Cyberplagiarism | The Educational Technology Center

Cyberplagiarism

The problem of cyber-plagiarism has grown as students' access to online source material has increased. "38% of college students admitted to cut-and-paste Internet plagiarism in the previous year," according to Donald McCabe, Rutgers University/Center for Academic Integrity Study, August 2003. Occurrences are higher if all sources of plagiarism, such as the submission of peer work, are considered.

Northeastern Policy

At Northeastern, many faculty members include statements concerning plagiarism on their syllabi. In some departments, such statements are required. When students do plagiarize, faculty may choose a variety of responses including confronting the student or giving a failing grade on the plagiarized assignment. Faculty can also choose to bring a charge of academic dishonesty against a student by filing a complaint with the OSCCR. According to the Student Handbook, if a student is found responsible for a violation, a minimum sanction of deferred suspension will follow for the first violation, and expulsion from the university for a second.

The Academic Honesty and Integrity Policy is included in the Student Handbook and can be found at: http://www.northeastern.edu/osccr/academichonesty.html

Common Sources

It is quick and convenient for students to locate articles on virtually any topic on the Internet. Common sources include search engines and online resources such as:

  • Google
  • AskJeeves
  • Encyclopedia.com
  • Online journals
  • Usenet groups
  • Listservs

Paper Mills are also popular resources. These are sites on which students can find, or order, a paper on any topic, at any level and of any quality. The number of paper mills has expanded in the past several years. There were 35 such sites in March 1999, by September 2003 this number grew to over 250 general sites, and approximately 50 subject specific sites. Some paper mills offer papers for free, some charge fees. Kimbel Library at Coastal Carolina University maintains a list of current paper mills.

In order to masquerade as a "research resource", the paper mill site might include a disclaimer: "Research material on this site is not to be copied or submitted as-is in any form, in part or in full. Users should give attribute to the papers they use." Papers4Less

Plagiarism Prevention

A number of suggestions have been proposed to discourage plagiarism. These include:

Further information about cyber-plagiarism is available at: http://www.web-miner.com/plagiarism

Blackboard and Turnitin

Northeastern's Blackboard system integrates Turnitin's plagiarism detection software to allow an instructor to add an assignment for which the students' submissions will be automatically checked for plagiarism.

Northeastern's "Blackboard Tips" website provides step-by-step instructions for creating a Turnitin assignment in your Blackboard course. A video tutorial is also available from the Turnitin website.