How are some of them discovered, and then how are they dealt with? Many professors say an easy was to spot unoriginal material is if it is much better that the rest of the paper’s content. A less frequent occurrence is immediately recognizing the work as something you’ve read before (one English professor once had a student who passed in a copy of a famous short story and tried to pass it off as his own). Professors may also sometimes consult source material for the topic if they are suspicious. In some instances they will find the source vandalized by a plagiarizer, copied sections removed from the book or underlined, other sections crossed out. However, it is very time consuming work to track down the source of possibly stolen passages, and professors often avoid this unless they have strong grounds for suspicion. In the end, though, professors as a whole say that a minuscule percentage of _ students deliberately plagiarize, and then punishment may sometimes depend on the mercy of the professor. Some professors simply refuse to give credit for copied works, and/or ask for a substitute paper to be written. If a student is taken to University authorities, he or she might be let off with a warning for the first offence. Repeat offenders could be expelled. Most cases are noted and kept on a record of the student, but this evidence is destroyed when the student leaves university. Punishment can be very stiff, although some professors are willing to be merciful.

After speaking with a number of professors from various departments, I compiled a list

of suggestions that professors had for their colleagues to prevent plagiarism and other forms of cheating form occurring. First, professors should encourage individual thought in their students, and educate them in what plagiarism is and how it is wrong. Professors should also change the topics they use for essays and papers each semester, so that students cannot turn in "recycled essays" done on the same topic by an earlier student. Professors should try to be familiar with the common _ source materials for the essay topics they use, so that they can recognize copying of it. There are various safeguards to prevent cheating in tests as well. Professors should specially mark the set of exam booklets they use for a particular test or exam. Otherwise, as has been suggested by some professors and students, students might acquire an exam booklet before hand and write out answers within, taking the completed booklet into class and passing it in as their exam at the end of class. This can be prevented by specially marking the booklets used for each test. Also, exam booklets should not be left lying around where students might obtain them to use later. Make-up exams should be supervised. Some students deliberately miss an exam in hopes of taking an unsupervised make-up test. In test rooms, books should be kept away from students’ desks, and students should remove outerwear which might conceal materials. More monitors should be available to supervise exams as well.

These suggestions are reasonable safeguards against dishonesty; professors want to trust

The UPEI X-Press

November 15, 1990

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