The Chronicle: Colloquy Live Transcript

Plagiarism and Plagiarism Detection Go High Tech

Friday, July 6, at 2 p.m. U.S. Eastern time, 6 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time

Is online cheating getting worse? How are professors using technology to detect cheating? How are these tactics changing the professor-student relationship?

In recent years, professors have been frustrated by the way more and more students use the Internet to cheat -- by plagiarizing the work of other students, by copying material from online reference works, by buying term papers from online paper-writing companies, and by other means. Recently, however, professors have started to use the Internet to fight back, by using their own software or software developed by various companies to detect cheating, by reviewing student papers and looking for similarities between papers, or between papers and material elsewhere on the Web. In a number of cases, professors using this kind of software have uncovered what appear to be large-scale incidents of cheating. Some educators hail the development of this software for giving faculty members the tools they need to combat cheating. Others fear that using this software may signal distrust and hurt the professor-student bond.

» The Cat-and-Mouse Game of Plagarism Detection (7/6/2001)

Donald L. McCabe is one of the founders of the Center for Academic Integrity. A professor of organization management at Rutgers University at Newark, he has studied plagiarism issues for more than a decade. He has published numerous articles on cheating at the college and high-school level, honor codes, and business ethics, and he serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Business Ethics.

A transcript of the chat follows.

Jeff Young (Moderator):
Hello, and welcome to Colloquy Live, The Chronicle's online chat forum. I'm Jeff Young, a technology reporter here, and I'll be moderating today's discussion.

The topic today is student plagiarism and the use of technology to catch cheaters. Our guest is Donald L. McCabe, who has studied plagiarism for more than a decade and who is one of the founders of the Center for Academic Integrity.

Thanks for being with us today Mr. McCabe.

Donald L. McCabe:
It's a pleasure to be here. I look forward to engaging in meaningful dialogue with many of my faculty colleagues.

Jeff Young (Moderator):
Let's jump right in with one of your questions... Those of you submitting questions, please be keep them brief so we can keep things moving.

Question from Rob DeKoven, California Western School of Law:
I specialize in higher education legal issues. I've noticed a significant increase in cases of on-line cheating. This is particularly easy for law students. Students can easily access a computer system like Lexis or Westlaw and "cut and paste" parts of law review articles into their own papers. ...

Do we, as professors, have a duty to scrutinze all written work to ensure that no papers are being submitted for academic credit that are not truly the work of the submitting student? And, if so, does this mean our institutions should have an office of "Academic Integrity" that can scan discs submitted by students against published works? (I think the concern is one of equal protection for all students.)

Donald L. McCabe:
In general, I do not think that faculty should be expected to electronically review all works submitted by students. More important, in my view, is an effort by the faculty to encourage students to complete their work with integrity. Unfortunately, my research suggest many faculty are silent on this issue and perhaps as many as 1/3 elect to do nothing even when they suspect a student has cheated. I'm not opposed to using electronic technologies when appropriate; my concern is that we don't reach a point where we routinely feel the need to check student work in that way.

Question from Carol Quinn, University of Houston:
What are the fastest and most effective online resourses that we have at our disposal to detect plagiarism in student essays?

Donald L. McCabe:
Probably the most popular is www.turnitin.com. Jeff Young's article in the current issue of The Chronicle also mentions Google, and software available from professor Louis Bloomfield at the University of Virginia. There is also some software from Galatt On Plagarism Services. I've also heard of others but am not familiar with them.

Question from T. Winokur, University of Kentucky:
Why should it "signal distrust and hurt the professor-student bond?" Can't we assume that students who are likely to cheat are already likely not to have much respect for the professor or for learning? Why would they have an expectation of trust? Would "good" students really mind the extra scrutiny if their own hard, honest work is validated by fair play?

Donald L. McCabe:
Most "good" students would probably support such scrutiny. However, it raises an interesting dilemma on campuses that have academic honor codes. Is it appropriate to routinely check work submitted by a student who has signed an honor pledge stating that he or she has done the work honestly? It's a very difficult issue.

Question from Raymond Goldstone, Dean of Students, Emeritus; University of California Los Angeles:
Greetings, Don -- Couldn't the transfer and retention of papers and other assignments (i.e., education records) of students to online businesses like Turnitin.com be regarded as FERPA violations? What, if any guidance, has the U.S. Department of Education provided in this regard. Further, what potential ownership and copyright issues might be raised by the students who are involuntarily providing these business with their materials?

Donald L. McCabe:
Ray, as you know, I am not a lawyer, and I'm not going to pretend to provide an accurate legal response. However, you raise some very interesting questions. I'm not aware of any schools who have effectively addressed these issues yet. It's not clear to me that there would be any ownership and copyright issues since services like turnitin.com have no intention of using these materials for any purposes other than checking future papers that might come in.

