Just caught half of one of my classes plagiarizing...

[11Q13]

...and not the innocent kind, the copying and pasting a whole assignment from the Internet kind. I've reported them all to the provost, and because most of the students that did this already had bad grades, they're going to flunk.

 

...I didn't do anything wrong, and I feel awful. Anyone else have any experience like this?

[fuzzylogician]

I do, unfortunately. But the nature of the situation and the attempts at lies and deception that followed my discovery of the cheating quickly took away any bad feelings I initially had. You have done nothing wrong -- they have. You should not feel bad about taking action. You're not being unfair to these students. Rather, you are being fair to the rest of the class who actually spent the time doing the assignment and being honest. Remember this when the proceedings wear you out (there will probably be a long process of fact finding and appeals following you report), and also make sure you have support from the instructor in charge or your advisor, just in case. You did the right thing by reporting these students.

[TakeruK]

I agree that you did the right thing. Sometimes, when cases like this happen, the plagiarizers try to justify their actions by claiming that everyone else is doing it too. The best way to deter plagiarism, I think, is to educate students on what is appropriate and by following through with all violations and make it not worth the risk!

[ProfessorChaos]

So not to detract from the experience you're going through, but please tell me you caught your students plagerizing in some kind of religion course

[Andean Pat]

I work as a teacher in several High schools and have had this situations. I even had the misfortune of reporting to the head and being asked: "what bothers you? This person was resourceful enough not to stick to the book and went to look information on line". Yeah, but she copied something it was hers! 

 

Anyway, my rules are clear to students and at university level rules are stricter because expectations are higher. They've made a decision and should cope with the consequences. Otherwise, they should stay on mummy's lap. Be firm on your position and, as said by others, be sure the professor supports you. 

 

well done!

[midnight]

So not to detract from the experience you're going through, but please tell me you caught your students plagerizing in some kind of religion course

 

Yes, especially a course like Religious Ethics or Moral Leadership. Oh, the irony!

 

11Q13, you shouldn't make yourself feel awful for having to turn them in--disappointed, angry, or frustrated, perhaps, but not awful. They learned a hard lesson, but by the time a student reaches college, she should very well know that plagiarism and cheating are completely unacceptable and cause for punishment or even expulsion.

[TakeruK]

Yes, especially a course like Religious Ethics or Moral Leadership. Oh, the irony!

 

Or for example, that "Intro to Congress" course at Harvard! http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/280721-harvard-students-withdraw-after-cheating-in-intro-to-congress-course

 

11Q13, you shouldn't make yourself feel awful for having to turn them in--disappointed, angry, or frustrated, perhaps, but not awful. They learned a hard lesson, but by the time a student reaches college, she should very well know that plagiarism and cheating are completely unacceptable and cause for punishment or even expulsion.

 

It's also important to point out that science / research / academia in general relies on the public and private funding. These funds are provided with the expectation that we conduct our research honestly. Although cheating in a course is removed from, for example, completely making up data in a paper, they are both cases of academic dishonesty. I don't want to be using a "slippery slope" argument, but when there are stories in the news of researchers resigning an retracting papers due to academic dishonesty, and stories about massive cheating in courses (e.g. above), I think it hurts the credibility of the people doing honest work. So don't feel bad about reporting them and doing the right thing!

[ak48]

Direct copy-pasting large chunks of internet material should be punished on grounds of stupidity and inability to think creatively.

[Guest |||]

You did as was your job, and on top of that, you did the right thing.

[ThousandsHardships]

I had an instructor for an undergraduate accounting course who explicitly put "no cheating" on his syllabus because he claimed that one of his former students did some major cheating and then used the "you never told us not to" excuse to get out of it...successfully. So yeah, make the rules clearer in the future, and use this semester's experience as an example to scare your students into behaving.

Edited March 22, 2013 by ThousandsHardships

[jmu]

I had an instructor for an undergraduate accounting course who explicitly put "no cheating" on his syllabus because he claimed that one of his former students did some major cheating and then used the "you never told us not to" excuse to get out of it...successfully. So yeah, make the rules clearer in the future, and use this semester's experience as an example to scare your students into behaving.

 

Every syllabus I've seen, from multiple colleges and universities, has had an academic honesty clause.

