Analysis of 110 state and federal court decisions from 1950-89 involving medical students and undergraduate medical education found 51 percent were disputes over general issues, most concerning admissions and dismissal. Recently, readmission, course repetition, and cheating have been increasingly addressed. Medical schools have generally prevailed…

The ethics of cheating among dental students is considered, including why cheating is wrong, the commercial model of dentistry, the guild model of dentistry, and the more desirable interactive model focusing on the dentist-patient relationship. Cheating's effects on the teacher student relationship and the need to respond appropriately are…

Explores the role of observed parental affect and encouragement in children's empathy-related responding and moral behavior, specifically cheating on a puzzle activity. Finds that (1) parents' affect and encouragement positively related to children's sympathy (not empathy) and (2) boys' cheating on the puzzle correlated to parents' affect and…

Describes a classroom exercise that enables students to critically examine the myth that "deviants are different from the rest of us." Explains that students consider their involvement in academic cheating and their motivations for cheating. Discusses various sociological arguments, other teaching techniques, and an evaluation of the exercise.…

The digital revolution makes it easy for students to plagiarize. Using Internet search engines, DVD-based reference works, online journals, Web-based news sources, article databases, and other electronic sources, students can find information about nearly any topic and paste the data directly into their papers. Or students can take credit for…

Technology has provided the public with the ability to steal the contents of multiple examinations in a short time period and at minimal cost. No examination is safe from compromise, and the only variable is the extent and sophistication used to bring about the compromise or theft. With the easy availability of micro-video equipment, audio…

This report discusses findings of a study of two issues during the 1989-90 academic year at the United States Naval Academy: the removal of the Chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department, and the Superintendent's decision to give a final electrical engineering examination that might have been compromised. The study reviewed the effect of…

This paper examines the phenomenon of undergraduate cheating and reports on a survey returned by 232 students at Rutgers University (New Jersey) concerning their cheating experiences. Findings indicated 22 percent of students said they had never cheated in college, 45 percent indicated they had cheated occasionally (in "one or two"…

The issue of whether cheating and plagiarism should be categorized as an academic evaluation or disciplinary misconduct is discussed. It is claimed that if these offenses are categorized as disciplinary misconduct, students are entitled to some due process. However, if cheating and plagiarism are classified as academic evaluations, students are…

Some research has shown that women's achievements in traditionally masculine fields are devalued. To determine if females would be judged more harshly than males for performing unethical behaviors in order to gain entry in competitive professions, and to examine gender differences in the evaluation of unethical conduct, college students (52 males…

Students in a large state university were surveyed to determine their beliefs about penalty levels appropriate for persons found guilty of various acts of academic dishonesty. There were two samples: one was random, and the other consisted of students who were strongly believed to have cheated by copying answers on one or more multiple-choice…

One function of a Human Subjects Committee is to review the possible adverse effects of ethically problematic experiments. The concerns of an institutional review committee about the possible adverse effects of an ethically-problematic "cheating" study were examined with regard to the actual effects reported by the subjects. Retrospective…

Based upon the theory of moral stages devised by educational psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg, this report examines the influence of the social situation on principled moral reasoning and on cheating. Research assessed the level of moral reasoning for 152 college juniors and seniors using Rest's Defining Issues Test (1976) in which levels of low,…

A 49-item questionnaire administered to 380 students was used to study cheating on exams, quizzes, and homework assignments. More than half the students reported cheating during the academic year in at least one area. (Author/MSE)

There are several kinds of plagiarism, and its significance varies with its circumstances. College administrations seem to avoid responsibility for examining allegations of academic plagiarism, and few procedures exist for addressing them. Until standard and open procedures are established and accepted, rigid and unrealistic attitudes will prevail…