Cheating at Universities is more common than you think

[Alan]

When one of my professors talked about turnitin, she said that she put something she did into it and it said it was 10% plagiarised, on account of common phrases. It was about learning and teaching, and highlighted "learning and teaching" every time (or something to that effect since it was three or so years ago). Somebody looking at why it says 10% would see that it's not plagiarised, so I wouldn't call it a problem.

 

[fuelair]

I was here a while back, and I said something to the effect that cheating happens all the time at universities, to which I got a bunch of "nuh-uhs" and "prove its". I couldn't, and still cannot find the poll in which 50% of university students admitted to having cheated at least once, but it is out there somewhere.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/business-15749628/students-busted-for-cheating-22954742

I want you all to take special note of the student at about 2:10 here.

Note his shocking take on cheating. This is not uncommon, especially in business schools. I have actually seen girls on their laptops looking at a website to buy papers before. I have heard a guy on his cell phone talking extensively about his hustle, eventually saying, "I am tired of selling papers, that's why I am trying to set up this non-profit". This was on his cellphone in a computer lab, while he was writing someone's paper.. for an economics class.

I love the commentators at the end, in typical American fashion, cringing their noses at not the cheating itself, "well maybe everybody cuts corners here and there" but, the matter of fact way the student said it, "but to say it in such a fashion".

But this doesn't end at the Universities. These cheaters go on in life, and they knife their way to the tops of corporations and pension funds. Cheaters win all the time, no matter what little fairy tales your momma told you when you were young. If cheating was not a good way to get ahead, then people would not do it.

Here are several and sources:
http://www.caveon.com/resources/cheating_statistics.htm

Located on www.dogpile.com using the terms "college students cheating surveys".

They over support you.

 

[UWdude]

Here are several and sources:
http://www.caveon.com/resources/cheating_statistics.htm

wow, worse than I remember.

 

[Modified]

My eyes are myopic enough that without contacts, I can read text so small it would appear only as a black smudge to anyone with normal vision. So I could have gone into an exam with this micro-text written on something and one contact out. Near point is about 1.5 inches, so glasses would be too close. I'm not sure how it could be done without arousing suspicion; constantly putting something an inch and a half from your eye would be suspicious.

 

[Jeff Corey]

When one of my professors talked about turnitin, she said that she put something she did into it and it said it was 10% plagiarised, on account of common phrases. It was about learning and teaching, and highlighted "learning and teaching" every time (or something to that effect since it was three or so years ago). Somebody looking at why it says 10% would see that it's not plagiarised, so I wouldn't call it a problem.

It's even less of a problem if you block out "References/bibliography"" and "short phrases". These are functions that have been available for at least two years.

 

[Jeff Corey]

wow, worse than I remember.

This, "75% of college students admitted cheating, and 90% of college students didn't believe cheaters would be caught." is not realistic in my department, at least. In my classes, they know it's very likely that they will be caught.

 

[Travis]

Seconded. I remember being vaguely aware that there were places where people could go to buy prewritten essays, and I remember one professor saying that he'd recieved one once, and could recognize the writing style, but I never knew anyone who said they'd done that.

I'd be a fool to turn in a purchased paper in any case. I tend to have a distinctive writing style.

Same here. Besides I prided myself on my extensive use of sources from outside the classroom.

Cheating has always happened but I really wonder why, because it's always seemed to me that if you plagiarise or fake something that the person you're cheating is you. Even if it seems the easier route to somebody, what they've lost is an opportunity to learn as well as risking an even bigger loss if they get caught out and end up being failed.

Exactly. I never understood the philosophy of cheating. You're there to learn!

Same at my university. No electronic devices, unless the professor allows a calculator to be used (and even then there are some functions the calculator cannot have). If your cell phone rings during the exam, no matter for what reason, that´s an automatic failing grade for attempted cheating.

Even if they don't answer it? That's harsh. I'm the absent minded type to forget to turn mine off.

Water bottles can't have labels. And I think that mobile phones had to not only be off but also on the table.

Wow, that's quite a control. I don't really remember any such measures against cheating in my classes. The subject wasn't even brought up. My classes tended to only have a dozen or so students in them and I guess the instructors tended to not think any of us would even want to cheat.


By the way it would be an interesting subject for a student to explore the world of these new "canned" papers. I'd love to read a project on it.

 

[DarthFishy]

Our official policy also includes similar regulations on hats/caps and mobile phones. My exams/tests are all open book (being programming) so I generally turn a blind eye to these specific policies. I allow the students access to any sources they want in the exam, except outside help from actual people. If they are cheating they are doing it really badly based on the current pass rate!

 

[tkmikkelsen]

I don't know if you will qualify the following as cheating.
I work for a company that specializes in proofreading, copyedting and rewriting of text material. We do a lot of rewriting and copyediting for students from USA and Australia. So they send their text to us and then we edit it, so that it is more correct English and to make it more understandable.
Especially in rewriting it is not a good representative of what the original author can do.
We don't see a lot of science papers, but essay's for English classes or literature classes we get a lot of. Often the students will give us a very raw text and then tell us the criteria for the text and then we will rewrite and reformat the text to for fill these requirements.
This practices is also widely used for foreign students applying to American colleges.

