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Why Students Cheat—and What to Do About It

A teacher seeks answers from researchers and psychologists. 

“Why did you cheat in high school?” I posed the question to a dozen former students.

“I wanted good grades and I didn’t want to work,” said Sonya, who graduates from college in June. [The students’ names in this article have been changed to protect their privacy.]

My current students were less candid than Sonya. To excuse her plagiarized Cannery Row essay, Erin, a ninth-grader with straight As, complained vaguely and unconvincingly of overwhelming stress. When he was caught copying a review of the documentary Hypernormalism , Jeremy, a senior, stood by his “hard work” and said my accusation hurt his feelings.

Cases like the much-publicized ( and enduring ) 2012 cheating scandal at high-achieving Stuyvesant High School in New York City confirm that academic dishonesty is rampant and touches even the most prestigious of schools. The data confirms this as well. A 2012 Josephson Institute’s Center for Youth Ethics report revealed that more than half of high school students admitted to cheating on a test, while 74 percent reported copying their friends’ homework. And a survey of 70,000 high school students across the United States between 2002 and 2015 found that 58 percent had plagiarized papers, while 95 percent admitted to cheating in some capacity.

So why do students cheat—and how do we stop them?

According to researchers and psychologists, the real reasons vary just as much as my students’ explanations. But educators can still learn to identify motivations for student cheating and think critically about solutions to keep even the most audacious cheaters in their classrooms from doing it again.

Rationalizing It


First, know that students realize cheating is wrong—they simply see themselves as moral in spite of it.

“They cheat just enough to maintain a self-concept as honest people. They make their behavior an exception to a general rule,” said Dr. David Rettinger , professor at the University of Mary Washington and executive director of the Center for Honor, Leadership, and Service, a campus organization dedicated to integrity.

According to Rettinger and other researchers, students who cheat can still see themselves as principled people by rationalizing cheating for reasons they see as legitimate.

Some do it when they don’t see the value of work they’re assigned, such as drill-and-kill homework assignments, or when they perceive an overemphasis on teaching content linked to high-stakes tests.

“There was no critical thinking, and teachers seemed pressured to squish it into their curriculum,” said Javier, a former student and recent liberal arts college graduate. “They questioned you on material that was never covered in class, and if you failed the test, it was progressively harder to pass the next time around.”

But students also rationalize cheating on assignments they see as having value.

High-achieving students who feel pressured to attain perfection (and Ivy League acceptances) may turn to cheating as a way to find an edge on the competition or to keep a single bad test score from sabotaging months of hard work. At Stuyvesant, for example, students and teachers identified the cutthroat environment as a factor in the rampant dishonesty that plagued the school.

And research has found that students who receive praise for being smart—as opposed to praise for effort and progress—are more inclined to exaggerate their performance and to cheat on assignments , likely because they are carrying the burden of lofty expectations.

A Developmental Stage

When it comes to risk management, adolescent students are bullish. Research has found that teenagers are biologically predisposed to be more tolerant of unknown outcomes and less bothered by stated risks than their older peers.

“In high school, they’re risk takers developmentally, and can’t see the consequences of immediate actions,” Rettinger says. “Even delayed consequences are remote to them.”

While cheating may not be a thrill ride, students already inclined to rebel against curfews and dabble in illicit substances have a certain comfort level with being reckless. They’re willing to gamble when they think they can keep up the ruse—and more inclined to believe they can get away with it.

Cheating also appears to be almost contagious among young people—and may even serve as a kind of social adhesive, at least in environments where it is widely accepted.  A study of military academy students from 1959 to 2002 revealed that students in communities where cheating is tolerated easily cave in to peer pressure, finding it harder not to cheat out of fear of losing social status if they don’t.

Michael, a former student, explained that while he didn’t need to help classmates cheat, he felt “unable to say no.” Once he started, he couldn’t stop.

Technology Facilitates and Normalizes It

With smartphones and Alexa at their fingertips, today’s students have easy access to quick answers and content they can reproduce for exams and papers.  Studies show that technology has made cheating in school easier, more convenient, and harder to catch than ever before.

To Liz Ruff, an English teacher at Garfield High School in Los Angeles, students’ use of social media can erode their understanding of authenticity and intellectual property. Because students are used to reposting images, repurposing memes, and watching parody videos, they “see ownership as nebulous,” she said.

As a result, while they may want to avoid penalties for plagiarism, they may not see it as wrong or even know that they’re doing it.

This confirms what Donald McCabe, a Rutgers University Business School professor,  reported in his 2012 book ; he found that more than 60 percent of surveyed students who had cheated considered digital plagiarism to be “trivial”—effectively, students believed it was not actually cheating at all.

Strategies for Reducing Cheating

Even moral students need help acting morally, said  Dr. Jason M. Stephens , who researches academic motivation and moral development in adolescents at the University of Auckland’s School of Learning, Development, and Professional Practice. According to Stephens, teachers are uniquely positioned to infuse students with a sense of responsibility and help them overcome the rationalizations that enable them to think cheating is OK.

1. Turn down the pressure cooker. Students are less likely to cheat on work in which they feel invested. A multiple-choice assessment tempts would-be cheaters, while a unique, multiphase writing project measuring competencies can make cheating much harder and less enticing. Repetitive homework assignments are also a culprit, according to research , so teachers should look at creating take-home assignments that encourage students to think critically and expand on class discussions. Teachers could also give students one free pass on a homework assignment each quarter, for example, or let them drop their lowest score on an assignment.

2. Be thoughtful about your language.   Research indicates that using the language of fixed mindsets , like praising children for being smart as opposed to praising them for effort and progress , is both demotivating and increases cheating. When delivering feedback, researchers suggest using phrases focused on effort like, “You made really great progress on this paper” or “This is excellent work, but there are still a few areas where you can grow.”

3. Create student honor councils. Give students the opportunity to enforce honor codes or write their own classroom/school bylaws through honor councils so they can develop a full understanding of how cheating affects themselves and others. At Fredericksburg Academy, high school students elect two Honor Council members per grade. These students teach the Honor Code to fifth graders, who, in turn, explain it to younger elementary school students to help establish a student-driven culture of integrity. Students also write a pledge of authenticity on every assignment. And if there is an honor code transgression, the council gathers to discuss possible consequences. 

4. Use metacognition. Research shows that metacognition, a process sometimes described as “ thinking about thinking ,” can help students process their motivations, goals, and actions. With my ninth graders, I use a centuries-old resource to discuss moral quandaries: the play Macbeth . Before they meet the infamous Thane of Glamis, they role-play as medical school applicants, soccer players, and politicians, deciding if they’d cheat, injure, or lie to achieve goals. I push students to consider the steps they take to get the outcomes they desire. Why do we tend to act in the ways we do? What will we do to get what we want? And how will doing those things change who we are? Every tragedy is about us, I say, not just, as in Macbeth’s case, about a man who succumbs to “vaulting ambition.”

5. Bring honesty right into the curriculum. Teachers can weave a discussion of ethical behavior into curriculum. Ruff and many other teachers have been inspired to teach media literacy to help students understand digital plagiarism and navigate the widespread availability of secondary sources online, using guidance from organizations like Common Sense Media .

There are complicated psychological dynamics at play when students cheat, according to experts and researchers. While enforcing rules and consequences is important, knowing what’s really motivating students to cheat can help you foster integrity in the classroom instead of just penalizing the cheating.

Two professors who say they caught students cheating on essays with ChatGPT explain why AI plagiarism can be hard to prove

• Two philosopher professors said they caught their students submitting essays written by ChatGPT.
• They said certain red flags alerted them to the use of AI.
• If students don't confess to using the program, professors say it can be hard to prove.

A few weeks after the launch of the AI chatbot ChatGPT , Darren Hick, a philosophy professor at Furman University, said he caught a student turning in an AI-generated essay . 

Hick said he grew suspicious when the student turned in an on-topic essay that included some well-written misinformation.

After running it through Open AI's ChatGPT detector , the results said it was 99% likely the essay had been AI-generated. 

Antony Aumann, a religious studies and philosophy professor at Northern Michigan University, told Insider he had caught two students submitting essays written by ChatGPT .

After the writing style set off alarm bells, Aumann submitted them back to the chatbot asking how likely it was that they were written by the program. When the chatbot said it was 99% sure the essays were written by ChatGPT, he forwarded the results to the students.

Both Hick and Aumann said they confronted their students, all of whom eventually confessed to the infraction. Hick's student failed the class and Aumann had his students rewrite the essays from scratch.

'It was really well-written wrong'

There were certain red flags in the essays that alerted the professors to the use of AI. Hick said the essay he found referenced several facts not mentioned in class, and made one nonsensical claim. 

"Word by word it was a well-written essay," he said, but on closer inspection, one claim about the prolific philosopher, David Hume "made no sense" and was "just flatly wrong."

"Really well-written wrong was the biggest red flag," he said.

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For Aumann, the chatbot just wrote too perfectly. "I think the chat writes better than 95% of my students could ever," he said. 

"All of a sudden you have someone who does not demonstrate the ability to think or write at that level, writing something that follows all the requirements perfectly with sophisticated grammar and complicated thoughts that are directly related to the prompt for the essay," he said.

Christopher Bartel, a professor of philosophy at Appalachian State University, said that while the grammar in AI-generated essays is almost perfect, the substance tends to lack detail.