[Guest |||]

Every syllabus I've seen, from multiple colleges and universities, has had an academic honesty clause.

 

I'd wager that when joining the university or such, there is a clause somewhere about academic honesty.

 

 

Similarly just because its not in the syllabus doesn't mean its permissible.  You don't show up to class and start dancing at the front, nor do you interpret "cheating" as having an affair during the class, etc etc. 

[midnight]

Similarly just because its not in the syllabus doesn't mean its permissible.  You don't show up to class and start dancing at the front, nor do you interpret "cheating" as having an affair during the class, etc etc. 

 

Actual lols.

[RxPhD]

Don't feel bad about it. As long as the department has your back, it's all good

[Cookie]

Plagiarism is a freaking plague.  I'm glad you did the right thing, dood.

[imonedaful]

Something similar to this happened at a college where I was an administrator. What the school decided to do was fail all the students who were plagiarizing and they lost their sponsorships. Therefore, they had to pay, financially, to stay in the program. You should not feel awful; it is not your fault.    

[TeaGirl]

Had that on an assignment a few weeks ago for a class of 80 students. It seemed like 5 people did the assignment and almost everyone else copied one of the 5 versions. That was a fun and easy one to grade: zeroes all around.

 

I used to feel guilty about it, but I really don't anymore. I have seen that for most students, once they've been burned they really do learn not to cheat in the future.

[artimacia]

I had a similar situation. I was proctoring for a very large lecture and noticed one guy kept glancing around, looked very nervous. I noticed he'd barely written on his exam, but kept looking at people around him. I had another proctor watch him for awhile to see if he felt the same, and he came back and said that it was very suspicious and he ended up telling the professor. Not sure what happened to him, but ever since then, the professor always goes over his no cheating policy before every quiz and exam. What I didn't know was that some students were turning in exams under other peoples' names. We always have to check ID's now just to allow them to turn in exams. You did the right thing, they knew what could happen if they cheated and they did it anyway. In the end, they're ultimately hurting themselves by not doing the work themselves, and they'll eventually figure this out when they start regular jobs and can't get by.

[Quigley]

I think I would feel even more guilty if I let the cheaters get away with it.  

[MsDarjeeling]

Direct copy-pasting large chunks of internet material should be punished on grounds of stupidity and inability to think creatively.

 

LMAO that's exactly what I was thinking, seriously how stupid are these kids?  While not a cheater, I've always understood that the first rule is don't get caught.

 

Regardless, OP I think you did the right thing and whatever happens to these students is completely deserved.  They made the choice to cheat knowing the possible consequences and now they have to live with that.

[MikKar]

Absolutely, they took their chance, they got caught. If they start whining then by all means go to the bitter end and pursue it until they are duly punished. There's nothing wrong with reporting them like you did.

 

Unfortunately, it's also in human nature to be tempted to take short-cuts when you see them, so students attempting to cheat is something that we cannot change overnight. Just try to teach children from a young age not to cheat and make them realize that the shorter way is not necessarily the easier way, and hope it sticks.

[danieleWrites]

I've felt exactly the way you do. I've caught at least one plagiarizer every semester. My first one was horrible. I felt so bad for the student because he had a sobby backstory and I wanted so badly to help him. I had my department behind me, which helped a lot, and the TA Wrangler was (and still is) a great guy who has time to listen to snot-filled whines and never-ending why?!

 

This is a simple perspective to look at plagiarism with: each cheater devalues the degrees of every person at the school. Google the Piper High School cheating scandal. I was an undergrad at K-State when that news broke. The Powers That Be at K-State took it upon themselves to draft a letter to incoming Piper High graduates about ethics. The sad part? The cheaters were sophomores, not seniors, and the seniors were paying the consequences for the actions of what amounted to 13 people and their parents. South Korea just had every SAT exam canceled due to rampant cheating. Colleges have paid attention.

 

I teach comp and lit, and I begin every class with a plagiarism lecture. Most people who do cheating think it doesn't hurt anyone, especially in a gen ed class, and they get a little pressure taken off. I show them the Piper High fall out, which includes a woman that had graduated in the 90s who didn't get a job because her diploma was from Piper, and then ask them to think about how they would feel if people looked at their college degree and thought that it had less value, or that they were cheaters because a few others in the university had made headlines as cheaters. When I was an MA student, that included my degree.