Cheating should not be tolerated at MSU and professors should make a concerted effort to find and punish cheaters.
A recent study conducted by Rutgers University Professor Don McCabe said 72 percent of college students admitted to purchasing or using a professionally written paper. Sixty-nine percent of the college students who returned the survey admitted to having plagiarized, and 79 percent of students at large universities admitted to serious cheating.
The survey was sent to 100 sophomores, 100 juniors and 200 seniors at each of 21 colleges. The institutions surveyed included one community college, seven state universities and 13 private institutions. There was a 29 percent response rate from the students who were sent the survey.
While cheating is inevitable at a university like MSU, cheaters should be held accountable for their actions. Students understand from the beginning what the consequences of their actions are - and should be prepared to accept them if caught.
MSU’s Integrity of Scholarship and Grades All-University Policy states any student found guilty of cheating or plagiarizing may receive a 0.0 on the assignment and a 0.0 for the course. If the situation is serious enough, a dean can refer the case to the University Academic Integrity Review Board for possible disciplinary action.
The university’s policy is strict, but fair. Those who cheat should not be able to get away with taking the easy way out when many students work hard for their grades. It is only fair to the honest students that hard work is rewarded and cheating harshly punished.
The statistics in the study are alarmingly high, especially concerning the use of professionally written papers.
In examining the results of this survey, one should study the makeup of those who responded, including the institution the students are attending, what program they are in and their class level before making any assumptions. However, despite the makeup of the respondents, the high number of those making an effort to cheat by seeking out a paper to plagiarize is unsettling.
Professors have a responsibility to closely monitor the work their students submit. If a paper was easy for a student to find on the Internet, it would be just as easy for a professor to find the same paper. If a professor has any reason to suspect cheating, he should take the time to look into the situation.
Professors can also employ several techniques to help curb cheating. Using more proctors during exams and utilizing services like those at www.plagiarism.org can help to deter students from cheating and catch those who are.
Plagarism.org allows professors to submit papers they feel may have been plagiarized and the site cross-references it against other papers on the Web, giving the professor a report about what might have been plagiarized and how similar the paper is to others.
Professors have a responsibility to help curb cheating, but students have a responsibility to be academically honest - and those who choose to be dishonest should be aware of the consequences.