He said: "They are really fluffy. There's no context, there's no depth or insight."

Hard-to-prove plagiarism  

If students don't confess to using AI for essays, it can leave academics in a tough spot.

Bartel said that some institutions' rules haven't evolved to combat this kind of cheating. If a student decided to dig their heels in and deny the use of AI, it can be difficult to prove. 

Bartel said the AI detectors on offer were "good but not perfect." 

"They give a statistical analysis of how likely the text is to be AI-generated, so that leaves us in a difficult position if our policies are designed so that we have to have definitive and demonstrable proof that the essay is a fake," he said. "If it comes back with a 95% likelihood that the essay is AI generated, there's still a 5% chance that it wasn't." 

In Hick's case, although the detection site said it was "99% certain" the essay had been generated by an AI, he said it wasn't enough for him without a confession.

"The confession was important because everything else looks like circumstantial evidence," he said. "With AI-generated content, there is no material evidence, and material evidence has a lot more weight to it than circumstantial evidence."

Aumann said although he thought the analysis by the chatbot would be good enough proof for disciplinary action, AI plagiarism was still a new challenge for colleges.

He said: "Unlike plagiarism cases of old where you can just say, 'hey, here's the paragraph from Wikipedia.' There is no knockdown proof that you can provide other than the chat says that's the statistical likelihood."

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Why Do Students Cheat?

• Posted July 19, 2016
• By Zachary Goldman

In March, Usable Knowledge published an article on ethical collaboration , which explored researchers’ ideas about how to develop classrooms and schools where collaboration is nurtured but cheating is avoided. The piece offers several explanations for why students cheat and provides powerful ideas about how to create ethical communities. The article left me wondering how students themselves might respond to these ideas, and whether their experiences with cheating reflected the researchers’ understanding. In other words, how are young people “reading the world,” to quote Paulo Freire , when it comes to questions of cheating, and what might we learn from their perspectives?

I worked with Gretchen Brion-Meisels to investigate these questions by talking to two classrooms of students from Massachusetts and Texas about their experiences with cheating. We asked these youth informants to connect their own insights and ideas about cheating with the ideas described in " Ethical Collaboration ." They wrote from a range of perspectives, grappling with what constitutes cheating, why people cheat, how people cheat, and when cheating might be ethically acceptable. In doing so, they provide us with additional insights into why students cheat and how schools might better foster ethical collaboration.

Why Students Cheat

Students critiqued both the individual decision-making of peers and the school-based structures that encourage cheating. For example, Julio (Massachusetts) wrote, “Teachers care about cheating because its not fair [that] students get good grades [but] didn't follow the teacher's rules.” His perspective represents one set of ideas that we heard, which suggests that cheating is an unethical decision caused by personal misjudgment. Umna (Massachusetts) echoed this idea, noting that “cheating is … not using the evidence in your head and only using the evidence that’s from someone else’s head.”

Other students focused on external factors that might make their peers feel pressured to cheat. For example, Michima (Massachusetts) wrote, “Peer pressure makes students cheat. Sometimes they have a reason to cheat like feeling [like] they need to be the smartest kid in class.” Kayla (Massachusetts) agreed, noting, “Some people cheat because they want to seem cooler than their friends or try to impress their friends. Students cheat because they think if they cheat all the time they’re going to get smarter.” In addition to pressure from peers, students spoke about pressure from adults, pressure related to standardized testing, and the demands of competing responsibilities.

When Cheating is Acceptable

Students noted a few types of extenuating circumstances, including high stakes moments. For example, Alejandra (Texas) wrote, “The times I had cheated [were] when I was failing a class, and if I failed the final I would repeat the class. And I hated that class and I didn’t want to retake it again.” Here, she identifies allegiance to a parallel ethical value: Graduating from high school. In this case, while cheating might be wrong, it is an acceptable means to a higher-level goal.

Encouraging an Ethical School Community

Several of the older students with whom we spoke were able to offer us ideas about how schools might create more ethical communities. Sam (Texas) wrote, “A school where cheating isn't necessary would be centered around individualization and learning. Students would learn information and be tested on the information. From there the teachers would assess students' progress with this information, new material would be created to help individual students with what they don't understand. This way of teaching wouldn't be based on time crunching every lesson, but more about helping a student understand a concept.”

Sam provides a vision for the type of school climate in which collaboration, not cheating, would be most encouraged. Kaith (Texas), added to this vision, writing, “In my own opinion students wouldn’t find the need to cheat if they knew that they had the right undivided attention towards them from their teachers and actually showed them that they care about their learning. So a school where cheating wasn’t necessary would be amazing for both teachers and students because teachers would be actually getting new things into our brains and us as students would be not only attentive of our teachers but also in fact learning.”

Both of these visions echo a big idea from “ Ethical Collaboration ”: The importance of reducing the pressure to achieve. Across students’ comments, we heard about how self-imposed pressure, peer pressure, and pressure from adults can encourage cheating.

Where Student Opinions Diverge from Research

The ways in which students spoke about support differed from the descriptions in “ Ethical Collaboration .” The researchers explain that, to reduce cheating, students need “vertical support,” or standards, guidelines, and models of ethical behavior. This implies that students need support understanding what is ethical. However, our youth informants describe a type of vertical support that centers on listening and responding to students’ needs. They want teachers to enable ethical behavior through holistic support of individual learning styles and goals. Similarly, researchers describe “horizontal support” as creating “a school environment where students know, and can persuade their peers, that no one benefits from cheating,” again implying that students need help understanding the ethics of cheating. Our youth informants led us to believe instead that the type of horizontal support needed may be one where collective success is seen as more important than individual competition.

Why Youth Voices Matter, and How to Help Them Be Heard

Our purpose in reaching out to youth respondents was to better understand whether the research perspectives on cheating offered in “ Ethical Collaboration ” mirrored the lived experiences of young people. This blog post is only a small step in that direction; young peoples’ perspectives vary widely across geographic, demographic, developmental, and contextual dimensions, and we do not mean to imply that these youth informants speak for all youth. However, our brief conversations suggest that asking youth about their lived experiences can benefit the way that educators understand school structures.

Too often, though, students are cut out of conversations about school policies and culture. They rarely even have access to information on current educational research, partially because they are not the intended audience of such work. To expand opportunities for student voice, we need to create spaces — either online or in schools — where students can research a current topic that interests them. Then they can collect information, craft arguments they want to make, and deliver their messages. Educators can create the spaces for this youth-driven work in schools, communities, and even policy settings — helping to support young people as both knowledge creators and knowledge consumers. 

Additional Resources

• Read “ Student Voice in Educational Research and Reform ” [PDF] by Alison Cook-Sather.
• Read “ The Significance of Students ” [PDF] by Dana L. Mitra.
• Read “ Beyond School Spirit ” by Emily J. Ozer and Dana Wright.

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The Real Roots of Student Cheating

Let's address the mixed messages we are sending to young people..

Updated September 28, 2023 | Reviewed by Ray Parker

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• Cheating is rampant, yet young people consistently affirm honesty and the belief that cheating is wrong.
• This discrepancy arises, in part, from the tension students perceive between honesty and the terms of success.
• In an integrated environment, achievement and the real world are not seen as at odds with honesty.

The release of ChatGPT has high school and college teachers wringing their hands. A Columbia University undergraduate rubbed it in our face last May with an opinion piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled I’m a Student. You Have No Idea How Much We’re Using ChatGPT.

He goes on to detail how students use the program to “do the lion’s share of the thinking,” while passing off the work as their own. Catching the deception , he insists, is impossible.

As if students needed more ways to cheat. Every survey of students, whether high school or college, has found that cheating is “rampant,” “epidemic,” “commonplace, and practically expected,” to use a few of the terms with which researchers have described the scope of academic dishonesty.

In a 2010 study by the Josephson Institute, for example, 59 percent of the 43,000 high school students admitted to cheating on a test in the past year. According to a 2012 white paper, Cheat or Be Cheated? prepared by Challenge Success, 80 percent admitted to copying another student’s homework. The other studies summarized in the paper found self-reports of past-year cheating by high school students in the 70 percent to 80 percent range and higher.

At colleges, the situation is only marginally better. Studies consistently put the level of self-reported cheating among undergraduates between 50 percent and 70 percent depending in part on what behaviors are included. 1

The sad fact is that cheating is widespread.

Commitment to Honesty

Yet, when asked, most young people affirm the moral value of honesty and the belief that cheating is wrong. For example, in a survey of more than 3,000 teens conducted by my colleagues at the University of Virginia, the great majority (83 percent) indicated that to become “honest—someone who doesn’t lie or cheat,” was very important, if not essential to them.

On a long list of traits and qualities, they ranked honesty just below “hard-working” and “reliable and dependent,” and far ahead of traits like being “ambitious,” “a leader ,” and “popular.” When asked directly about cheating, only 6 percent thought it was rarely or never wrong.

Other studies find similar commitments, as do experimental studies by psychologists. In experiments, researchers manipulate the salience of moral beliefs concerning cheating by, for example, inserting moral reminders into the test situation to gauge their effect. Although students often regard some forms of cheating, such as doing homework together when they are expected to do it alone, as trivial, the studies find that young people view cheating in general, along with specific forms of dishonesty, such as copying off another person’s test, as wrong.

