Students use the Internet to cheat much less than previously thought, according to a new study previewed in this February's edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The survey, conducted by a pair of professors at the Rochester Institute of Technology, compared the extent to which students plagiarized material from online and traditional sources while gauging their opinion on how often their peers plagiarized.
24.7 percent of students admitted they "often," "very frequently," and "sometimes" did not acknowledge Internet sources while a comparable 27.6 percent did the same with books and other printed resources.
A large percentage of students believed cheating is much more widespread than the results reported. Fifty percent of the surveyed students said their cohorts quoted from the Internet without citation "often" or "very frequently," yet only 8 percent acknowledged plagiarizing at this rate.
RIT's Patrick Scanlon, who ran the study with fellow RIT professor David Neumann, explained the discrepancy between actual and perceived plagiarism.
"There is something called the third-person effect, which means that people tend to overestimate when asked about others' undesirable behavior," Scanlon said.
Rumors also may misconstrue the true scope of the problem, such as in the perception of binge drinking at college.
Students overestimated how often their peers bought term papers online. Scanlon estimated that 90 percent of students claimed they had never taken term papers from the Internet, but 41 percent thought their peers engaged in this "sometimes."
Although the results concur with previous studies, Scanlon recognized that the accumulated data is possibly fallible because students, despite anonymity, are often reluctant to admit that they plagiarized.
Rutgers University Professor Don McCabe, an expert in academic plagiarism, pointed out that "students at honor-code schools are less likely to admit to cheating."
To combat Internet plagiarism, companies like turnitin.com have developed software that purportedly detects online plagiarism. McCabe, though, has qualms with professors overusing these resources.
"Certainly I have no problem with people using it on an individual basis, but taking every student's paper and running it through turnitin.com concerns me" McCabe said. "Professors should not have to police."
Dean of the College James Larimore, who chairs the Committee on Standards, said he has not noticed a burdensome amount of Internet plagiarism cases at Dartmouth, but he said that the administration will adjust to possible increases in the future.
"At its best, the honor principle is a living ethic that does require ongoing attention and discussion. Online material is just the latest development in the history of the academy that we will have to adapt to," Larimore said.
Almost two years ago, visiting computer science professor Rex Dwyer accused 73 Dartmouth students of violating the academic honor principle by inappropriately using information found online in their homework. The COS dismissed the charges.
The study was conducted at four major public universities, three private universities, one community college and one American school in the Middle East. Scanlon said that the schools were chosen for convenience, and professors familiar with him and Neumann administered the surveys.
Although the study is groundbreaking in its specialized field, Scanlon is hoping to pursue this subject further with subsequent studies. Some prospective projects include interviewing more students on a face-to-face basis and investigating the effect of websites that sell term papers.
The full study will appear in the May/June edition of the Journal of College Student Development.
