Detecting incidents of cheating and plagiarism has always presented challenges in higher education and, unfortunately, digital technologies facilitate certain kinds of academic dishonesty. What can you do to prevent plagiarism and other forms of cheating, and how do you handle it when it occurs?
- Make sure your syllabus mentions and links to the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity, and discuss it with your students in class.
- Explain to your students what constitutes plagiarism, why it is prohibited, and what the consequences are of presenting other people’s work as one’s own.
- Let your students know what tools (SafeAssign in Blackboard, for example) you’ll be using to check for plagiarism.
- Design assignments and tests that make it more difficult to cheat: more essays that require individualized responses.
What to do when you’ve discovered evidence of cheating
Gather documentation about the incident, then discuss it with your student. If the matter cannot be resolved this way, report it to the Office of Judicial Affairs. Emanuel Avila, QC’s Coordinator of Judicial Affairs, explains the process in this presentation.
For more information about academic dishonesty and how to encourage academic integrity in your students’ work:
- read the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity;
- contact Emanuel Avila (QC’s Coordinator of Judicial Affairs) with any questions (emanuel.avila@qc.cuny.edu or 718-997-3971).
Additional resources:
Cheating & Plagiarism (Center for Teaching and Learning, Vanderbilt University)
Avoiding and Detecting Plagiarism: A Guide for Graduate Students and Faculty with Examples (CUNY Graduate Center)
My Word!: Plagiarism and College Culture, by Susan Blum (2009, Cornell University Press)