Academic Honesty

According to one recent study, sixty-eight percent of students surveyed at schools without honor codes acknowledged serious cheating at least once during their college career. This appears to represent a substantial increase over the 39 per cent of students who admitted cheating when William J. Bowers surveyed nine large public university campuses in 1963.

Academic dishonesty is not a victimless crime. It undermines an atmosphere of trust between students and faculty and harms those students who play by the rules.

Why do students cheat? When asked, many students blame the pressure that they are under to succeed. Parental expectations, competition to get into graduate or professional school, even the need to maintain eligibility for financial aid contribute to academic dishonesty. Opportunity also plays a role. The Internet makes plagiarism as easy as cutting and pasting, and crowded classrooms give students a chance to peek at their classmates' tests.

Poor time management leads some students to cheat out of a sense of panic. Also, many students (50 percent, according to one recent study) feel that there is nothing wrong with cheating, and believe, correctly, that they're unlikely to get caught.

But context and faculty behavior also matter. Students who are in large classes or who have less faculty contact are more likely to cheat. Students who do not have a clear understanding of an instructor's expectations are also more likely to engage in academic dishonesty.

What can you do to reduce academic dishonesty?

1. Discuss the various forms of academic dishonesty in class

Make sure that your students understand that all of the following are examples of academic dishonesty:

• Using a crib sheet during an exam.
• Copying during an examination.
• Submitting the same work in different classes, without acknowledgment.
• Making up sources.
• Using another's ideas or words without proper attribution.
  

2. Reduce opportunities for cheating.

It is much easier to prevent cheating than it is to pursue a case of academic dishonesty after it has taken place.

To prevent cheating on tests: Do not use the same exam in successive semesters; closely proctor your own tests; have more than one form of a test; and give essay rather than multiple choice tests.

To prevent plagiarism: Require a bibliography and outline before the final paper is due; and use an anti-plagiarism tool like turnitin.com

3. Minimize student anxiety.

Carefully describe the format of a test and the material that will be covered.
Make students feel that they can succeed in your class without cheating.



On the prevalence of academic dishonesty, see: Donald L. McCabe, "Academic Integrity: How Widespread are Cheating and Plagiarism?," in Restorative Justice on the College Campus: Promoting Student Growth, and Responsibility, and Reawakening the Spirit of Campus Community (2004) D.R. Karp & T. Allena (eds), Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, IL, 130-141 (with L.K. Trevino and K.D. Butterfield);.Kathy Slobogin, "Survey: Many students say cheating's OK," CNN, April 5, 2002, http://archives.cnn.com/2002/fyi/teachers.ednews/04/05/highschool.cheating/