Plagiarism Resource Site

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Newcastle has defended his handling of the university's recent plagiarism scandal: He spoke with the University's vice-chancellor and recommended the truth of the matter be investigated, with a quick and independent inquiry.

The inquiry into the Newcastle plagiarism scandal has highlighted a rarely discussed aspect of the plagiarism problem -- the tension between maintaining academic standards in the face of increased competition for recruiting students. According to a recent report in Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/09/08/1094530693563.html> A Malaysian education executive wrote to University of Newcastle officials after foreign students were failed for plagiarism, asking them to review the cases "more generously", an inquiry has been told. The email, produced at the Independent Commission Against Corruption yesterday, said the university could struggle for enrolments if a lot of fee-paying students were failing.

Lawrence Hinman, professor of philosophy and director of the Values Institute at the University of San Diego, has contributed a thoughtful piece on plagiarism to The Washington Post. He looks to instructors as the source and solution to the problem: Cheating and plagiarism often arise in a vacuum created by routine, lack of interest and overwork. Professors who give the same assignment every semester, fail to guide students in the development of their projects and have little interest in what the students have to say contribute to the academic environment in which much cheating and plagiarism occurs.

A report on student cheating at U of Arizona provokes disagreement: according to a member of the University Teaching Center, "the occurrence of plagiarism is higher than the report suggests." Many faculty handle the problem themselves and others still don't do anything about it.

Radio Australia reports "a corruption inquiry is getting under way into allegations of plagiarism by international students at the University of Newcastle, in Australia's eastern state of New South Wales." Among other issues reported by The Australian, "there was a possibility" that "fee-paying" Malaysian students were advantaged over "Australian-based students."

School of Management, Lancaster University, has received a grant "from the Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL) to research 'grey' plagiarism amongst overseas students studying business and management."

The Moravian College student newspaper includes an informative piece on handling plagiarism.

An opinion piece on plagiarism in journalism raises many points relevant to the academy.

"The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has set aside five days to conduct hearings into allegations of plagiarism at the University of Newcastle."

Duke's student newspaper, The Chronicle Online, reports on the Community Standard, "the ideal governing integrity at the University for the past year." The Standard replaced the school's Honor Code in 2003 and differs from the former code in three ways: "It increases the emphasis on students reporting other students’ Standard violations. Furthermore, students who are found to be in violation of minor academic integrity offenses and are first-time offenders can now resolve their issues through faculty-student conferences, rather than through the University’s judicial system. The third departure is the Standard’s provision for the punishment of academic violations to be tailored to fit the severity and the circumstances of the offense."