They find that young people strongly care to think of themselves as honest and temper their cheating behavior accordingly. 2

The Discrepancy Between Belief and Behavior

Bottom line: Kids whose ideal is to be honest and who know cheating is wrong also routinely cheat in school.

What accounts for this discrepancy? In the psychological and educational literature, researchers typically focus on personal and situational factors that work to override students’ commitment to do the right thing.

These factors include the force of different motives to cheat, such as the desire to avoid failure, and the self-serving rationalizations that students use to excuse their behavior, like minimizing responsibility—“everyone is doing it”—or dismissing their actions because “no one is hurt.”

While these explanations have obvious merit—we all know the gap between our ideals and our actions—I want to suggest another possibility: Perhaps the inconsistency also reflects the mixed messages to which young people (all of us, in fact) are constantly subjected.

Mixed Messages

Consider the story that young people hear about success. What student hasn’t been told doing well includes such things as getting good grades, going to a good college, living up to their potential, aiming high, and letting go of “limiting beliefs” that stand in their way? Schools, not to mention parents, media, and employers, all, in various ways, communicate these expectations and portray them as integral to the good in life.

They tell young people that these are the standards they should meet, the yardsticks by which they should measure themselves.

In my interviews and discussions with young people, it is clear they have absorbed these powerful messages and feel held to answer, to themselves and others, for how they are measuring up. Falling short, as they understand and feel it, is highly distressful.

At the same time, they are regularly exposed to the idea that success involves a trade-off with honesty and that cheating behavior, though regrettable, is “real life.” These words are from a student on a survey administered at an elite high school. “People,” he continued, “who are rich and successful lie and cheat every day.”

In this thinking, he is far from alone. In a 2012 Josephson Institute survey of 23,000 high school students, 57 percent agreed that “in the real world, successful people do what they have to do to win, even if others consider it cheating.” 3

Putting these together, another high school student told a researcher: “Grades are everything. You have to realize it’s the only possible way to get into a good college and you resort to any means necessary.”

In a 2021 survey of college students by College Pulse, the single biggest reason given for cheating, endorsed by 72 percent of the respondents, was “pressure to do well.”

What we see here are two goods—educational success and honesty—pitted against each other. When the two collide, the call to be successful is likely to be the far more immediate and tangible imperative.

A young person’s very future appears to hang in the balance. And, when asked in surveys , youths often perceive both their parents’ and teachers’ priorities to be more focused on getting “good grades in my classes,” than on character qualities, such as being a “caring community member.”

In noting the mixed messages, my point is not to offer another excuse for bad behavior. But some of the messages just don’t mix, placing young people in a difficult bind. Answering the expectations placed on them can be at odds with being an honest person. In the trade-off, cheating takes on a certain logic.

The proposed remedies to academic dishonesty typically focus on parents and schools. One commonly recommended strategy is to do more to promote student integrity. That seems obvious. Yet, as we saw, students already believe in honesty and the wrongness of (most) cheating. It’s not clear how more teaching on that point would make much of a difference.

Integrity, though, has another meaning, in addition to the personal qualities of being honest and of strong moral principles. Integrity is also the “quality or state of being whole or undivided.” In this second sense, we can speak of social life itself as having integrity.

It is “whole or undivided” when the different contexts of everyday life are integrated in such a way that norms, values, and expectations are fairly consistent and tend to reinforce each other—and when messages about what it means to be a good, accomplished person are not mixed but harmonious.

While social integrity rooted in ethical principles does not guarantee personal integrity, it is not hard to see how that foundation would make a major difference. Rather than confronting students with trade-offs that incentivize “any means necessary,” they would receive positive, consistent reinforcement to speak and act truthfully.

Talk of personal integrity is all for the good. But as pervasive cheating suggests, more is needed. We must also work to shape an integrated environment in which achievement and the “real world” are not set in opposition to honesty.

1. Liora Pedhazur Schmelkin, et al. “A Multidimensional Scaling of College Students’ Perceptions of Academic Dishonesty.” The Journal of Higher Education 79 (2008): 587–607.

2. See, for example, the studies in Christian B. Miller, Character and Moral Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, Ch. 3.

3. Josephson Institute. The 2012 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth (Installment 1: Honesty and Integrity). Josephson Institute of Ethics, 2012.

Joseph E. Davis is Research Professor of Sociology and Director of the Picturing the Human Colloquy of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.

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How Students May Be Cheating Their Way Through College

Tovia Smith

Concern is growing at the nation's colleges and universities about a burgeoning online market, where students can buy ghost-written essays. Schools are trying new tools to catch it.

Contract Cheating: Colleges Crack Down On Ghostwritten Essays

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Doing away with essays won’t necessarily stop students cheating

Honorary Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Disclosure statement

Julie Hare does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

University of Melbourne provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

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It’s never been easier for university students to cheat. We just need look to the scandal in 2015 that revealed up to 1,000 students from 16 Australian universities had hired the Sydney-based MyMaster company to ghost-write their assignments and sit online tests.

It’s known as contract cheating – when a student pays a third party to undertake their assignments which they then pass off as their own. Contract cheating isn’t new – the term was coined in 2006 . But it’s becoming more commonplace because new technologies, such as the smart phone, are enablers.

Read more: 15% of students admit to buying essays. What can universities do about it?

Cheating is taken seriously by universities and the national regulator, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency . Much of the focus has been on changing assessment tasks to ones deemed to be harder for a third party to undertake. This is called “ authentic assessment ”.

This type of assessment has been widely adopted at universities . They are comprised of tasks that evaluate knowledge and skills by presenting students with real-world scenarios or problems relevant to the kinds of challenges they would face following graduation. But new research found authentic assessment may be as vulnerable to cheating as other more obvious examples, such as essays.

What the research shows

This new study was conducted by academics from six universities, led by Tracey Bretag and Rowena Harper from the University of South Australia. The research – part of the federal government’s Contract Cheating and Assessment Design project – surveyed 14,086 students and 1,147 staff.

The goal of this research was to collect and understand student’s perceptions of the likelihood of cheating on 13 different assessment tasks. The research then asked teaching staff which of the 13 tasks they used.

The researchers have previously reported from this data set that 6% of students admitted to cheating. The purpose of the current round of analysis was not to understand the extent of cheating, but perceptions of how easily it might be done, and if that correlated with the tasks educators set.

They found, for both students and teachers, assessments with a short turnaround time and heavily weighted in the final mark were perceived as the tasks which were the most likely to attract contract cheating.

Assessments perceived as the least likely to attract contract cheating were in-class tasks, personalised and unique tasks, vivas (oral explanations of a written task) and reflections on practical placements. But these tasks were the least likely to be set by educators, presumably because they’re resource and time intensive.

Contract cheating and assessment design

The research confirms the relationship between contract cheating and assessment design is a complex one. There was no assessment tasks for which students reported a 0% likelihood of contract cheating. Students who engage in contract cheating both see and look for opportunities to cheat regardless of the assessment task.

For universities, that means they must assume cheating is always possible and simply changing what assessments they use will not combat the problem.

Many experts have advocated the use of supervised exams to combat cheating. But this new research adds to a growing body of evidence that exams provide universities and accrediting bodies with a false sense of security. In fact, previous data has shown students reported engaging in undetected cheating on supervised exams at higher rates than other types of cheating.

Another common approach is to use a series of small, graded tasks, such as spontaneous in-class tests, sometimes called continuous assessment . Even here, students indicated these were the third most likely form of assessment to be outsourced.

Who’s most likely to cheat?

There has been much attention , particularly during the MyMaster scandal , on international students’ use of contract cheating. The new research suggests both international students and domestic students from non-English speaking backgrounds are more likely to engage in contract cheating than other students.

Read more: Don't assume online students are more likely to cheat. The evidence is murky

The research also found business and commerce degrees were more likely be perceived as attracting contract cheating. Engineering was also particularly vulnerable to cheating.

Students from non-English speaking backgrounds hypothesised cheating would be most likely to occur in assessments that required research, analysis and thinking skills (essays), heavily weighted assignments and assessments with short turnaround times.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, students who indicated they were satisfied with the quality of teaching were less likely to think breaches of academic integrity were likely. In other words, this confirms previous research which showed students dissatisfied with their educational experience are more likely to cheat.

So what do we do about it?

This research provides yet more compelling evidence that curriculum and changes to teaching strategies and early intervention must be employed to support students’ academic endeavours.

The researchers also point out high levels of cheating risks undermining the reputation and quality of Australia’s A$34 billion export sector in international education.

The data demonstrates assessment tasks designed to develop relevant professional skills, which teachers are highly likely to set, were perceived by students as tasks that can easily be cheated on. These might include asking accounting students to memorandums, reports or other communication groups to stakeholders, such as shareholders. In fact, among students from a non-English speaking background, the risks of cheating might actually increase for these tasks. This means authentic assessment might run the increasing risk of being outsourced.

Read more: Assessment design won’t stop cheating, but our relationships with students might

This research shows the relationship between contract cheating and assessment design is not a simple product of cause and effect. In fact, the nature of the task itself may be less relevant to the prevalence of cheating than other factors such as a student’s from non-English speaking background’s status, perceived opportunities to cheat or satisfaction with the teaching and learning environment.

All educators must remain vigilant about cheating. Teachers must be properly resourced by their universities to ensure they can create rich learning environments which uphold the integrity of the higher education system.

