Their cheatin' hearts: high numbers for Web-assisted plagiarism are disquieting, and so are the reasons, but remedies do exist. (Internet & Telecommunications).

Logically, and intuitively, we knew it was a temptation for students. All those "answers" just clicks away. It's not so surprising to find out some students are using the Internet to cheat. What is a bit of a shocker is how many students are cutting corners in this way, and some of the reasons they give to explain it.

A recent study by professor Donald McCabe of Rutgers University clarifies the scope of the problem. In his survey of 4,000 students at 25 high schools across the county, more than half (54 percent) acknowledged they had committed plagiarism using the Internet. That figure bears repeating: more than half had used the Web to cheat.

A Significant, Largely Silent, Problem

McCabe, a national authority on academic integrity, explains that his March 2001 survey of high schoolers covered both Internet-related and other forms of cheating. And the levels, self-reported by students anonymously, are dramatic.

Nearly three-fourths (74 percent) said they had cheated on a test by copying answers from another student or using crib notes. Almost the same amount (72 percent) had reported plagiarizing written assignments or submitting classwork done by someone else. And another 23 percent had engaged in a "less serious" form of cheating, such as collaborating with other students even though the assignment was for individual work or turning in assignments largely done by a parent.

To arrive at the rather staggering statistic about Internet-based plagiarism, McCabe asked four questions. Two concerned "traditional" forms of cheating and two covered Web-based deceit, thus he could contrast the answers. According to his data, 48 percent of students admitted to at least one instance each of both traditional and Web-based plagiarism; 16 percent said they had done one or the other; and 6 percent reported they had used the Internet only to "download in whole or in large part" content that was then passed off as their own work. Less than a third (30 percent) of the high school students said they did not engage in either form of cheating.

These results, along with anecdotal evidence, leads McCabe to conclude that while the Internet is clearly a convenient tool for students already looking to cut corners, it is not necessarily fostering great numbers of "new" cheaters. "I think the Web is mostly supplanting other methods of academic dishonesty for those already predisposed," he says. "Instead of getting a friend to do their history homework for them, for example, these kids now go to the `net."

However, McCabe's data also suggests that of those students who are using the Internet to cheat, many do so fairly often. "That's what I tended to hear back from the students, too," he says. "Cheaters cheat."

And his research isn't alone in finding high levels of cheating at high schools. A 1998 survey of students listed in Who's Who Among American High School Students revealed that 80 percent admitted to instances of cheating or plagiarism, with 95 percent claiming they were never caught. Plus, nine out of 10 high school teachers reported cheating was "a problem" at their school in a 1998 survey by The American School Board Journal. The same ratio also stated they had students in their class who had plagiarized material from the Internet.

This lack of academic integrity remains a quiet concern in K-12 schools, largely for political reasons. On a local level, it's a volatile issue, ripe for lawsuits and laden with land mines. In The ASBJ's 1998 survey, for example, seven out 10 teachers agreed "parental pressure discourages educators from penalizing student cheaters."

Excuses, Excuses

One explanation for these results, McCabe says, it that students seem to have a different perspective on collaborative work than do adults.

"They've convinced themselves that it's OK to work with friends on assignments," says McCabe of the high schoolers he surveyed. "In fact, they believe it's not only OK, but preferred, because that's what the business world does."

So K-12 students understand that an ability to work well in groups is highly valued by business. But, being kids, perhaps they've taken the concept too literally. They fail to remember that business equally values (and needs) individual expertise.

Or perhaps, instead of an oversight, it's a conscious choice. "Even when told an assignment should be individual work, many students just don't think it is wrong to employ group help," continues McCabe. "That's not cheating to these kids."

Perhaps it's understandable that students are confused about collaboration. After all, collaborative learning has been all the rage in K-12 schools for some time now--younger grades through high school--getting students accustomed to group projects. Constructivist learning as well often places students into groups. Is it any wonder then, given the business models they see and their experiences in the classroom, that students would take the approach to heart?

More clear-cut is the pressure to achieve top grades and high test scores. This was frequently cited by students in McCabe's study as a valid reason to cheat or plagiarize. Indeed, some high schoolers said they felt they had no other option. This was especially true when they knew other students were cheating.

"It seems to offend their sense of fair play," says McCabe. "So, ironically, some students cheat just to avoid being at a competitive disadvantage, to level the playing field, so to speak."

Other major motivations for cheating, reported the high schoolers, include not studying or preparing for class and laziness (32 percent), and needing to pass a course or to ensure good grades (29 percent).

Turning a Blind Eye?

Internet access has introduced new wrinkles. Students can purchase or trade papers online, go into chat rooms, and use any number of ask-the-expert Web sites. Cell phones, pagers and PDAs can send and receive test answers via text messages, e-mail, saved Web pages or infrared beaming. Hacking into campus servers isn't unknown either. One high schooler even told McCabe that students at school had set up a secret Web site where others could find the answers for any text used at the campus.

Distressingly, nearly half of the students (47 percent) in McCabe's high school study reported teachers sometimes ignore cheating in their classrooms. "More than a trivial number made comments like, `They've got to see it but pretend they don't,'" he recounts. "Frankly, it makes some students angry."

In fact, McCabe says a fair number might be unwilling cheaters. "I think many students are uncomfortable with cheating but feel they must in order to compete with classmates or meet their parents expectations."

Parents come under scrutiny as well. "Truthfully, some parents don't want to know if their child is cheating," McCabe observes, "because they don't want to have to tell them to stop. Our culture is so very driven by success."

