Internet plagiarism by students

creative work.

ACT Against Violence APA Education Advocacy Trust APA Style Practice Central Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program X About APAPsychology TopicsPublicationsPsychology Help CenterNews & EventsResearchEducationCareersMembershipSEARCH IN Monitor Entire Site E-MAILPRINTHome » Monitor on Psychology » February 2002 » Keeping plagiarism at bay in the ... Emporia State University's psychology department used to see just one or two plagiarism cases a year. But with the advent of Internet "paper mills"--sites that sell student-written papers to other students--it now handles as many as 20 annually.

What's happening there reflects a national problem of Internet-fueled plagiarism, says professor emeritus Stephen Davis, PhD, who recently retired from Emporia but still conducts research on academic dishonesty. The department has tried tackling the trend with a rule that students caught plagiarizing receive automatic F's.

But at many other psychology departments, disciplinary procedures aren't as clear-cut, if they exist at all. And, adding to the difficulties of prosecuting students is the fact that definitions of plagiarism differ across and within departments, allowing students wiggle room and making it tempting for faculty to ignore potential problems, says Jane Halonen, PhD, director of the School of Psychology at James Madison University. "It's demoralizing to think that students might be taking advantage of you, and it's awful to feel like a detective," says Halonen. "It's a part of being a faculty member that people don't enjoy."

Yet the uncomfortable fact remains that plagiarism rates are high, and they appear to be rising. Davis's studies peg rates of academic dishonesty at 40 to 60 percent at larger universities. And roughly 70 percent of professors handle at least one plagiarism case a year, according to the Center for Academic Integrity.

What can be done to quell the tide? Given the problems with prosecution, some psychology faculty are finding that the best offense is a good defense.

More are turning to such preventative methods as setting clear definitions and policies, making students more accountable for their sources, and warning that they will check students' work with new computer and Internet programs (see Technological tools to detect dishonesty) as well as with old-fashioned detection methods. In the end, quashing plagiarism is up to each individual professor, says psychology professor and plagiarism researcher Miguel Roig, PhD, of St. John's University. "You've simply got to make plagiarism as hard to pull off as possible."