Jeff Young (Moderator):
That previous question about student privacy was submitted to our chat in advance, so we posed it to officials at the U.S. Department of Education as well. Here's what we were told:

"There could be a FERPA issue involved.� We would need to know more about it.� The key is whether information maintained in a database is personally identifiable.� The suppliers of the database couldn't make this available in a personally identifiable form unless there is consent from the students. Hope that's helpful." -- Jim Bradshaw, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education.

Question from Greg, Large Midwestern University:
How much of the college student population appear to be incorrigible (willing to cheat on just about any assignment), regardless of the instructor's attempts to limit the possibility?

Donald L. McCabe:
Research that I've done over the years suggest that as many as 10 - 20% of students would qualify as habitual cheaters. Perhaps half of that number or less would fall into the category you describe as incorrigible.

Question from John B. Stephens, Univ. of NC-Chapel Hill:
Are university codes of student conduct being revised to specifically address use and misuse of Internet material for research and writing projects? Are there good examples of cooperative faculty-student efforts in this area?

Donald L. McCabe:
Certainly, there's a lot of activity in this area right now. But I must admit that I cannot identify specific examples that might be helpful. May I suggest that you contact The Center for Academic Integrity at Duke. They maintain a file of exemplary academic integrity policies and I'm confident they could provide the information you seek.

Question from Rob DeKoven, California Western School of Law:
Should "plagiarism" result in the revocation of a college degree? Several cases suggest that it should. And, like the cases we see now with DNA evidence, can we go back several years to find instances of plagiarism?

Donald L. McCabe:
Generally, I don't advocate doing that, but at some schools, for example the University of Virginia, the university has clearly reserved the right to pursue such issues after a student graduates. In those cases, I don't see any problem. It would seem wise for any school that feels they would like to pursue such issues after a student has graduated to follow Virginia's lead and provide students notice of that possibility.

Question from Jeff Fager. Averett University:
Does the new technology represent a qualitative change in the nature of academic integrity or simply different methods of doing what students and professors have done for centuries?

Donald L. McCabe:
Clearly, plagarism has gone on forever. However, new electronic technologies raise several difficult points. In particular, students can plagarize assignments with greater anonimity while using the internet as opposed to getting a paper from someone else or going to the library to get materials to plagarize. At the moment, my research suggests that the primary issue is an increase in the amount of plagarism by students who are already plagarising using written sources, and that the increase in the number of new plagarizers is rather modest. However, as more internet plagarism occurs, I'm sure this will encourage other students to do the same unless faculty and school address this issue more effectively.

Question from marilyn gaull temple University:
I don't think the problem is detecting cheating so much as creating assignments that discourage cheating, in which plagiarism is not an advantage. I think it means professors creating the kinds of assignments highly structured, directed, and often collaborative with a public presentation. I would like to hear suggestions. My own: for many years I have asked students to turn in questions at the start of class based on the reading assignment. Their questions become the basis of the class and the discussion. Their research papers, on which two or more students collaborate, grow out of these discussions and begin with a recapitulation of the discussion. They are rewarded for formulation, analysis, and resourcefulness (which also encourages them to identify their sources.) Also, they are less likely to cheat if they are working together and sharing their work with all their classmates.

I am sure there are other solutions, however, besides the adversarial position that cheating creates between professos and students. I would so much like to hear some of them.

Donald L. McCabe:
I would suggest that you look at the many good sugestions offered by Barabara Gross Davis from the University of California at Berkeley. A summary of her suggestions can be found at www.uga.berkeley.edu/sled/bgd/prevent.html. In addition to some general strategies, Dr. Davis offers some specific points on both plagarism and the preparation and submission of papers.

Comment from Stanley Chodorow, Questia Media:
I am Professor Emeritus at UC San Diego and Vice President of Questia. We have nearly 40,000 volumes fully digitized in an undergraduate library, and we are now working on providing faculty with a resource for checking suspicious texts against our collection. We plan to create a collection of 250,000 volumes over the next several years. As a faculty member, I agree with Mr. McCabe that we have to be explicit about our standards when we make assignments. We also need to be explicit that "pastiche" papers, consisting of properly cited snippets from sources, do not constitute acceptable work.

Question from Linda Wells, Boston University:
I am dean of the College of General Studies, a two-year core curriculum program within Boston University. We have different penalties for plagiarism within the University. At my College, the first offense does not lead to suspension, as it does in other Colleges. How do institutions handle differing penalties--do you find it unethical to have a lack of consistency?

Donald L. McCabe:
Certainly, BU is not the only school that has different pentalties and even different procedures among different colleges. One of the dilemmas this creates is a perception by some students that they are being treated more harshly than their classmates in other colleges. This is particularly troublesome in situations where a similar offense occurs in the same course involving students from different colleges. I know of instances where one student has been suspended and the other student has received a warning for the same offense. As you can imagine, students find this difficult to understand and I must admit that I do as well. Although minor variations may be appropriate, I feel strongly that a university's academic integrity policy should be similar across all of its units.

Question from Sandy Long, UT M.D. Anderson:
Could you please provide a good, standard operational definition of plagiarism.

