Plagiarism and Cheating

Plagiarism and Cheating

Plagiarism and Cheating are harsh words regardless of the context in which they are used.  Children as young as kindergarten can be seen looking at a classmate’s paper to see how they are doing a task asked of them.  This behavior would require research to find out why people feel the need to cheat and how to stop the behavior.  My task in writing this paper is to discuss adults in plagiarism by the adult learner and how carefully designed assignments and tests can prevent the need for cheating and/or plagiarism.

The increased use of the internet has created more instances of cut and paste along with the other forms of plagiarism, but the internet has also provided ways to detect plagiarism (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006). There are free online search engines such as Google which allows instructors to track down copied phrases. Examples of commercial plagiarism detection services include Essay Verification Engine (EVE) and Turnitin.com; these online services compare individual student papers to Web documents and/or essay databases to find and report matching text.  With proper citing the use of cut and paste or paraphrased text there is no plagiarism as authors give free use of their material if it is properly cited (2006).  Just as plagiarism is hard to detect it is also difficult to prove.

There seems to be two sides to every story and while some deliberately and knowingly will use others work without proper citation there are those that do not see that copy and paste is plagiarism or that using their own work from another class is cheating (Palloff & Pratt, nd).  The only way to stop this way of thinking is by educating students to what plagiarism is and proper citing of material (Palloff & Pratt, nd).  I taught Reading and Writing 100, preparing students for their classes they would be.  A recommendation was that I do at least one class on what plagiarism is and the different forms of cheating that they may not realize was cheating.  I invited the college’s head librarian to do a presentation, which I knew to be very effective. I had students tell me semesters later that one of the most useful things that they learned in my class was about plagiarism and other academic dishonesty.

Academic dishonesty may also be made more difficult through the design of assignments and examinations. Examinations should be designed to that they can be completed collaboratively and information can be looked up wherever and however needed.  The examinations should be made up of application type questions using the materials that they have been working with and show how to use it in real life situations. Using this design of examinations the instructor can determine if the student has the skills needed in real world situations.

I was very much impressed with the facilitation strategies of Polloff and Pratt.  I will make sure that the students understand what plagiarism is and how and when to cite material.  Use application questions in assignments and examinations.  In the video, Plagiarism and Cheating, the discussion on making plagiarism and cheating more difficult made a lot of sense and I will definitely practice.  When a person is working in their chosen profession and are asked to complete a task, that person will not just lock himself or herself away and try to complete it from memory.  The person will use every means possible to find accurate information; so why do we expect students to not use their tools to find the answers Palloff and Pratt, nd).  I was told at some point in my higher education that as quickly as information changes it is most important not to memorize information but to know where to go to find out what we need to know.

According to the article Plagiarism by Adult Learners Online:  A Case Study in Detection and Remediation by Jocoy and DiBiase adult learners have a lower level of cheating instances but a higher level of plagiarism (Jocoy & DiBiase, 2006).   In my opinion adult learners do not commit plagiarism intentionally, generally, they are very busy they not may know as I do that what they are writing is not an original thought but it is very difficult to remember where some information was obtained, but they do know that the information is accurate and from a good source.  Or, are not sure whether to cite.  With this information and considering that online programs are designed for adult learners who usually have very busy lives, prevention should be the primary focus and as was stated before, the best means of prevention is through educating the students.

References

Jocoy, C. & DiBiase, D.  2006.  Adult Learners Online:  A case study in detection and remediation.  International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7 (1).  Retrieved December 1, 2012 from Walden University library data base.

Video:  Dr. Palloff and Pratt, nd.  Plagiarism and Cheating.  Walden University Resource material for EIDT6510.