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A temptation to cheat
Most academic dishonesty occurs through plagiarism, but also includes cheating, fabrication, assisting and tampering
Katy Weaver
Issue date: 3/10/09 Section: News
The few sentences on every class syllabus at the beginning of the term can seem forgettable when it's 3 a.m. the night before a term paper is due. Copy and paste commands are literally clicks away. A few accidentally non-cited sources could push the word count into the professor's zone of requirement.
Plagiarism is a temptation. However, it is also something that students and professors are feeling increasingly concerned about as the internet grows and media resources change.
Last year, there was a total of 59 cases of academic dishonesty at OSU, according to the 2007-08 Student Conduct Violations which can be found online at oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/viol.htm. Academic dishonesty ranked fifth out of the 12 different types of student conduct violations, after violations of federal/state/city laws, alcohol, drugs and theft.
Academic dishonesty is defined on OSU's website by the Oregon Administrative Rules 576-015-0020.1.a-c as: "An intentional act of deception in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or effort of another person or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated information in any academic work."
Academic dishonesty therefore encompasses a variety of different actions including cheating, fabrication, assisting, tampering and plagiarism.
Out of these, plagiarism is the most common at Oregon State.
"An educated estimate would be 60 percent (if not more) of the cases we see are going to be plagiarism, so it is definitely a majority," said Ruth Sterner, a graduate assistant at the Student Conduct and Community Standards office which handles cases of student conduct violations at OSU.
Last school year, the percent of academic dishonesty cases involving plagiarism was even higher than this: 50 out of 58 cases involved plagiarism - 86 percent - according to the Student Conduct and Community Standard's databases
"I think it happens a lot in little ways, like copying a sentence word for word," said Katie Wilson, a pre-med junior in biology.
Plagiarism is a temptation. However, it is also something that students and professors are feeling increasingly concerned about as the internet grows and media resources change.
Last year, there was a total of 59 cases of academic dishonesty at OSU, according to the 2007-08 Student Conduct Violations which can be found online at oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/viol.htm. Academic dishonesty ranked fifth out of the 12 different types of student conduct violations, after violations of federal/state/city laws, alcohol, drugs and theft.
Academic dishonesty is defined on OSU's website by the Oregon Administrative Rules 576-015-0020.1.a-c as: "An intentional act of deception in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work or effort of another person or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated information in any academic work."
Academic dishonesty therefore encompasses a variety of different actions including cheating, fabrication, assisting, tampering and plagiarism.
Out of these, plagiarism is the most common at Oregon State.
"An educated estimate would be 60 percent (if not more) of the cases we see are going to be plagiarism, so it is definitely a majority," said Ruth Sterner, a graduate assistant at the Student Conduct and Community Standards office which handles cases of student conduct violations at OSU.
Last school year, the percent of academic dishonesty cases involving plagiarism was even higher than this: 50 out of 58 cases involved plagiarism - 86 percent - according to the Student Conduct and Community Standard's databases
"I think it happens a lot in little ways, like copying a sentence word for word," said Katie Wilson, a pre-med junior in biology.
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