How Much Cheating is Going On?
- "Cheating is Rampant at Canadian Colleges," by Karen Birchard, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 13, 2006, reports that "more than half of the undergraduates and 35 percent of the graduate students surveyed admitted to some form of cheating on written course work, such as failing to footnote, turning in someone else's work, or falsifying a bibliography." More information about the study, conducted by Julia Christensen Hughes of the University of Guelph and Donald McCabe of Rutgers University is in a news article by Rachelle Cooper, on the University of Guelph website, which adds the finding "[s]eventy-three per cent of university students reported instances of serious cheating on written work while in high school." The full report will be in Canadian Journal of Higher Education.
- Research from the Center for Academic Integrity, formerly at Duke University and now at Clemson University, include research and surveys on student cheating, conducted by Donald McCabe (Rutgers). (Findings from a study of high schoolers: 15% said they have submitted a paper from a term paper mill or website; 52% copied a few sentences. 90% of the Internet plagiarizers also plagiarized from written sources.) The Center's site also includes educational resources, links to codes and policies at numerous institutions, and other useful material.
- "Why Do Students Cheat?" by Eli H. Newberger (2003) discusses the problem with respect to high school students. He says that they cheat because think they can get away with it, they are driven by self and family to get a better grade and get into a better college, they take the easy road, and/or they see others cheat around them and don't want to be disadvantaged.