Donald L. McCabe:
Not off the top of my head, but I would suggest that you conslult the plagarism policy at Princeton University, which can be found online. Several people hold Princeton's policy out as one of the better policies available. You could also contact the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke, which would be happy to identify other model policies for you. Your question highlights one of the reasons students have so much difficulty with plagarism. Professors are inconsistent in their definitions of not only plagarism but of collaboration, seeking help from outside sources, etc.

Question from Patrick Scanlon, Rochester Institute of Technology:
Don, Does your most recent research tell you anything about the efficacy of honor codes in large, heterogeneous universities?

Donald L. McCabe:
Yes. My most recent research looked at the concept of modified honor codes, which seemed to be gaining favor at large universities. These modified codes do not typically involve unproctored exams or require students to report cheating they might observe, as many traditional codes do. However, they do encourage greater student involvement in the judicial process and they attempt to place a greater level of responsibility on students for academic integrity. Very good examples can be found at the University of Maryland at College Park, the University of California at Davis, and Kansas State University, among others. Each of these schools has their policies online and would be happy to discuss them with any interested parties. Although they lack some of the provisions of traditional codes, my research suggests that modified codes result in lower levels of cheating compared to campuses that have no honor code. What's really encouraging about these results is the fact that these lower levels of cheating are being acheived on campuses that are large in size, have a fairly low percentage of students living on campus, and have a large number of part-time students. These are all factors that are normally associated with higher levels of cheating.

Question from Roger Dumas, University of Minnesota:
Is there a measurable 'deterrent effect' when students are informed that their work will be submitted to a service such as turnitin.com?

Donald L. McCabe:
I must admit that I have no research evidence on this question, but would assume that it would discourage plagarism. I recently learned of a very interesting use of turnitin.com at a high school in Ohio. The school purchased the software and made it available to both students and faculty. Students know that faculty may submit their work to turnitin.com, but they have the opportunity to do so first. Clearly, the objective is to make students understand how to properly cite sources, which should be our ultimate goal.

Question from Alleyes, State U. Connecticut:
Often, the source of plagiarized papers cannot be located in a search on the Internet. In those cases, part-timers without proof but with a semester's worth of experience with a student take the risk of challenging a student without guarantee of the Chair's support. ... Do part-time faculty decide to report, or not, plagiarism, swayed by the tenuousness of their positions? ... Are part-timers more or less likely than full time faculty to find support by the adminstration should they choose to follow through and challenge a student?

Donald L. McCabe:
Although I have no direct evidence on this question, faculty surveys that I have conducted suggest that both part-time faculty and untenured faculty feel that they might not receive adequate support from their department chair in pursuing allegations of acadamic dishonesty. As a result, they often elect to either deal directly with the student, or simply let the matter go. Unfortuntely, my student surveys suggest that students can readily identify such faculty, and they report that cheating is often higher in such courses.

Question from Greg, Large Midwestern University:
Your recent research indicates the cheating attitudes and behavior starts in high school, and then often continues as the students move onto college. What recommendations might you have for those who might be interested in collaborative efforts between groups of secondary and post-secondary faculty to reduce this type of behavior?

Donald L. McCabe:
My suggestion is that they contact me at dmccabe@andromeda.rutgers.edu. One of the most fullfilling outcomes of my research at the college level has been the formation of the Center for Academic Integrity, whose membership now includes over 200 schools working together to address these critical issues. The primary motivation for my recent high school study was to try to catalyze a similar effort at the high school level. I'd love to hear from anyone who is interesting in being involved.

Question from :
Can you speak to issues concerning e-learning and how universities are treating the issue of cheating in an online courseware environment?

Donald L. McCabe:
One good example was mentioned in Jeff Young's plagarism article in the current issue of The Chronicle. Jones International University has subscribed to turnitin.com and is encouraging their faculty to use this software and has sent a message to all of its students, letting them know that their papers might be scanned for plagarism. As a vice-president at the university noted, "Virtual universities need to be even more vigilant about cheating than traditional institutions, since online professors never see students face to face."

Question from CA State University, Northridge:
All the time I hear from my colleagues about instances of online cheating. ... Will universities or departments be forced to spend exorbitant sums to install software that will catch instances of online cheating? What can be done about bringing down the costs? Dr. G. Jay Christensen Management--College of Bus. and Economics

Donald L. McCabe:
My hope is that we never reach the point where we feel the need to install the level of software you describe. I may be naive, but I still feel stongly that addressing the issue in a positive way with students may not only be more effective (as evidenced by the success of honor codes), but also has the potential to offer lasting lessons for students in terms of values and responsibility.

Jeff Young (Moderator):
That's all the time we have for today. Thanks to everyone who participated, and thanks again to our guest, Mr. McCabe.

Donald L. McCabe:
Although the time pressures involved in trying to answer questions was a little intimidating, it was a pleasure to participate. I would encourage anyone that feels we did not adequately address their question to contact me.