussions with one another about what they had done, which was what I was after.
Since then I have revised my policy. I now tell students that those who cheat will normally receive course grades of F.