April 10, 2009

Is Monitoring Plagiarism Worth the Hassle?

To the Editor:

I have been a university faculty member for almost 40 years, and I have seen faculty members' concern regarding plagiarism decrease steadily. It has now reached proactive avoidance ("Academic Integrity and Student Plagiarism: a Question of Education, Not Ethics" and "A Student's View: Why Cheating Matters," The Chronicle, February 20). There are simply no incentives — and there are plenty of disincentives — for faculty members' discovering