Fostering Academic Integrity
Jean Johnson, Ph.D
Governors State University
The Center for Academic Integrity (CAI) defines academic integrity as a commitment, even in the face of
adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility.
You can see these terms mirrored in many colleges’ academic honesty statements or codes.
Academic dishonesty, according to Wikipedia, is any type of cheating that occurs in relation to a
formal academic exercise. It can include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Plagiarism: The adoption or reproduction of ideas or words or statements of another person without due acknowledgment.
Fabrication: The falsification of data, information, or citations in any formal academic exercise.
Deception: Providing false information to an instructor concerning a formal academic exercise—e.g., giving a false excuse
for missing a deadline or falsely claiming to have submitted work.
Cheating: Any attempt to give or obtain assistance in a formal academic exercise (like an examination) without due
acknowledgment.
Sabotage: Acting to prevent others from completing their work. This includes cutting pages out of library books or willfully
disrupting the experiments of others.
Professorial misconduct: Professorial acts that are academically fraudulent equate to academic fraud.
The two most common forms of academic dishonesty are cheating and plagiarism. Gregory Cizek (1999)
author of the comprehensive book Cheating on Tests: How to Do It, Detect It, and Prevent It summarized
the body of research this way:
"Nearly every research report on cheating -- whether the data were obtained by a carefully designed study, a survey of selfreported behavior, an RRT (randomized response technique) approach, or questionnaire regarding perceptions of cheating on
the part of another -- has concluded that cheating is rampant."
Add to the dilemma? Recent trends in cheating:
• Technology
• Merchandising
• Narcissism/Philosophy
• Expediency/High Stakes
Technology
According to Clabaugh and Rozycki (2003), advances in technology makes cheating a great deal easier.
Students use web-based cheat sites to plagiarize with ease. They use powerful calculators and technical trickery
to secretly store equations they will need on tests. They ask to be excused to go to the lavatory; then use their
cell phone to get outside help. They get answers from a test file or someone who took the test earlier in the day.
They also text answers to one another using their cell phones.
Merchandising
Today there are web sites specifically intended to aid academic cheaters and how-to cheat books are routinely
sold over the web. Michael Moorer's Cheating 101: The Benefits and Fundamentals of an Easy A is one of the
most successful. There are hundreds of "paper mills" on the internet offering thousands of different papers on
hundreds of topics. Cheaters can search through databases of previously written papers for one that suits their
need, download the paper, add their name and print it out. Some of these papers are free while others charge a
fee. For still more money, some hire papers custom written for them by experts; some who boast of Ph.D.s.
Examples of Cheating Sites for Students:
•
•
•
http://www.blurofinsanity.com/cheatingpage.html
http://www.cheathouse.com/
http://www.rajuabju.com/literature/how_to_cheat.htm
Narcissism/Philosophy
In one survey, 30 percent of the respondents explained dishonest (cheating) behavior by saying, "Everybody
does it” (Rittman, 1996). Students do not always characterize certain academic behaviors as dishonest or
cheating (McCabe & Pavela, 2005; Wajda-Johnston, Handal, Brawer, & Fabricatore, 2001). A student with
high self-esteem is likely to see their ability and performance as higher than a student with low self-esteem.
It would seem that the student with higher self-esteem would be less likely to cheat. However, because of
their need for social approval, the student with high self-esteem is actually more likely to cheat (Jacobson,
Berger, & Millham, 1970). Twenge and Campbell (2009) take the position that narcissism is on the rise and
has taken over almost every part of our lives. Narcissism is a very positive and inflated view of the self. It
has been related to dishonesty and sociopathic tendencies.
Expediency/High Stakes
Situational factors such as working, going to classes, and trying to raise a family all at the same time may
definitely play into whether a person decides to engage in acts such as downloading term papers off the
internet in order to meet a deadline. A person may feel justified doing whatever it takes to get things done
by a deadline. “High grades needed for jobs or graduate school" and the increasingly competitive higher
education market. Some employers will not reimburse tuition if certain grades are not made. Financial aid
is increasingly tied to gpa.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism, as defined in the 1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, is the "use or close
imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own
original work.“
I recently had a student tell me (in a HIGHLY offended tone!):
“Dr. Johnson, I did not copy and paste those sentences directly into my paper! I retyped
every single one of them, so, I did not plagiarize!!!”
