Web posted Thursday, April 2, 1998 12:55 p.m.
CT
Plagiarism by
modem?
By DON MUNSCH Nowadays, with desktop publishing, students tap-tap-tap their notes into a
computer that can hold a disk that will store their information, and laser
printers spit out perfectly lined papers. Also now, instead of perusing a card
catalog to find books as in the old days, students can get online via the
Internet to find information on their subject.
They also can find services that sell term papers - papers that they could
turn in as their own.
The Christian Science Monitor reported in the fall that more than 50
term-paper sites exist on the Internet. The newspaper reported that Boston
University had filed a federal lawsuit against eight Internet term-paper
companies in seven states. Texas and 16 other states have passed laws making it
illegal to sell term papers that students may pass off as their own work.
One term-paper site not under suit is called "Cheat.com" and run by
16-year-old Paul Roberts.
Another term paper site is School Sucks (www.schoolsucks.com), which allows
high school and college students access to term papers. But School Sucks owner
Kenny Sahr said students should not use the papers as their own work.
"All of the papers are free," said Sahr, who operates the Web site out of
Houston. "They're just going to the site and getting the papers they want."
Sahr said the service offers about 2,500 papers, which are written by
students themselves. Sahr said the papers help students understand the proper
formatting and protocol for writing term papers and are not meant to be used by
students to be turned in for grades.
He cautions that plagiarism would be unwise because many of the papers are
poorly written - an event that he blames on the educational establishment - and
thus a student could easily get caught.
"If the papers are so bad, what does it say about the teachers?" he said.
"It's a statement of their work."
Ironically, Sahr said it's not the stereotypical 19-year-old,
Beavis-and-Butt-head slacker types who would patronize his service for papers
they could plagiarize.
"It's the adult who works for the fire department or a municipality who needs
credit for a degree," he said.
Sahr seems more put off, though, by an educational establishment that does
not have checks and balances that ensure qualified people are teaching. He said
the best and brightest are not entering the teaching field, especially at the
college level.
"Just because you have doctorate in biology doesn't mean you can convey (the
material); (it) doesn't mean you can teach it," he said.
Another Internet term-paper site, The Paper Store, operating out of Jackson,
N.J., states it furnishes papers for students to use as a "model" for papers
they will turn in for grades. Like School Sucks, the service says it simply
wants to help students understand the proper formatting for papers.
"All too often, talented students receive reduced grades on otherwise
excellent papers simply because they misused the APA or MLA style, failed to
include an outline or even because their paper was a day late!" the business
states in its advertisement.
The Paper Store - which is one of the original eight businesses being sued by
Boston University; two of the suits have been dropped - reminds interested
parties that "Plagiarism is a Crime!
"The Paper Store will NEVER offer its services to ANY person giving any
reason to believe that he or she intends to wholly or partially submit our work
for academic credit in their own name," the business says.
Andrew Green, chairman of The Paper Store, said high school and college
instructors may ask his company to see materials they have sold to students. He
said the business contracts with students all over the globe, selling papers for
prices ranging from $20 to $60.
Students get a skeletal paper that has been written for this establishment,
Green said, adding that students are not hired to write the papers for the
business.
Green said the business places its name in a surreptitious fashion inside the
report to prevent fraud.
"We ask what (students) plan to do with their research when they do their
report," he said. He said college instructors contract with services to provide
papers. The Paper Store can be reached at 1-800-90-WRITE.
Other term-paper sites can be found in traditional venues, such as magazines.
One research paper company, advertised in the back of "Entertainment Weekly,"
declined to talk about its services to the Globe-News.
"I'm sorry; we don't deal with the press," said a female representative from
the company, hastily hanging up the phone. A representative from another company
advertised in the same magazine did not return repeated phone calls.
Russell C. Long, president of West Texas A&M
University, said during his 20-plus years of teaching he had about a
half-dozen students turn in papers that he knew they did not write. He said he
thinks it still occurs, but not to a large degree, as no cases have emerged that
needed disciplinary actions at WT. At WT, academic dishonesty can result in an F
for the course, a letter of reprimand or an academic sanction recommendation to
the dean. An expulsion or suspension also is possible.
Long said a student's writing style and tendencies often give away his or her
cheating on a paper.
To prevent cheating or uncertainty of expectations on an assignment, Long
said instructors should inform students of the proper protocol for papers when
assignments are made.
"I would be disappointed in any faculty member who assigned students a paper
and didn't give them any idea of what the paper should look like," Long said.
James Hallmark, WT associate professor of speech communication, seemed
skeptical of businesses that provide "model" papers, as he said most term-paper
formats are not that difficult to master.
Cindy O'Dell, business manager of The Prairie, WT's student newspaper, said
to her knowledge no businesses selling term papers have ever approached the
paper to buy advertising. She said the paper maintains the right to refuse
advertising, including those who peddle papers.
"I think it would depend on the circumstances and whether they were offering
other services," she said. "I think that would be an editorial board decision
(to accept advertising)."
Dave Wohlfarth, The Prairie's faculty adviser, said the paper will not accept
advertising that is in bad taste, libelous or illegal.
Hallmark and other educators say they don't encounter too much plagiarism of
term papers, but they say that does not mean it doesn't happen.
Jerry Miller, dean of the T. Boone Pickens College of Business at WT, said he
tailors his term paper assignments in a unique fashion so that students will be
challenged. Thus, he said, students will not be as tempted to cheat.
"I've never had a problem with it," he said.
Miller added, though, that, "I've been in this 35 years and I've seen all
kinds of things - every thing you can think of, on tests and on all kinds of
things." He said asking students to discuss their paper or present it in class
combats cheating, as well.
"I've never talked to a student who said they had done it or have said they
know someone who's done it," Hallmark said.
He said students could find magazines that advertise companies that sell
papers, should they not have access to the Internet. He said it can be
difficult, though, to prove plagiarism. For his classes, he requires students
turn papers in in sections.
"I go out of my way to make the paper unique so that there will not be a
paper mill out there," he said.
Hallmark said students cheat themselves when they use someone else's work,
but strangely enough, he said, cheating students don't understand the irony of
their actions: Higher education is the only thing a student pays a large amount
of money for and then tries not to attain its fullest use.
"You're paying for this; you might as well get something out of it," he said.
"I don't think (term-paper cheating) is a common occurrence," said Greg
Williams, dean of student services at Amarillo College. "I have no reason to
believe it happens a lot here. I haven't heard anyone complain."
In the Amarillo Independent School District, cheating or copying the work of
another student (or entity) is construed as a Level III offense, which can
result in grade penalty, detention or exclusion from extracurricular activities,
according to the AISD's Discipline Management Plan and Student Code of Conduct.
Gary Angell, Tascosa cluster director, said a student cannot be expelled for
turning in work he or she did not do.
Marjorie Black, sophomore honors English teacher at Amarillo High School,
said she easily can determine if students turn in work that is not their own.
"They didn't write the same way they had the rest of the year on essay
questions and on assignments," she said of students she suspected of cheating.
Black said she will confront the student if the paper looks suspicious, and
she said getting to know students helps her judge their work's authenticity.
Globe-News Staff Writer
In bygone days, high school and college students burned
the midday and midnight oil to churn out term papers, using notes drawn from old
library books that they tap-tap-tapped onto their paper, using an old manual
typewriter.