Burdened with large debts and facing a precarious job market after graduation, it’s perhaps unsurprising some students, particularly those who are struggling academically, take a transactional approach to their education. This new research provides more clear evidence contract cheating is a systemic problem that requires a sector-wide response.

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Cheating In School Essay | Why Students Cheat? and What We Do About It?

November 1, 2021 by Prasanna

Cheating In School Essay: Cheating is a crime. Whether you cheat your friend, parents, or an unknown person, it is an unethical way of achieving your aim. For example – Cheating in exams is wrong as you’re supposed to study, practice, and understand the concept before answering in exams. If you skip all the previous steps and try to copy it from someone else or any other source, it is considered cheating.

Cheating is an act where a person acts dishonestly or in an unfair way to gain some advantage. Cheating in any manner or anywhere can not be justified. Cheating is also used by our children and most commonly they use it at school. Cheating in school is done in many ways like copying in exams, doing someone else’s work, copying the work from someone’s notebook without their permission.

You can also find more  Essay Writing articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Nowadays children have also started using mobile phones for Cheating in their exam papers and to tell the answers to their fellow students. All these forms of Cheating are wrong and unethical, no doubt they are the shortcut to the goal. But not all the students are involved in Cheating. Cheating has many major after effects like they can get expelled from the school which can make them lose their self respect, integrity, etc. So, as elders we should try to make our children understand that Cheating in no way is acceptable.

Long Essay on Cheating in School 750 Words in English

Cheating in school means an unethical way to get early and easy access to your aim. Cheating in school means when a student tries to get good academic grades through a dishonest and unfair way. Cheating is a false representation of the child’s ability which he may not be able to give without Cheating. It is unfair to everyone involved as it deprives the true one of the chance to come on the top.

In reality, the cheater, the teachers and the classmates all are getting deprived of the benefits. Actually Cheating is like a bad temptation which pulls you towards itself when you are able to get something easily with the help of it. Like if a child is able to get good grades in an exam by Cheating, he will try to do the same in other exams also as he will start finding it easy. It’s like an addiction which is not easy to get rid of. You can get an A grade in an exam through Cheating but you know that you didn’t earn it through fair means and will start self-doubting. It makes the student less self confident and gradually losing his sanity and integrity which hampers the overall growth.

The child is not trying to learn, rather he is trying to find ways which are easy but not right. Cheating also has major setbacks like suspension, repeating the same class, etc. Cheating is morally wrong because it gives the cheater an undue advantage over the others truly deserving. Students resort to Cheating because of many reasons – desire to get good grades, the fear of failing, competition with friends and classmates to excel in the class, parental pressure, etc. Cheating affects the child mentally as it increases the anxiety levels in the child. He may start feeling bad for himself as he knows that whatever he has achieved is not because of his own hard work, which will gradually make him feel helpless and trapped. The teachers and parents should make it a point to make the children realize that Cheating is not a good habit.

They can do so by giving their own life examples, making them understand and stressing that winning is not everything, teaching them how to cope with failure, and being compassionate with them while discussing this topic so that they do not feel embarrassed. Ask the child to do more practice of the topic he finds difficult, praise him in the little efforts he is putting to improve himself, try and explore new areas in which the child is good so that he can regain his self esteem.

Short Essay on Cheating in School

• Cheating is an act of behaving in a way that is unethical. Trying to achieve our goal through dishonest and unfair ways is not a way.
• We all at some point of time resort to Cheating whether consciously or unconsciously. Our children also follow us.
• Children follow the practice of Cheating in school in various ways and mostly during their exams.
• In our education system, children get so many opportunities to work hard and get good grades. But instead of doing hard work, some children feel encouraged to take Cheating as a shortcut.
• Students at that time don’t understand that Cheating is not the correct way to deal with it as it is leading them on a wrong path.
• Cheating in school can be due to many different reasons like peer pressure, parental pressure, etc. and can have negative effects on a student in the future.
• Cheating makes a child make wrong decisions as he is blinded by the aim of success. The student loses his ability of self confidence, honesty and critical thinking.
• To excel in education or a subject, one must be clear with the basics of the topic. But when a child resorts to Cheating he is making way for future Cheating also as he will not be able to understand high level topics because he is not clear with the basics.
• Cheating as all other unethical habits have serious consequences like suspension and expulsion from the school, spoiled academic reputation.
• Parents and teachers as the well wishers of the students should try to make them aware of the severe consequences of it and try to make them come out of this bad practice as soon as possible.

FAQ’s on Cheating In School Essay

Question 1. Is Cheating in school common?

Answer: According to a survey, Cheating is very common at school level and 86% of students have cheated in school at one or another level.

Question 2. Why is Cheating in school so common?

Answer: Students cheat in school due to poor study skills, lack of confidence and the pressure to get good grades.

Question 3. What are some consequences of Cheating?

Answer: Cheating can lead to expulsion or suspension from school, class failure, degraded academic reputation, lowers self respect.

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Shades of Gray on Student Cheating

By  Melissa Ezarik

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How acceptable is it to use study websites, or Google, to find answers to test or homework questions? What about using unapproved technology or tools to assist in an online exam? And would it be OK to give credit to another team member on a group project even if that person did not participate?

These are a few ways the latest Student Voice survey , conducted in mid- to late October by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse with support from Kaplan, explored the nuances of academic integrity and what students view as unethical.

Kathy Baron, an education journalist and host of The Score , a podcast about cheating in higher education that launched in October, recalls an Obama-era Department of Education leader remarking that one either has academic integrity or doesn’t, with no middle ground. But when she interviews students, she finds, “It’s not that clear to them. They do see gradations.”

For example, more than half of the Student Voice respondents see googling during homework as at least somewhat acceptable. And nearly half say it’s at least somewhat acceptable to use study websites. “People will talk about chegging like they do about googling,” says Karen Symms Gallagher, who spent 20 years as dean of the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education and is now a senior research faculty member there.

When David Rettinger, president emeritus of the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI), looked over the Student Voice data, he was drawn to the numbers that showed how much students realize certain actions would be considered cheating. “Some of [the unacceptable responses] are a little lighter for sure, but students generally would describe these behaviors as unacceptable,” says Rettinger, a professor of psychological science and director of academic integrity programs at the University of Mary Washington. “Their institutions talk about these things, and students know what they’re supposed to do, yet students cheat a fair bit.”

He can imagine a stressed-out student saying, “I know it’s unacceptable, mostly I don’t do it, but in this situation I’m going to do something I generally don’t believe in.”

“That poses a problem for us as administrators,” he adds.

What’s acceptable to students may be seen differently by professors and administrators. When Warren Frisina, dean of the Rabinowitz Honors College at Hofstra University, was working on development of the institution’s Academic Honor Code (affirmed by faculty, student government and the president in 2012 and announced the following year), students and faculty members were asked similar questions as in the Student Voice survey.

“We found that students and faculty lined up on just about everything except for students helping one another do homework,” he says. “That was an interesting divergence. In students’ minds, if you’re in your dorm working on homework and your roommate is, too, it seemed not only appropriate but a good idea to allow the other person to help you or to help the person. It’s not about sending in the same work, but faculty tended to assume that students knew they weren’t allowed to consult with anybody.”

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One Oregon public university respondent to the Student Voice survey noted that professors’ expectations aren’t always clear or fair. “On the homework, I feel like it doesn’t matter as much. If you don’t know how to do it, and knowing the answer helps you figure out the process and learn, then I think you should be able to [look it up]. It’s not like we spend time in class going over the homework, and the tutoring centers aren’t always helpful,” the student wrote.

Besides specifics about what constitutes cheating, the survey asked about how fairly students believe their institutions handle cheating, with more than eight in 10 of the full sample agreeing at least somewhat that it’s fair. With this student perspective on academic integrity, campus leaders can be better equipped to develop policy and practice around reporting suspected cheating, managing those accusations and determining consequences.

Searching for Answers

Student perceptions of the most basic online tool, the search engine, are split pretty evenly by those who think it’s ethically acceptable to use to get answers and those who don’t. Filtered to include only students who say their college officials often or very often communicate about academic integrity and cheating in some way (n=600), only 10 percent more students think googling on homework is unacceptable. When looking only at students who say their institution has very clear policies around academic integrity and cheating (n=1,100), the percentage finding it unacceptable is just slightly higher.

Both these findings suggest that perhaps messaging should include expectations about the use of search engines. Or, maybe education helps, but it does not move the needle on ethical behaviors very much.

One respondent, from a private college in New York, wrote that “learning should not be about memorization, so it should be okay on … assignments to discuss with others, use notes and use the internet. Rarely does one need to know information in a vacuum.” (The student goes on to note that “cheating is only considered cheating because it is explicitly not allowed, not because it is actually an unethical behavior.”)

Renee Pfeifer-Luckett, director of learning technology development for the University of Wisconsin system’s Office of Learning and Information Technology Services, points out that googling is an important workplace soft skill, particularly because of the need to confirm the accuracy of information. Pfeifer-Luckett, who has presented on learning tech tools used to ensure academic honesty, adds, “That’s a skill I use thousands of times a week.”

Students are also split on the use of study websites to find answers for homework or test questions—although such websites have gotten a lot of criticism from higher ed professionals. The responses about whether they are OK to use don’t vary much by those whose colleges address academic integrity frequently or by those who say their institution’s policies around cheating are very clear.

Baron recently interviewed a journalism student struggling with calculus who used study websites but also went to the tutoring center almost daily. “She just wanted to do well and understand it,” Baron says.