 

[Malachi Constant]

My school uses turnitin.com, but they make us (the students) submit it and include a printout of the report along with our outline (it's a speech class, not a writing class).

I've only used it twice so far, but the first time my percentage was <1%, the second time it was about 9%, but it mostly flagged formatting things that we were required to put in. The report highlights the "plagiarized" sections, so it's pretty easy to tell if it's real plagiarism or just a mistake. The teacher also gets forwarded a copy of the report automatically.

That same class has the rule about phones going off, too. What is the rational behind it? Why is a ringing phone an instant zero? On our first test I thought I had turned if off, but when I left class and went to turn it on, I found that it was already on. I'm just going to leave my phone at home on test days from now on.

I heard a fellow student talking openly (in class) about cheating from my lab partner's test in another class. She was a freshman taking a required science class and was pretty useless during the lab, didn't seem at all interested in learning.

 

[Andrew Wiggin]

in one biology lab section I was in, the instructor mentioned that one student had entered the name of the student who sat across from him as the answer to problem number one, and then had gone down the line, answering problem number two with the answer to one, three from two, etc. He was kicked out of the class and had to retake it.

I didn't see anything like that myself though. There was no shortage of drama, but it was not related to cheating. One example that sticks out in my mind was seeing police come into a philosophy class I was in, and arrest one of the students, who I also shared an organic chem class with, as he'd been caught making methcathinone in the chem lab at night.

 

[Chaos]

Even if they don't answer it? That's harsh. I'm the absent minded type to forget to turn mine off.

You´re always reminded before exams to turn off your cell phone. There´s no excuse for "forgetting" when they tell you explicitly "Turn off your cell phones. Any cell phone ringing during exam will be considered an attempt to cheat, which means an automatic failing grade".

 

[TragicMonkey]

You´re always reminded before exams to turn off your cell phone. There´s no excuse for "forgetting" when they tell you explicitly "Turn off your cell phones. Any cell phone ringing during exam will be considered an attempt to cheat, which means an automatic failing grade".

I can see that a ringing phone would be rude, and disruptive to the other test-takers, and therefore justifiably punished. But how could a ringing phone be used to cheat?

 

[UWdude]

I can see that a ringing phone would be rude, and disruptive to the other test-takers, and therefore justifiably punished. But how could a ringing phone be used to cheat?

texting Q's and A's back and forth with a friend with access to google or 1337 coding skillz or superior calculus skills.

 

[TragicMonkey]

texting Q's and A's back and forth with a friend with access to google or 1337 coding skillz or superior calculus skills.

But you could do all of that without having your phone ring; in fact, having the phone actually ring would be severely detrimental to the process. Outgoing calls, texting, or internet browsing would be far superior ways of cheating, and none of those would advertise by having the ring of an incoming call.

I would say the ring of an incoming call surely proves that the device is not being used for clandestine activities like cheating, unless the cheater in question was unfathomably stupid. "Call me with all the answers!" they tell their friend? Even then, can't phones be set to vibrate, or noiselessly signal they are receiving input?

 

[Jeff Corey]

With all the different devices with different functions out now, it is prudent to just ban them all.
Our published policy is that academic dishonesty includes "...using any electronic device in an academic exercise or examination that is not explicitly authorized by the supervising faculty. This includes but is not limited to the Internet, cell phones, beepers, iPods, headphones, PDAs, and other wireless handheld devices."

 

[Travis]

Man things are so much more complicated now than when I was in school.

 

[Dr. Keith]

With all the different devices with different functions out now, it is prudent to just ban them all.
Our published policy is that academic dishonesty includes "...using any electronic device in an academic exercise or examination that is not explicitly authorized by the supervising faculty. This includes but is not limited to the Internet, cell phones, beepers, iPods, headphones, PDAs, and other wireless handheld devices."

Trying to confuse them with archaic terminology?

Their drug dealers don't even know what a beeper is . . . .

 

[Dr. Keith]

I would say the ring of an incoming call surely proves that the device is not being used for clandestine activities like cheating, unless the cheater in question was unfathomably stupid.

Should the unfathomably stupid, or even mildly incautious, be allowed to cheat?

 

[WingerII]

Why do you - I assume you mean students - have to consent? It's a legitimate tool for providing feedback to students. I ask them for a CD of the first draft of their paper, and then point out the dodgy parts.

Turnitin adds all submissions it receives to its database. This makes sense from a functional standpoint, but many students are understandably concerned about having their intellectual property used by a for-profit service. The wikipedia article on Turnitin (sorry, can't post links yet) summarizes the controversy.

According to my university's website, the current SOP for courses that use Turnitin is to include a disclaimer on the course outline, which is handed out in the first lecture. Additionally, the professor must give students a reasonable alternative.

And no way does it flag common turns of phrases. It nails plagiarism. I've even run some of my submissions to make sure I wasn't falling prey to the "My Sweet Lord" effect.

Fair enough. My knowledge is second-hand, and I should know better than to trust a bunch of disgruntled grad students.