Remedies Are at Hand

To deter or discover cheaters in this Web-connected world, K-12 educators have an array of options at their disposal. Smart teaching strategies and a clear priority on academic integrity certainly top the list. Not only do they cost nothing, their benefits go beyond dissuasion to actually deepen students' learning experiences.

Teach the proper citation of sources, and start in the lower grades. Even young children understand right and wrong. So if they're old enough to be using the Web for research, they're ready to learn about giving credit. Moreover, this sets a critical precedent.

Similarly, make honesty an issue in the classroom. Most kids want to earn their accomplishments, yet are sensitive to fairness. So create a comfort zone by talking about academic integrity. Highlighting the issue puts those considering cheating on notice while giving basically honest students another reason not to be tempted.

"As a value, first you have to make it visible," McCabe says, "and from this, all else flows."

Following his eye-opening 1990 study of pervasive cheating by college students, many institutions revamped their policies. But the most effective curbs, says McCabe proudly, really originated from students themselves. "They became involved in the process," he explains. As he and five other professors created The Center for Academic Integrity, now a consortium of 225 institutions, student volunteers supported it with on-campus activities. "Having students involved makes all the difference, because it's their culture you're trying to change," he says.

Notably, McCabe says student chapters of a similar organization for K-12 schools would be equally, if not more, effective, and hopes one blossoms. "Peer pressure from students will always be your biggest deterrent as it's the most likely to influence their values."

Changing the types of assignments and class work required is another low-cost, high-return strategy. Integrate personal experiences into writing exercises; choose projects with real-time elements that can't be faked. Elicit opinion, observation or original thinking. Anything that makes students display their personality will work.

Technology Assist

Finally, just as the Web and software exacerbated the problems of cheating and plagiarism, so can it help to solve them. For instance, McGraw-Hill has new software that will automatically embed footnote citations for anything pulled from its elementary and secondary schools' textbooks. Microsoft Encarta, and other basic references, have done this for years.

Getting a lot of attention and new business is Turnitin.com, a subscription-based service for uncovering plagiarism, from iParadigms. Featuring software that came out of studying the spatial patterns of brainwaves, Turnitin compares submitted papers to billions of sources then creates a color-coded Originality Report. Cover-up editing or using only small fragments won't fool this smart software. For a high school, the service costs $2,000 per year for unlimited users and unlimited papers.

John Barrie, president and the program's creator, says 1,000 high schools and 25 middle schools had signed up by mid-August. Moreover, with the numbers of colleges and universities subscribing, including whole state systems, he feels "odds are these high schoolers will be facing our service's scrutiny in the near future, so their days of getting away with it are numbered." Barrie also agrees with professor McCabe's firm belief that promoting integrity, versus simply policing students, is critical. "If you lay a solid foundation of ethics early on, then people just behave in an ethical way no matter the situation," Barrie explains.

ONLINE RESOURCES

www.plagiarized.com

Plagiarized.com should be the first stop for educators who wish to learn how to better spot works pulled from the Internet. Start with "dead giveaways," then work your way through its short exercises to enhance detection skills using sample essays. Find advice for conducting research, plus recent news and articles about the issue as well. Also, check out the five rules to follow when you've caught someone cheating.

www.coastal.edu/library/mills2.htm

Margaret Fain at Kimbel Library continually tracks all the Internet Paper Mills, posting their names and links on this Coastal Carolina University Web page. It's truly eye-opening, with many dozens of sites listed, such as U.K.-based The Evil House of Cheat, 12000 Papers and SchoolS*cks. Some seem to be pure mills, while others offer some valid tools or resources for students.

groton.k12.ct.us/mts/egtoc.htm

Croton Public Schools in Mystic, Conn., posts a straightforward Copyright Implementation Manual for staff. Links to actual law are provided, covering the entire range of copyright and fair-use issues a K-12 school might face. Note that the formats discussed include text, multimedia, videotaping, campus performances, photocopying, distance learning and the Internet.

www.academicintegrity.org

Duke University's Center for Academic Integrity, though tailored for higher education, features research, strategies, tools and other resources (also in Spanish) for promoting honesty in schoolwork. An outgrowth of McCabe's groundbreaking research, K-12 educators will find much upon which to model their own efforts.

www.fno.org/may98/cov98may.html

For examples of cheat-proof lesson plans, plus other techniques, read Jamie McKenzie's excellent May 1998 article "The New Plagiarism: Seven Antidotes to Prevent Highway Robbery in an Electronic Age," posted on his Web site. A national speaker, author and former director of libraries, media and technology for Bellingham (Wash.) Public Schools, McKenzie publishes "From Now On," a thought-provoking ed-tech 'zine.

SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS

www.canexus.com

CaNexus.com offers EVE2, which analyzes papers and returns a report featuring links to Web pages from which a student may have copied material. Accepting plain text, Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect files, this $20 Windows program was designed to be powerful enough to find plagiarized material yet not overwhelm educators with false hits.

www.plagiarism.com

Glatt Plagiarism Services has a trio of solutions. Glatt Plagiarism Teaching Program is a comprehensive tutorial for students ($300), while Glatt Plagiarism Screening Program is a full-fledged detection system ($300, or $500 for both) for schools. And the free Glatt Self-Detection Program lets one submit text by Web form for a "rough estimate" of plagiarism potential.

wordchecksystems.com

From Information Analytics, the versatile software tool WordCHECK keyWORD performs plagiarism duties and more through its ability to identify, create and compare keyword profiles of electronic documents. WordCHECK.Basic is a personal version ($95, academic price), while WordCHECK.Pro suits entire libraries or schools ($293, academic price).

Terian Tyre, [e-mail], is special projects editor.