“Chegg has become really popular recently for problem solving,” says Pamela Vallejos, a biochemistry major at Hofstra who serves with six other undergraduates (plus faculty and staff) on the institution’s Honor Board. “I have friends who use it if they don’t understand something and need help. But it’s really up to the student how they use it. A lot of students don’t even realize it’s an easy way to catch a student cheating.”

Online exams appear to be seen as more sacred by students, with the majority of survey respondents saying that using unapproved technology or tools in exams is very unacceptable and only 17 percent seeing it as somewhat or very acceptable. “I think what you’re seeing is that the vast majority of students don’t cheat on exams most of the time,” says Rettinger.

Pulling Their Weight

As Vallejos says she has experienced firsthand , some students will get away with doing less or even no work on a group project.

There are certainly those “free riders,” says Alexander Matros, a professor of economics at the University of South Carolina who conducted research on cheating in the early part of the pandemic . And then there are those “who try to be perfect so they have finished the task and don’t care about contributions from everybody.”

When Pfeifer-Luckett used to teach marketing, figuring out how to design group work was challenging. One strategy involved splitting up all the marketing majors and dividing others by major, keeping general business, accounting and human resources program students in different groups. “I’d put one of each of those flavored students together,” she says. Other strategies included lots of check-ins and having the group members rate each other at the end. “But I never found a real effective way to make groups run efficiently,” she admits.

Getting Accused

The percentage of Student Voice respondents who say they have turned in a fellow student for cheating can be shown on one hand, and just a few others say they’ve been accused of either cheating or plagiarism. (A September survey by Online Plagiarism Checker , representing English-speaking students worldwide, showed similar findings in how many students have ever reported cheating.)

Vallejos found herself on the receiving end of an informal accusation early in the pandemic when she was back home in South America—trying to continue her studies while in quarantine in a farm area without Wi-Fi. “The only connection I had was through my phone,” she says, and that became a big problem when she was asked to take a quiz over Zoom. “The cellular only lasted five to 10 minutes, and it wasn’t strong enough to not look choppy. In my professor’s eyes, it was an intention of trying to cheat. He didn’t understand, and I ended up dropping the class.”

Experts focused on academic integrity cite a number of reasons for the low numbers of those reported for cheating. Professors may underreport because they don’t trust the systems the institution has in place to manage an accusation, or they may worry the institution will be too hard on students, Rettinger explains. Others feel that nothing will be done and they don’t want to be undermined, or waste their time.

Professors may also not want to admit students are cheating in their classes because “they see it as a reflection on them,” says Symms Gallagher.

Sitting on the Hofstra Honor Board, Vallejos has seen just how much goes into making an accusation and has come to believe some professors are afraid to report. Then there are professors who are “tired of students cheating” and will seemingly “do anything to find something to report,” she says.

When Hofstra put its Honor Code in place, one goal was to increase the number of reports, Frisina says, adding that the goal was realized early on. Still, many professors want to manage the situation themselves. “They just want to do the right thing for the kid in front of them,” he explains.

What’s the most common reason for reluctance to report? In Rettinger’s experience, it’s simply not having enough evidence.

Eren Bilen, a professor in the department of data analytics at Dickinson College who worked with Matros on the study about cheating in the pandemic, says it must be “undeniable that a student cheated. And the only way to get such evidence when an exam is given online is to be there with the student. If using a Zoom call and something is fishy, that’s not clear evidence.” Without proof, students can’t be issued consequences.

Yet not reporting creates inequities. “If faculty handle cheating in their own way, it’s not fair to students,” says Rettinger. “An institutional system protects students’ rights if done well.”

When Christopher Small, an academic resources and technology operations specialist at Southern New Hampshire University, used to teach at another institution, plagiarism was particularly challenging because an institutionwide system did not exist. “I just had to deal with it all and write a letter to the dean, explaining the severity level,” he says. “It was on the instructor to decide punitive measures.”

Being Heard

At Hofstra, the Honor Board’s job is “the care and feeding of the Honor Code,” says Frisina. That includes forming a committee of board members to hear incidents.

“I’ve attended one, and it was an interesting experience,” says Vallejos. “It was good to hear both sides, the professor and the student. It opens your eyes.”

Flowcharts posted on Hofstra’s Honor Code website visualize the academic dishonesty procedures for undergraduate and graduate students, which Frisina says helps both students and professors to have a clear understanding of the steps.

Rettinger, who sits in on many of the student-run hearings at Mary Washington, says “emotions run the gamut.” Some students feel disappointed in themselves, and “some students are defiant—it’s the everybody-else’s-fault-but-mine approach,” he adds. Rettinger sees a lot of students who fear for the future, too. “Those of us who run these processes want to take that part out, building a process that’s not punitive but educational.”

Students are still held accountable, though, Rettinger adds. “It’s important to think of the student that didn’t cheat on an assignment. When a student cheats, their actions have implications for everyone in the class.”

Systems where students run the entire process, including appeals, are very rare, to his knowledge. “No one knows the answer to this question, but there are probably fewer than 100 student-run systems in the U.S.—probably far fewer, but I’m being safe,” he says. Students have a substantive voice at additional colleges. But in terms of institutions like that outside the United States, Rettinger says, “there are probably close to zero, or a handful at most.”

At Mary Washington, the council includes five representatives from each of the four undergraduate classes, plus graduate school members and a president elected by the entire student body.

Facing the Consequences

At most colleges and universities, accusations of cheating either get ignored or result in punitive consequences, says Tricia Bertram Gallant, director of the academic integrity office at the University of California, San Diego, and a former board member of ICAI.

Some have implemented restorative justice approaches to formally get the accused and the accuser talking, and healing. Others, like SNHU, says Small, “try to turn the language and culture away from punitive charges to what academic integrity does for you.”

More coverage on the Student Voice academic integrity survey: How Students See Cheating, and How Colleges Can Contain It

At UCSD, it’s all about that teachable moment. “The reaction to cheating doesn’t need to be punitive, especially the first time,” says Bertram Gallant.

Students must reflect on the experience, talking about contributing factors. Then most complete an academic integrity seminar and learn how to make better ethical decisions.

Those facing suspension for cheating get an additional quarter during which an integrity peer mentor helps them work on whatever might be causing issues. Provided no more violations come up, the suspension gets canceled. The idea for students, says Bertram Gallant, is “to prove you want to be a member of this community that upholds academic integrity.”

Auditor Finds University of California Lacks Transparency in Online Courses

The UC system will have one year to implement better guidance and transparency measures.

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How to Catch Students Cheating

Last Updated: June 1, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by César de León, M.Ed. . César de León is an Educational Leadership Consultant and currently serves as an Assistant Principal for the Austin Independent School District in Austin, TX. César specializes in education program development, curriculum improvement, student mentorship, social justice, equity leadership, and family and community engagement. He is passionate about eradicating inequities in schools for all children, especially those who have been historically underserved and marginalized. César holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education and Biology from Texas State University and a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from The University of Texas at Austin. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 329,707 times.

Academic cheating and plagiarism have increased dramatically as students struggle to keep up with expectations and demands of their parents or school, financial aid requirements, work schedules and so on. [1] X Research source Furthermore, the advent of new technologies makes it much easier for students to cheat than ever before. Discovering academic dishonesty depends on your awareness of the classroom, students’ interactions with each other, and other strategies.

Preparing to Monitor an Exam

• Make sure your students know the penalties for academic dishonesty. This should hopefully decrease the chance of them engaging in cheating behaviors.

• Ask students to store backpacks, books, or binders underneath their chairs.

• Glance at their arms, hands and hats to make sure there aren’t any notes written on those areas. Be wary of students who are constantly pulling their long sleeves down to cover more of their arms.
• Keep in mind that many students are anxious when they come into an exam. Don’t automatically assume that someone who looks nervous is going to cheat. However, it can't hurt to keep a closer eye on said students.
• In addition, don't assume a student who doesn't appear worried is not going to cheat. Some students have cheated many times before and became adept at their methods, so they may be more confident about the test.

Looking for Cheating Students During an Exam

• Monitor the students carefully by walking around the classroom throughout the exam.
• Use at least two different versions of the exam so students sitting next to each other do not have the same version. [2] X Research source This can more simply be done by changing the order of the questions. For example, say you have 8 seats, Seats 1, 3, 5, and 7 get version 1. Seats 2, 4, 6, and 8 get version 2.

• Students might have different signs for different answers; for example, on a multiple choice test, if the answer is A, they might tap their pencil. If the answer is B, they might shuffle their test around, and so on.
• Many people tap their feet or fidget when nervous, and a coughing or sniffing student may have picked up a cold, so don't immediately assume such actions mean a student is helping others to cheat.

• Many students are quite savvy about this strategy, bringing alcohol wipes to remove pen ink from their skin before turning in their test.
• Some students might try writing notes on their legs. They will then wear pants, shorts or a skirt of a particular length that covers the writing, but can be inched upwards to reveal the notes. Teachers should be wary of challenging a student who has writing on their legs; a student might cite sexual harassment if you are looking at his/her legs. [4] X Research source
• Look for writing on clothing. Many students will wear hats to an exam or test and will write notes on the bill of the hat. Ask students to remove hats or turn them around so that you foil their attempts at reading their notes. Other articles of clothing are often used in cheating, such as scarves, sweaters, coats, sunglasses, and so on.

