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DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

How Academic Dishonesty Can Rock Your World

By Sherrie Nist-Olejnik

Ever copy your friend’s math homework? Ever sneak a peak at your neighbor’s answer sheet during a test? Ever cut and paste a paragraph from Wikipedia right into your English paper?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, you, my friend, have cheated, plagiarized, or, as it’s called on most college campuses today, engaged in academic dishonesty. And you are not alone. The majority of high school students entering college today readily admit the dirty little secret that they have had “help” above and beyond what is legal.

The problem is so pervasive that most colleges and universities have adopted academic honesty codes that all students sign before they set foot into their first college class. Some of these codes are very rigid—one offense and you’re out of school. Others are a bit more lenient, failing an assignment or putting a note of an academic honesty violation on your record and then removing it when you graduate—that is, provided you stay clean for the rest of your time in school.

Officials who oversee academic honesty programs consistently say that academic dishonesty is on the rise, even in colleges and even with more stringent consequences for cheating. But they also state that although students sign academic honesty pledges, many really don’t read it nor do they know what academic dishonesty actually entails. So let’s set the record straight: academic dishonesty is considerably more complicated than copying your pal’s math homework.

There are four major types of academic dishonesty. First, and most obvious, is copying something directly from a source, whether it is a friend or a Web site, and calling it your own work. Second, and probably the type that most students don’t recognize as plagiarism, is rephrasing information from the sources and not properly citing it in a paper or project. The third major category is having someone do your work for you, as in getting too much assistance in writing a paper or completing a research project. Fourth, and finally, is letting someone copy work you have done.

I’m sure you know this already, but here’s a gentle reminder: professors aren’t stupid. They know that there is always the temptation for students to engage in some form of academic dishonesty, especially when they are under pressure. Any good professor knows how to find out if what you’ve written is your own. Some campuses even purchase software packages for faculty to use to check for plagiarism—all the prof has to do is type in the first few words or key phrases in the paper and they’ll get a list of “matches.” Even if profs don’t have access to this software, going to Google or other search engines and typing in the first few words will yield the same results. It takes, oh, about 30 seconds, which can change your world.

Although most students would recognize the above example as blatant plagiarism, there are other times when it’s not so clear, and probably more students get in trouble for cheating when they didn’t even realize they were doing anything wrong. Take Cal for example. In his political science course, he was to research an issue, write a position paper on it and present his argument to the class. Cal went on the Web and easily found a couple of essays and editorials that were right on target with what he was arguing. He figured that since he thought about the issue the same as these experts that it was fine to present their arguments. After all, great minds think alike and all that jazz.

When he presented his paper in class, his professor thought that much of what Cal said sounded familiar. Surely Cal would give credit to these sources in his written paper. But he didn’t. He took the experts ideas and passed them off as his own. When Cal’s professor called him to his office and told him that he was in violation of the academic honesty policy, Cal was dumbfounded. “But those are my ideas, too,” he pleaded to his professor.

What can you do to avoid getting in Cal’s situation? Here are eight situations that you need to ponder.

1. If your school makes everyone sign an academic honesty pledge, be an informed consumer. Read it carefully. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

2. Always cite properly (I): Never lift something directly from a source and call it your own.

3. Always cite properly (II): Always cite your source, even when paraphrasing information. Paraphrasing information and passing it off as your own is the most common form of plagiarism.

4 . Always do your own work (I): Never buy a paper from the Web or submit something as your own that someone else has written.

5. Always do your own work (II): Never copy someone’s homework, even if it’s only worth a fraction of your grade. Too many students blow off their own homework, thinking the professor will never know they copied, and besides, they rationalize that it’s only worth a small portion of the course grade.

6. Always do your own work (III): Never let someone give you more help on an assignment than you are permitted to have, even if they offer in good faith. The flip side of this is also true. Never let anyone copy your work. If you give someone your work to copy, you too are guilty of academic dishonesty.

7. Always do your own work (IV): Never get help on a take-home exam unless your professor explicitly states that you can.

8. And never, ever lie to your professor.

I’ll close by ending with an urban legend of sorts that has been talked about on campuses across the nation. It goes something like this:

Two good friends were on spring break in Florida and having a blast. They were having such a good time that they wanted to stay an extra day even though they knew they had a history test the first day back from break. They decided to concoct a story about getting a flat tire on the way home and having trouble finding someone to fix it. They just had to stay an extra day.

When they got back into town the day after the test, they went to see their professor and told them their sad tale. He listened sympathetically and then told them they could come back later that afternoon and make up the test. They did as instructed and arrived at his office right on time. He handed them each a test booklet, put them in separate rooms to take the test and wished them well. When they opened the test booklet, they found one question: “Which tire?”

If you think about committing academic dishonesty in any form, think twice, and remember this urban legend. It could save you lots of trouble down the line.

Good luck!

Sherrie Nist-Olejnik is a professor emerita at the University of Georgia and the co-author of College Rules! How to Study, Survive and Succeed in College published by Ten Speed Press. The second edition of College Rules! will be released this spring.