Plagiarism in higher education is widespread and increasing. Over 70 percent of professors deal with at
least one plagiarism case per year. Research conducted at Governors State resulted in some interesting
findings (Johnson & Waller, 2007):
o Traditional (aged 18-25) students were significantly more likely to exhibit plagiaristic behavior.
o Graduate students were less likely as were students with children; reversing our preliminary
hypothesis that non-traditional students, viewed as more likely to face multiple and competing
demands, would be more likely to plagiarize.
o Students indicating high grades were more likely to know someone who had plagiarized.
o 86% claimed no knowledge of someone they knew plagiarizing and admitted to only very small
amounts of plagiaristic behaviors, while 94% of the same believed it was occurring often. In other
words, they did not think they nor their friends were dishonest:
o just everyone else……..
How to Avoid Plagiarism
Online modules by Rutgers are very good (for both faculty and students).
http://library.camden.rutgers.edu/EducationalModule/Plagiarism/
I know of one professor who has students complete these modules for part of their grade.
Deterring, Detecting and Tracing Plagiarism
Deterrence:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Inform students what plagiarism is (talk about and put it in your syllabus).
Remind them that work for one class cannot be used in another without permission of both instructors.
Show them you know the “cheat sites.”
Be wary of granting extensions (one waits for their friend’s grade)
Meet with students (see the drafts).
Make your expectations clear.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Get an in-class writing sample early in the term.
Make papers iterative! (multiple drafts you see in process)
Limit topics (avoid broad ones or combine two) and give less choices on them.
Change topics each term.
Require a personal component/reflection.
Require copies of citations.
Enforce electronic submissions.
Use plagiarism detection software and know the “signs.”
Detecting Plagiarism
•
•
•
Sometimes you have to play detective.
Plagiarism detection software only gets you so far.
Know the signs:
• Too good to be true usually is.
• Write like they talk?
• Match with in-class?
• Click on the ¶ button in Word….look for  and , font changes, and format misses.
Software only detects what it “knows”
If it is not in the database….no “hit”
Use a two pronged approach:
1. software first
2. search engine second (Google, Dogpile, etc.,)
Use copy/paste to put suspicious phrases into advanced search…”exact wording or phrase”
The most popular and well known program is called Turnitin. (www.turnitin.com)
In addition to detecting unoriginal work, it is helpful in enhancing the writing and research skills
of students as well as serving as a major deterrent to plagiarism.
BE CAREFUL THOUGH!
Recent court decisions regarding intellectual property and copyright issues.
You have to warn.
Put this statement on your syllabi to protect yourself (it also acts as a BIG deterrent):
Any and all assignments for this course may be subject to
plagiarism detection software.
Good idea? Use Turnitin yourself….
AND
•
•
•
Have the students use it to review their own papers.
Set up student accounts.
Require them to submit draft and use the report to fix unintentional plagiarism.
Some Additional Resources to Decrease Academic Dishonesty
•
•
•
•
•
University of Idaho:
• http://www.uidaho.edu/DOS/academicintegrity/Faculty%20Resources/strategies
Ethics and Distance Education: Strategies for Minimizing Academic Dishonesty in Online Assessment (Paper)
• http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall53/olt53.html
UCLA Good page:
• http://www.oid.ucla.edu/publications/teachersguide/policies/dishonesty/dishonest
UBC Page:
• http://vpacademic.ubc.ca/integrity/reducing-plagiarism/
Academic Dishonesty in Online Courses
• http://www.ascue.org/files/proceedings/2011/072-078.pdf
More Ideas? Want the PPT? I will try to write these down (or send them to me and I will add them to the
handout/PPT and send to you!)
jjohnson@govst.edu