• Other students have been known to write notes on very small pieces of paper and store them rolled up in a pen with a clear body.

• Some students cheat by planting notes in bathrooms before a test, then visiting the bathroom during the test to look at them. Have a teaching assistant check nearby bathrooms for suspicious notes just as the test begins.

Watching Students’ Use of Technology During an Exam or Test

• Another option is to ask your department to buy simple calculators that can be used for exams or tests. This way, students will not need to bring their own.
• If it is prohibitively expensive to buy calculators for students, you can instruct students to clear their calculators, and check if they have done so.

• A common trick students use to hide wired earbuds is to put an earbud through the sleeve of a jacket/long sleeved shirt and hold it to their ear. Others may hide wireless earbuds under their hair or a head accessory, such as a hat or sweatband.

• Some cell phone detectors are sensitive enough to allow teachers to walk around the classroom and identify active cell phone use based on proximity.
• This may indicate false positives, as some apps actively use data. You can prevent this by instructing students to switch their phones completely off during the test, rather than just leaving them on lock.

Catching Students Cheating on Written Assignments

• Search online for suspect passages from your student’s paper. Oftentimes, you’ll find the exact same passage in Wikipedia or another website.

• Many students buy papers from “paper mills” or “essay mills,” which are websites and other services which sell essays for a fee. If your student’s paper is phenomenal, they might have purchased the essay from one of these services. It is difficult to prove this, however, so proceed with caution.

Observing Students Outside of Class

• For example, keep an eye on students who leave your first period class after a test or exam. If they walk a little with a second period student, they may be sharing answers or passing cheat sheets. Creating a different version of the test for each period can prevent cheating by means of students from an earlier period sharing answers.

• Some course management systems, such as Blackboard, have an option of letting students email each other without the instructor seeing the emails. Change the preferences so that you also see the emails that students send out through the system.

• Create and memorize complex passwords for the computer and grade book log-ins; do not write this information on paper.

Catching Cheating Students in Online Courses

Confronting Students

• If you found plagiarism in your student’s paper, try to locate the original passage by searching online.
• Photocopy a random sample of exams, tests, or major assignments before returning them to students. A common temptation for cheaters is submitting a modified exam for a regrade, especially if they are close and want to be moved across a grade boundary.

Changing Your Assessments

• Alternately, use the same version of the exam or test but photocopy them on different colored paper and tell the students that there are two versions. However, show them the tests (don't let the students see the questions) and put them in front of them (on a blank page).
• Don't use color-coding methods if any students would look for others with the same color.
• Do not label the exam version on the test. This will make it easier for students to find who has the same version.

• Portfolios are often a good way for students to demonstrate mastery, as they can show how they have grasped concepts and improved over time.

Community Q&A

• Compare student answers. If people sitting near each other have exactly the same wrong answers, they may be cheating. This, however, is not foolproof, and should be considered only when it occurs in multiple instances and/or along with other suspicious behavior. It is often best to give the students the benefit of the doubt the first time, then wait to see if this behavior happens again. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 0
• Some people's eyes give it away. The constant moving and roaming of eyes might be to get a better focus on someone's exam paper. Fidgeting could also be as they might try not to get caught by an invigilator. They might position themselves differently and frequently. Thanks Helpful 4 Not Helpful 0
• Teach students about academic dishonesty at the beginning of the term. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 1

Tips from our Readers

• When the children enter the classroom, tell them to take their stationary out and keep their bag near you. This prevents them from removing cheat sheets. Don't let them sit besides their friends as they could cheat by asking the answers. Check around the class to see if someone has cheat sheet or is cheating.
• Beware of kids who suddenly sit far away from the teacher's desk in class. They could be trying to get away from your sight so they can cheat more easily.

• Don't immediately suspect your students of cheating. Some students get nervous and twitchy when taking an exam. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 1

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• ↑ https://www.buffalo.edu/academic-integrity/about/reasons-students-cheat.html
• ↑ https://www.inklingsnews.com/news/2012/05/25/the-war-against-cheating-why-some-teachers-create-different-versions-of-the-same-test/
• ↑ http://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/plag/5240451.0001.010/--how-college-students-cheat-on-in-class-examinations?rgn=main;view=fulltext
• ↑ http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18157/how-can-i-determine-whether-a-student-has-written-an-excellent-paper-themselves
• ↑ http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2012/11/26/online-education-programs-tackle-student-cheating
• ↑ https://www.csusm.edu/dos/facstres/precon.html

About This Article

You can catch students cheating by monitoring tests and listening to students’ interactions. While a test is in progress, keep your eyes on the students and look for some classic signs of cheating such as a student looking down at their lap constantly to look at their phone, or leaning over their desks to peek at another student’s test. To catch a student cheating on a written exam or paper, look for changes in writing ability to see if it differs from the student’s normal writing style. You can also run the text through an anti-plagiarism program to see if it’s been copied. Pay attention to what students talk about in the hallway or during a free period, especially students who leave your class after a test and talk with another student who may be taking the test in a later period to see if they’re sharing answers. For tips about how to catch students cheating in an auditorium setting, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Paying others to write college essays involves more cheating than meets the eye.

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According to recent news stories, college students are increasingly hiring others to do their ... [+] writing assignments. That deprives them of a potentially valuable learning experience, and it may reflect the failure of our K-12 system to teach writing effectively.

An increasing number of American college students are cheating by paying others to write essays for them. They’re also cheating themselves out of a vital part of their education—and they may have been cheated by a system that has failed to teach them to write.

Recent stories in the New York Times and the Daily Mail paint a disturbing picture of a global system that has affluent students in the U.S., the U.K., and other English-speaking countries contracting out their writing assignments to people in developing countries like Kenya who need the money. Cheating is nothing new, but the internet has made the practice easier and more widespread. While it’s hard to come by exact numbers, the Times reports that “millions of essays” are ordered through websites annually, with 7% of North American students admitting to turning in papers written by others.

The focus in these stories is on how college students are cheating—and how the paid essay writers are complicit, whether they see it that way or not. That’s true, but there are other kinds of cheating going on as well. For one thing, the students contracting out their writing assignments are cheating themselves of what could be a powerful learning experience.

Writing assignments, if they’re well designed, aren’t just a way of assessing what students have learned or how well they can write. They’re also a way of building and deepening students’ knowledge and developing their analytical abilities.

When you try to write about a topic, you may realize you don’t understand it as well as you thought—a realization that should, ideally, push you to undertake further research and analysis. As you write, if you’re doing it well, you’re also necessarily making connections between different bits of information, determining which are more important, and deciding what order to present them in. In order to write clearly and logically, you’re forced to practice thinking clearly and logically—a valuable habit that can stand you in good stead in years to come.

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The process of writing can also boost understanding and retention of information. When you try to recall information you’ve partially forgotten, you’re far more likely to absorb and retain it—a phenomenon cognitive scientists call retrieval practice . There’s also evidence for something called the protégé effect , the boost to learning and retention that you get from explaining a concept to others in your own words. Scientists have documented the benefits of retrieval practice in the context of quizzing or testing (in fact, it’s sometimes called the testing effect), and the protégé effect has generally been framed in terms of students’ oral interactions. But both apply in spades to what can happen when you write.

A Kenyan essayist-for-hire profiled in the Times piece, Mary Mbugua, has written on topics ranging from whether humans should colonize space to how the Great Depression ended. Presumably she, rather than the students who got credit for the papers, actually learned something from the experience (although the latter topic proved so difficult for her to address that she ended up rejecting the job). Mbugua has ethical qualms about the work, but said she “loved learning, and sometimes wished that she were the one enrolled in the American universities she was writing papers for.” By this time, she might well qualify for several degrees—if they were awarded on the basis of who was actually acquiring the knowledge and skills universities are supposedly in business to impart.

In addition to students cheating themselves—as well as their professors and universities—there’s also the cheating done to many of them by the failure of our K-12 education system to teach writing effectively. It’s hard to know why individuals are paying others to do their writing assignments. They may be good writers who are lazy—or bad writers who for some reason failed to take advantage of good writing instruction. But given the generally dismal state of American students’ writing—and the serious deficiencies in the way American schools approach writing instruction—I suspect that many have simply never been taught how to produce an effective essay.

Traditional writing instruction has focused on having students learn rules of grammar. But studies have consistently found that approach has no impact on students’ writing. In the last several decades, schools have moved away from teaching grammar at all—especially in elementary school—trusting that if students just read and write enough, they’ll pick up the conventions of written language. Given that only 27% of students score proficient or above on national writing tests , it’s clear that for many, that doesn’t happen. And teachers rarely learn anything about how to teach writing during their training.

In elementary school, where writing instruction should ideally begin, students are often encouraged to write about their own experiences or opinions rather than about what they’re learning. They might gain the ability to write a decent personal essay, but many reach high school and college ill-equipped to produce the kind of expository and analytical writing expected there.

Students are also encouraged to write at length , beginning in the early grade levels, and to simply pour out their thoughts without much advance planning. That approach drastically underestimates how difficult writing can be for those who are inexperienced at it. If students are still grappling with spelling and word choice, writing an essay is likely to be so overwhelming that they will neither learn to write well nor derive the knowledge-boosting benefits writing can confer. Some will reach high school without ever having learned to construct a good sentence—making it unlikely they’ll ever construct good paragraphs or essays. Often students aren’t taught how to create clear linear outlines before they write, making it hard for them to stay on track or avoid repeating themselves.

