CHAPTER 4 : PROMOTING ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND DEALING WITH CHEATING

DETECTING CHEATING *

Most students get caught because they've been careless in their cheating. Here are some things to look for.

POSSIBLE SIGNS OF PLAGIARISM

• An average student hands in a sophisticated and error free paper.

• Footnotes don't mach the cited text.

• There isn't a single footnote or quotation mark.

• Paper topic isn't on something you assigned.

• Student hands in paper late or asks for an extension on the due date; is the reason valid?

• Certain passages sound familiar (e.g. they came directly from the text - don't laugh, it's happened).

• Type face on title page doesn't match type in body of paper (this has happened, too!)

• Student's paper is a photocopy but the title page is typed.

POSSIBLE SIGNS OF CHEATING

• "Ringers" can be detected by looking for unfamiliar faces at the exam.

• Student has no ID; doesn't know his/her social security number.

• Missing pages in a blue book may be a sign.

• Numerous erasures on an exam returned for re-grading (grade alterers often make a habit of this on their exams).

• Wandering eyes in an exam room; talking during exam.

• Papers and notes on floor near desk.

• Notes may be written under calculators.

• Identical incorrect answers appear repeatedly on two or more exams.

• Student leaves room during exam.

*used with permission. Navarro, J., Clark,D, and Halley, D. An Instructor's Guide to Academic Dishonesty at UCSB. Office of the Dean of Students. University of California, Santa Barbara 1989.