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Academic Dishonesty: More Causes and Solutions

Poor Note-Taking

Another, all too common, cause of academic dishonesty is taking careless notes when working from texts or adopting passive note-taking habits.

Cause: Careless Note-taking

Students often get into the habit of not using quotation marks or to write down citations when they are taking notes from a book. They think that they will remember that something is a quote or remember its origin when they come back to it at a later date. This can result in unintentional plagiarism when students use the quote or a close paraphrase of it when they are writing a paper. This problem can also arise when normally careful students work from borrowed notes.

Solution: Discuss Careful Note-taking

Give students a handout explaining how and when to cite, how and when to use quotations, and what constitutes an acceptable paraphrase. Discuss the handout with them to be sure that it is clear and explain why academic dishonesty is unacceptable. Most students are very understanding if you explain to them that it is both detrimental to their own education and unfair to other students. Be a role model. Do not photocopy illegally or post copyrighted materials on a class website without permission. Always cite sources in class and on handouts. Make a note of sources on the board (this not only sets a good model, it discourages intentional plagiarism by making students aware that you are familiar with the literature).

Cause: Passive Note-taking

Students who take notes passively just write down the author's words, or a close paraphrase, rather than thinking them through to recast them in different ways. Active note-takers think an idea through, record their own ideas, ask questions, make connections with other ideas and materials they have come across, and generally assimilate the author's ideas in a way that provides a firm basis for developing their own ideast. Active note-takers are less prone to unintentional plagiarism because they record fewer quotations and recall which ideas belong to the author and which are their own.

Solution: Discuss Active Note-taking

Explain the difference between active and passive note-taking, and the importance of including quotation marks and citations in notes (aside from anything else, it's difficult to go back and look them up again afterwards). Explain how active note taking can improve ideas and save time, since they won't have to do the same work twice.

Ignorance About What Constitutes Academic Dishonesty

Finally, an increasingly common cause of academic dishonesty is ignorance about what it is, or a failure to understand why such practices are unacceptable. Because these issues may not have been addressed in high school, students arrive at the university without a clear understanding of what constitutes academic dishonesty or why the consequences may be so severe.

Certain types of academic dishonesty are prone to occur as a result of ignorance:

  1. Handing in another student's paper as one's own work. (Students may feel that this practice, while not acceptable, is not "really bad" because the paper has never been published and/or the other student has agreed to let them hand it in as their own work.)
  2. Splitting an assignment with or working too closely with another student in a way that results in both handing in the same piece of work (usually to different GSIs, which suggests that the students are not entirely ignorant that this is illegitimate, but consider it another "not-very-bad" form of dishonesty).
  3. Submitting the same paper to different courses. (Students often do not know this practice is dishonest because they are the original authors of the paper in question, and aren't aware there is a university policy against it.)
  4. Plagiarizing from electronic resources. (The emphasis on the free availability of information on the World Wide Web has led to the common belief that if something is on the Web it must be free. This is exacerbated by the fact that information is easy to find on the Web and can be cut and pasted into a document with only the minimum of work.)

Solution: Discuss Different Types of Academic Dishonesty with Students

Discuss some of the different forms of academic dishonesty listed at the beginning of this section. Students are often aware that it is unacceptable to take verbatim quotations from another writer without acknowledging the source, but are unclear about the ethics of paraphrasing, collaborating on an assignment, or handing in the same paper in different classes. Give the students a handout on how to cite sources, or recommend a style guide to be used in the class. Make sure the handout includes a section on how to cite Internet as well as traditional sources. The Library has a very useful handout (link opens in a new window) on this.

In addition, talk to the students about your own experiences as an undergraduate and discuss some of the causes of this sort of academic dishonesty in first-person terms. It often helps to know that someone else had the same sorts of problems, or knew others who did. It's also important to share any consequences that were suffered by you, colleagues, or former students, since some students may believe that the threats of repercussions are empty ones.

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