When students arrive in college without having learned to write well, it may be too late to do much for them. Ideally, writing instruction involves maintaining a consistent approach across the curriculum, with as many teachers as possible using a common vocabulary and common activities. College professors, a notoriously autonomous bunch, are unlikely to embrace that kind of consistency—and, understandably, they don’t see teaching basic writing skills as part of their job. At best, college students get a one-semester or one-year expository writing class, which is unlikely to be enough for many.

If college students and graduates in Kenya and other places can turn out essays that get high grades from American professors, perhaps educators and policymakers in this country should take a look at how those countries teach their students to write. That might help cut down on the cheating—and produce American college graduates who have better writing skills, deeper knowledge, and a greater capacity to engage in analytical thinking.

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Essay on Cheating

Students are often asked to write an essay on Cheating in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Cheating

What is cheating.

Cheating is acting dishonestly to gain an unfair advantage. In school, this might mean looking at someone else’s test answers or using a hidden note during an exam. It’s not just about breaking rules; it’s about not being true to yourself or others.

Why People Cheat

Some students cheat because they feel pressure to get good grades. Others might think they won’t get caught. Sometimes, they don’t understand the work and are afraid to ask for help. But cheating doesn’t solve these problems; it only hides them.

Effects of Cheating

Cheating can lead to trouble in school, like failing a test or even being kicked out. It also means a person isn’t learning what they should. Over time, if they keep cheating, they might find it hard to trust others or feel good about themselves.

Being Honest

It’s better to be honest and do your own work. If you’re having trouble, it’s okay to ask for help. Learning from mistakes is part of growing up. When you’re honest, you can be proud of your hard work and the grades you earn.

250 Words Essay on Cheating

Cheating is when someone acts dishonestly to gain an unfair advantage. It can happen in school, sports, and even in relationships. In school, it usually means copying someone else’s work or using secret notes during a test.

Why Do People Cheat?

People cheat for many reasons. Some might feel pressure to get good grades or win a game. Others might think they won’t get caught or it’s the only way to succeed. But even if it seems like a quick solution, it’s not fair to others and can lead to trouble.

Cheating can make things worse. If you cheat in school, you might not learn what you’re supposed to. This can make future classes really hard. If you get caught, you could get a zero on your test, fail the class, or even get kicked out of school.

It’s much better to be honest and do your own work. This way, you really learn and can feel proud of what you’ve done. If something is hard, it’s okay to ask for help instead of cheating.

Cheating might seem like an easy way out, but it’s not worth it. It’s not fair to others, and it doesn’t help you learn. Being honest is the best choice, even if it’s not the easiest one.

500 Words Essay on Cheating

People cheat for different reasons. Some might feel a lot of pressure to get good grades or to win, so they think cheating is the only way to succeed. Others might not have prepared well enough and cheat as a last-minute way to avoid failing. There are also those who cheat because they see others doing it and think it’s okay or because they don’t think they’ll get caught.

Cheating can hurt everyone involved. The person who cheats misses out on learning and doesn’t get to really show what they know. It can also make other people feel it’s unfair, especially if they worked hard and didn’t cheat. Over time, if a person keeps cheating, they might find it hard to trust others or to be trusted themselves.

Consequences of Cheating

Preventing cheating.

To stop cheating, schools and teachers can help by making clear rules about what is and isn’t allowed. They can also create a place where cheating is hard to do and where students feel they can do well without having to cheat. Parents can help by teaching their kids about honesty and by encouraging them to do their best, even if they don’t always win or get the highest grades.

Learning from Mistakes

If someone has cheated, it’s important for them to learn from their mistake. They should understand why it was wrong and how it affected others. It’s also important for them to work on being honest and to rebuild trust with their teachers and friends.

The Value of Honesty

In conclusion, cheating is a choice that can have many negative effects. It’s important for everyone to understand why honesty is valuable and to work together to create a world where cheating is not needed or wanted. By doing this, we can all enjoy the rewards of our own hard work and be proud of what we achieve.

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Cheating — Why Cheating Is Wrong: An Ethical and Practical Examination

Why Cheating is Wrong: an Ethical and Practical Examination

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Published: Jun 13, 2024

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Introduction, ethical ramifications, detrimental effects on individuals, societal impact, body paragraph 4: long-term consequences.

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94 Cheating Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best cheating topic ideas & essay examples, ⭐ good research topics about cheating, 👍 simple & easy cheating essay titles, ❓ questions about cheating.

• Education: Why Do Students Cheat? Lack of adequate skills and knowledge are some of the reasons that lead to the loss of confidence by students. Teachers should evaluate their students in order to determine the most important teaching methods that […]
• Why People Cheat In the world of sports, a lot of people have been perplexed by the tendencies of great teams to cheat despite prior warning regarding the consequences of cheating.
• The Consequences of School Cheating Cheating also leads to corrupted morals since students begin to cheat more frequently and try to rationalize their dishonesty. Academic dishonesty also affects personal relationships since friends and family can begin to question one’s honesty […]
• Cheating in the Test: Issue Review He may have believed that the college entrance exam is not very significant at the moment and that there is nothing wrong in cheating for a test which will decide whether he should be admitted […]
• “Why We Cheat” by Fang Ferric and Arturo Casadevall For example, if students cheat in class, their peers may start to do so too when they see that there is no punishment for lying. It is possible to say that many humans cheat because […]
• Cheating in the Internet The presence of ecommerce has increased the number of fraudulent deals in the internet. However, with the increasing number of transactions in the internet, fraudsters are taking advantage of the situation.
• Why Students Cheat in Public Schools? However, even some of the students who retain a suitable connection to school take part in cheating. The majorities are found in public institutions and are a much diversified set of students.
• Academic Integrity: Addressing Contract Cheating It is also worth noting that academic integrity is an aspect that one acquires and develops in the process of gaining experience and awareness of the importance of such things as honesty and responsibility.
• Trust & Threat Messaging and Academic Cheating Each student was randomly assigned to one of the four conditions, with 71 in the traditional exam condition, 81 in the collective-punishment trust-exam condition, 82 in the individual-punishment trust-exam condition, and 62 in the no-punishment […]
• Problem of Cheating in Nursing Programs The most common types of cheating in nursing include copying tests and homework, referring to materials during tests, and collaborations without permission. Investigations on the causes of academic dishonesty acts are critical to achieving academic […]
• Is Cheating Okay or Not: Discussion The one involved in cheating is seen to do so at the expense of others and with the aim of getting more where one has invested less.
• Using Technology to Cheat: Discussion Easy access to the internet is one of the reason why there has been a drop in academic honesty and responsibility specifically in the case of plagiarism as there are indications of extensive plagiarism in […]
• Cheating in High Schools: Issue Analysis It is, therefore, right to say that cheating is widespread in every part of the world, and it is escalating in all levels of education.
• Cognitive Dissonance in Dealing With Exam Cheating John’s plan was to use less than two hours in the test with a plan to utilize the rest of the time texting his friends.
• Group Learning and Cheating in Classrooms The aim of the project is to clarify the conditions under which students should work, evaluate the conditions students create independently, observe how different students can work in groups, and introduce new approaches to how […]
• Students’ Behavior and Cheating During Exams Another aspect demonstrating that the research does not warrant an informed consent is the consideration that an informed consent may diminish the merits of the research.
• Signs of Cheating in Oral or Written Statements The second signal of deception is the reference to past events using the present tense. The eighth reason to question whether the interviewee is telling the truth or not is the lack of detail.
• Cheating and Plagiarism in Academic Settings Their main task is to show that the main objective of learning is to gain knowledge and skills, and that education cannot be reduced only to good grades and recognition of other people. This is […]
• Cheating: Making It a Teachable Moment This statement implies that the initiative of the authority to curb the vice of exam cheating should take into account the efforts of the both the teachers and students in a bid to obtain relevant […]
• Academic Integrity: Cheating and Plagiarism Instructors need to understand their students to find out what drives them to cheat in exams. Administrators and other stakeholders in educational institutions, need to discourage their students from cheating, to ensure they maintain high […]
• Reasons for Academic Cheating The students are on the other hand have to yield for the pressure and the easiest way of enabling this is by cheating in the examination.
• Why Kids at Harvard Cheat It is a compelling issue to have students cheating in their examinations as this beats the logic and sole purpose of learning.
• Cheating in the Universities or in the Schools Cheating is condemned in the academic discipline as that which undermines academic integrity of the learner at different levels of their academic pursuits by causing students gain academic grades that do not reflect the academic […]
• Cheating, Gender Roles, and the Nineteenth-Century Croquet Craze The author’s main thesis is, “Yet was this, in fact, how the game was played on the croquet lawns of the nineteenth century?” Whereas authors of croquet manuals and magazines emphasize so much on the […]
• Cheating Plagiarism Issues Cheating in exams and assignments among college and university students is in the rise due to the access of the internet and poor culture where integrity is not a key aspect.
• Cheating on College Exams is Demoralizing The research focuses on the effect of cheating on the college exams. Indeed, cheating on the college tests is a transgression of the school’s policies.
• Marginal Analysis of Cheating Of the various forms of cheating in existence, arguably the most prevalent one is the use of cheat notes. The major disadvantage of this cheating technique is that there exists physical evidence of the cheating […]
• The Auditor and the Firm: A Simple Model of Corporate Cheating and Intermediation
• Cheating, Incentives, and Money Manipulation
• Marriage and High Technology: The Behavior of Cheating in Relationships
• Separating Will From Grace: An Experiment on Conformity and Awareness in Cheating
• Individual and Group Cheating Behavior: A Field Experiment With Adolescents
• Cheating and Loss Aversion: Do People Lie More to Avoid a Loss
• Firm-Oriented Policies, Tax Cheating, and Perverse Outcomes
• Does Bad Company Corrupt Good Morals? Social Bonding and Academic Cheating Among Teens
• Cheating, Its Consequences, and Findings on Cheating
• Cheating More for Less: Upward Social Comparisons Motivate the Poorly Compensated to Cheat
• Careful Cheating: People Cheat Groups Rather Than Individuals
• Cheating Spouse Infidelity Investigations
• Efficient Redistribution Using Quotas and Subsidies in the Presence of Misrepresentation and Cheating
• Cheating Ourselves: The Economics of Tax Evasion
• “But Everybody’s Doing It!”: A Model of Peer Effects on Student Cheating
• Decision Frame and Opportunity as Determinants of Tax Cheating: An International Experimental Study
• Marketable Permits, Market Power, and Cheating
• Academic Dishonesty: Internet Cheating
• Cheating and Technology: How Modern Technology Has Affected Education
• Honesty and Intermediation: Corporate Cheating, Auditor Involvement and the Implications for Development
• Can Cheat the Cheater: Consequences of Cheating
• Attitudes Toward Cheating Behavior Among College Students
• Cheating and Incentives: Learning From a Policy Experiment
• Cheating for Fun and Profit: If You Over-Fill, You Are Cheating Yourself; If You Under-Fill, You Are Cheating the Customer
• Cheating Explained Through Sociological Concepts
• Academic Dishonesty and Prevalent Cheating Strategy
• Dismissal Students From College for Cases of Cheating or Plagiarism
• Cheating for the Common Good in a Macroeconomic Policy Game
• Tax Evasion: Cheating Rationally or Deciding Emotionally
• Sabotaging Another: Priming Competition Increases Cheating Behavior in Tournaments
• Competition and Extrinsic Motivation as Predictors of Academic Cheating
• Catching Cheating Teachers: The Results of an Unusual Experiment
• The Impact of the VW Emission-Cheating Scandal on the Interrelation Between Large Automakers’ Equity and Credit Markets
• Cheating, Emotions, and Rationality: An Experiment on Tax Evasion
• Disguising Lies—Image Concerns and Partial Lying in Cheating Games
• All-Time Cheaters Versus Cheaters in Distress: An Examination of Cheating and Oil Prices in OPEC
• Cheating: The Ethical Dilemma All Junior Officers Face
• Episodic Future: Thinking About the Ideal Self Induces Lower Discounting, Leading to a Decreased Tendency Toward Cheating
• The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead
• Revisiting Revise: Testing Unique and Combined Effects of Reminding, Visibility, and Self-Engagement Manipulations on Cheating Behavior
• Are Competition and Extrinsic Motivation Reliable Predictors of Academic Cheating?
• Are Students Cheating Due to Pressure?
• Does Competition Enhance Performance or Cheating?
• Does Gen Z’s Emotional Intelligence Promote Cheating?
• Has Cheating Become the New Fair Play?
• How Chinese Students Are Cheating To Get Into U.S.?
• How Educators Are Preventing High-Tech Cheating?
• How Income and Tax Rates Provoke Cheating?
• Why Academic Cheating Occurs?
• Why Cheating and Plagiarism Are on the Rise?
• Why Schools Should Crack Down on Cheating?
• What Is the Major Cause of Academic Cheating?
• Why Is Academic Cheating a Problem?
• How Can Cheating in School Affect Your Future?
• What Are the Effect of Cheating?
• How Do You Deal with a Cheating Student?
• What Should a Teacher Do to a Student Caught Cheating?
• What Does Cheating Mean in School?
• What Are the Five Types of Cheating?
• How Common Is Cheating in School?
• What Leads to Cheating in School?
• Why Students Should Stop Cheating?
• Why Is Cheating in Schools Getting Worse?
• What Are the Advantages of Cheating?
• How Often Do Students Get Caught Cheating?
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Exam Cheating, Its Causes and Effects

