Technology both makes it easier to plagiarize and easier to detect plagiarism. 

And both plagiarism and cheating are increasingly commonplace and seen by many students as a necessity to stay competitive with active cheaters. That’s right. In other words, by this logic, one has to cheat, even if one doesn’t want to, in order to be on an equal playing field with enthusiastic cheaters.

I took an off-the-record poll in a face-to-face class a few years ago. More than half the students in a larger intro class admitted to cheating and plagiarism. When I ask for the rationale the most vocal supporter of a relativist approach to academic dishonesty was studying to be a Lutheran minister.  

Online courses raise disproportionate fears of plagiarism and cheating because there is no way to directly supervise students taking tests and quizzes. For the latter there is a draconian technology that co-ops web cameras to video students taking tests which is then analyzed by algorithms scanning for possible cheating behaviors such as eyes looking away from a computer screen or a possible accomplice outside of camera range. Welcome Big Brother. Then there are easier, less invasive and more humane approaches such as timed open book quiz designs.

Lest we think face-to-face classes are immune, YouTube has many, many self-help instructional videos on ways to cheat in the physical classroom.

Plagiarism raises equity and equality issues. People willing to write custom papers connect with customers on sharing economy sites. It’s sort of like Uber for cheaters. Custom papers from these sites can be written to specifications- such as a B level paper that would be unlikely to raise a professor’s suspicions. Those papers are one-of-a-kind and would be difficult to catch in any type of class and would be undetectable by anti-plagiarism software. And the option is only available to students with money. Students without resources are left with cut and paste as an option, and the unavoidable telltale shifts in writing style, and are thus more vulnerable to detection and punishment.

Although unequal risk and punishment is a reality, it’s also a reality that academic dishonesty cuts deeply against the fairness and merit system that is at the core of the academy.

There are also a number of apps that claim to help students avoid unintentional plagiarism by pre-screening papers before turning in. This is a boon to students who use a mosaic approach to plagiarism. They change enough wording to avoid detection by plagiarism screening programs. They run it through the program multiple times, changing words each time, until the detected match level is low.

What are answers?

Most colleges and universities have plagiarism detection software.

I’ve started enabling Turnitin detection software on almost all assignments. With Canvas it only functions with formal assignments, not discussions. For discussions, I create a separate assignment page, enable Turnitin, and then have students post their initial longer discussion post.  I split the grade, 50 points, for the Turnitin submission, and up to 50 points for the actual content. 

What about equality and equity issues? I recently discovered a new option at our university. Instructors can require mandatory academic honesty mentoring for students at the CU Denver Writing Center. This can treat plagiarism as a teachable moment and better prepare students who lack confidence for future academic success. The filing of formal charges, and a meeting between the instructor, student and chair, must still take place. It’s an arduous process, but knowing that there is a non-punishing alternative to me seems more productive. Instructors have the discretion to leave the charges on the student’s record or withdraw the charges once successful mentoring at the Writing Center is completed.  The mentoring can involve rewrites. How much of a grade penalty to assess on the papers after the mentoring is also up to the discretion of the instructor and the chair.

Of course, this will only apply to students who have access to campus and not the distance students who can take online courses.  However, in those cases instructors still have some discretion in terms of requiring rewrites, docking an assignment grade, requiring students to demonstrate that they understand the seriousness of the offense etc. In addition, Turnitin can proactively discourage many students from plagiarism.