Cheating Facts

After reading my earlier post on academic fraud, Peter emailed in this presentation on academic cheating. The figures are arresting, though I question how serious most of the cases are. I suspect that most of the plagiarism is failure to properly quote rather than passing off a whole paper made up of other people's work as one's own. The fact that watching the movie and writing a book report on that instead of the actual book is considered cheating by the graphic kinda confirms that it's extremely strict; I don't think that counts as cheating either, it's just a good way to get a bad grade. If the teacher can't tell you didn't read the book, then either the teacher or their assignment is at fault as much as the student. It's a bit dishonest, but I certainly don't think it should be punished beyond a bad grade.

Not surprising, though, that those with the most to lose and the highest pressure (i.e., the top grades) are the most likely to cheat. I wonder why they aren't getting caught; stuff cribbed from Wikipedia ought to be the first thing anti-plagiarism software detects.

I remember when I was taking an English Literature college class. I was astounded that most of my classmates were using Wikipedia as their primary source, something I never considered doing as I believed it was inappropriate (aside from the fact that the page could be complete bullshit at the time you read it due to bad luck, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and by the time your in high school you should be beyond depending on encyclopedias as a source for papers).

Graphic after the fold.




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