Using self-reported academic cheating from the classes of 1959 through 2002 at the three major United States military service academies (Air Force, Army, and Navy), we measure how peer cheating influences individual cheating behavior. We find higher levels of peer cheating result in a substantially increased probability that an individual will…

Plagiarism, like other ethical problems, flourishes in atmospheres with few consequences. The finding by one survey that only 27% of college students thought cutting and pasting someone else's work was "serious cheating" is troubling evidence of student inclination to cut corners ethically. Papers are easily copied from the Internet, and adult…

This paper presents analysis of qualitative data from a research project looking at staff perceptions of plagiarism at a post-1992 university. Twenty-six members of staff from departments and academic schools from across the university took part in open and semi-structured interviews. Analysis shows that variable definitions of plagiarism exist;…

In 2004 South Africa embarked on a mission of reforming its higher education system, merging and incorporating small universities into larger institutions, and renaming all higher education institutions university. The democratic country's universities and technikons, which were incorporated with others and thus no longer exist, will be mentioned…

Published papers on the area of online assessment have mainly focused on instructors' assessment of online discussion forums or computer-assisted testing in a highly structured environment with a narrow focus on multiple choice or true-false types of questions. With the exponential growth of online courses and many educational institutions looking…

The ways in which universities and individual academics attempt to deter and respond to student plagiarism may be based on untested assumptions about particular or primary reasons for this behaviour. Using a series of group interviews, this qualitative study gathered the views of 56 Australian university students on the possible reasons for…

Graduate and professional school students face a variety of academic integrity issues and are sometimes academically dishonest. The author surveys the literature of the last decade on graduate student academic integrity, including plagiarism, cheating, falsification, and authorship conflicts, focusing on empirical studies in multiple disciplines,…

Reports of gross misconduct like plagiarism and the falsification and fabrication of data in the hallowed halls of academe and research laboratories are becoming increasingly common in the US. Researchers suggest that the higher education institutions need to become more involved than they have been on educating graduate students about ethical…

The production and operations management class offered at California State University, Fresno underwent a transformation from being a four-unit, face-to-face course to a hybrid course. This hybrid course, which is required for all students in the Craig School of Business, includes two units of face-to-face instruction each week, with some coverage…

To better understand the dynamics of online student test taking, including the likelihood of cheating by large numbers of students, we examined test-taking patterns and outcomes of weekly online quizzes in two large undergraduate biology lecture courses. Students taking a quiz late in a 1-3-day quiz access period performed 10-15% worse on quizzes…

Based upon a pilot study of the leading online plagiarism detection service, this article examines the views of faculty and students as the main stakeholders in the controversy over online plagiarism detection. Rather than give advice outside of a specific institutional context, this study offers an understanding of the reasoning that informs the…

The author's PhD training and 25 years of teaching experience did not prepare her for dealing with widespread cheating. Is it better to confront cheaters personally, or just fix the evaluation system and move on? How can the process of failing cheaters be handled in a way that is fair to all? Finally, can a potentially disastrous cheating incident…

In recent years there has been a marked change in our cultural relationship with information which has implications for our teaching and learning practices. Current concerns about the identification of, and responses to, plagiarism are grounded in that process of change. In this paper we take the position that it is better to address and respond…

A substantial body of literature considers excessive corruption an indicator of a weak state. However, in nondemocratic societies, corruption--whether informally approved, imposed, or regulated by public authorities--is often an indicator of a vertical power rather than an indicator of a weak state. This article explores the interrelations between…

Although the exponential growth of the Internet has made it easier than ever to carry out plagiarism, it has also made it much easier to detect. This paper gives an overview of the many different methods of detecting web-based plagiarism which are currently available, assessing practical matters such as cost, functionality and performance.…