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As a teacher in an online classroom, plagiarism and cheating are two grave concerns. You don't have the student sitting in front of you filling in a Scantron form or writing essays in a blue book. You have to accept on faith that they are doing their own work. But, just as there are many online tools for cheating, there are many online tools for identifying it.
Types of Plagiarism and Cheating
The report tells, by percentage, how much content is "unoriginal" and highlights that content so the instructor can check to see if it was quoted or unattributed. If your institution doesn't subscribe to either of these services, you can download Mediaphor's Plagiarism Finder software, which scans the Web for exact phrase matches and generates a report with embedded links to the source documents.
Plagiarism and cheating have existed as long as schools have. Unfortunately, technology has improved the means of cheating. But, it has also improved the means of detecting it.
Sources: About the Author
Elizabeth Armentor has worked with the Technical Communication program at Texas State University as well as taking coursework online.
Detecting Cheating and Plagiarism
By Elizabeth ArmentorAs a teacher in an online classroom, plagiarism and cheating are two grave concerns. You don't have the student sitting in front of you filling in a Scantron form or writing essays in a blue book. You have to accept on faith that they are doing their own work. But, just as there are many online tools for cheating, there are many online tools for identifying it.
Types of Plagiarism and Cheating
- Direct plagiarism: the wholesale stealing of someone else's written work, without changing a word.
- Borrowing from other students.
- Vague or incorrect citation: not identifying quotes or paraphrases from another work. This is often unintentional.
- Mosaic plagiarism: cobbling together a paper from many different sources (traditionally called cut and paste).
Detecting Cheating and Plagiarism
The most effective way to detect any type of online plagiarism is to use a subscription online plagiarism detection service such as Turn It In (www.turnitin.com) or iThenticate (www.ithenticate.com) for every written assignment. These services keep databases of published works, work that has been submitted to them for protection or verification. They also search the Internet. When submitted, the student's work is compared to the works in their databases and an originality report is created.The report tells, by percentage, how much content is "unoriginal" and highlights that content so the instructor can check to see if it was quoted or unattributed. If your institution doesn't subscribe to either of these services, you can download Mediaphor's Plagiarism Finder software, which scans the Web for exact phrase matches and generates a report with embedded links to the source documents.
Know Your Students
It can be tricky to detect whether a student is cheating by borrowing another's work. Be on the lookout for sudden increases in scores on multiple choice or true/false tests. Compare the answers of any suspicious test to other tests in your files. If you're using an online plagiarism detection service every semester, all papers you assign will become part of the database to help you detect whether work was borrowed from a former student.Consequences of Plagiarism and Cheating in School
The consequences vary from school to school. Some schools require that all instances be documented and forwarded to the administration, while others give the instructor latitude for how she or he will handle it. The punishment ranges anywhere from an "F" for the assignment, to an "F" for the class, to expulsion.Plagiarism and cheating have existed as long as schools have. Unfortunately, technology has improved the means of cheating. But, it has also improved the means of detecting it.
Sources: About the Author
Elizabeth Armentor has worked with the Technical Communication program at Texas State University as well as taking coursework online.