Introduction, definition of cheating, works cited.

The ability of a nation to compete effectively on the international front hinges on the quality of its education. With this in mind, it is okay to conclude that cheating in exams undermines the standard of education in a country and consequently hinders its ability to compete at the world stage. Indeed, students who cheat in exams become poor decision makers in their careers. Their productivity and level of integrity is adversely dented by their belief of having everything the easy way. Academic dishonesty is not new but with the increase in competition for jobs, most students have resorted to cheating in order to qualify for these jobs (Anderman and Johnston 75). The purpose of this paper is to research in detail the causes and effects of cheating in exams.

In the education fraternity, cheating entails: copying from someone, Plagiarizing of academic work and paying someone to do your homework. There are numerous reasons why students cheat in exams however; this action elicits harsh repercussions if one is caught. This may include: suspension, dismissal and/or cancellation of marks (Davis, Grover, Becker and McGregor 16).

One of the major reasons that make students cheat in exams is the over-emphasis that has been placed on passing exams. Apparently, more effort has been directed towards passing of exams than learning due to the high competition in the job market. Similarly, most interviewers focus more on certificates rather than the knowledge of the candidate. It is no wonder most learning institutions these days focus on teaching how to pass an exam and completely disregard impacting knowledge to students.

In some cases, students cheat because they are not confident of their ability or skills in academics. Whenever this feeling is present, students resort to cheating as a way of avoiding ridicule in case of failure. In essence, some of these students are very bright but the fear of failure and the lack of adequate preparations compel them to cheat. The paradox is that when cheating, most students swear that they will never do it again but this only serves as the beginning of a vicious cycle of cheating (Anderman and Johnston 76).

Societal pressure is another major cause for cheating in schools. Parents, teachers and relatives always, with good intentions, mount too much pressure on students to get good grades in order to join good schools and eventually get high paying jobs. All this pressure creates innate feelings that it is okay to cheat in exams if only to satisfy their parents and teachers egos.

There are times when students justify cheating because others do it. In most cases, if the head of the class is cheating then most of the other students will feel they have enough reason to also cheat. The system of education is such that it does not sufficiently reprimand those who cheat and tends to hail those who pass exams regardless of how they have done—the end justifies the means.

With the advent of the internet, it has become very easy to access information from a website using a phone or a computer. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo have made it very easy for students to buy custom-made papers for their class work. It is very easy for students from all over the world to have the same answer for an assignment as they all use a similar website. Indeed, plagiarism is the order of the day, all on has to do is to have the knowledge to search for the different reports and essays on the net (Davis, Grover, Becker and McGregor 18).

Nowadays, most tutors spend most of their class time giving lectures. In fact, it is considered old fashioned to give assignments during class time. Consequently, these assignments are piled up and given during certain durations of the semester. This poses a big challenge to students who have to strike a balance between attending to their homework and having fun. As a result, the workload becomes too much such that it is easier to pay for it to be done than actually do it—homework then becomes as demanding as a full-time job (Jordan 234).

From a tender age, children are taught that cheating is wrong; yet most of them divert from this course as they grow up. In fact, most of them become so addicted to the habit that they feel the need to perfect it. Most often, if a student cheats and never gets caught, he is likely to cheat all his life. Research has shown that students who cheat in high school are twice likely to cheat in college. The bigger problem is that this character is likely to affect one’s career in future consequently tarnishing his/her image.

Cheating in exams poses a great problem in one’s career. To get a good grade as a result of cheating is a misrepresentation of facts. Furthermore, it is difficult for a tutor to isolate students who genuinely need specialized coaching. It becomes a huge embarrassment when a cheating student is expected to give a perfect presentation and fails to demonstrate his ability as indicated by his/her grades. In addition, students who cheat in examination do not get a chance to grasp important concepts in class and are likely to face difficulties in the future when the same principles are applied in higher levels of learning.

The worst-case scenario in cheating in an exam is being caught. Once a student is caught, his reputation is dealt a huge blow. It is likely that such a student will be dismissed or suspended from school. This hinders his/her ability to land a good job or join graduate school. It can also lead to a complete damage of one’s reputation making it hard for others to trust you including those who cheat (Jordan 235).

Cheating in exams and assignments can be attributed to many reasons. To begin with, teaching today concentrates so much on the exams and passing rather than impacting knowledge. Lack of confidence in one’s ability and societal pressure is another reason why cheating is so wide spread. Cheating cannot solely be blamed on the students; lecturers have also played their part in this. Apparently, most lectures concentrate on teaching than giving assignments during class time. This leaves the students with loads of work to cover during their free time.

Technology has also played its part in cheating—many students turn to the internet in a bid to complete their assignments. On the other hand, it is important to note than choices have consequences and the repercussions of cheating in an exams are dire. First, it completely ruins one’s reputation thereby hindering chances of joining college or getting a good job. It also leads to suspensions and/or expulsion from school. Furthermore, the habit is so addictive that it is likely to replicate in all aspects of life—be it relationships, work, business deals etc. It is important to shun this habit as nothing good can come out of it.

Anderman, Erick and Jerome Johnston. “TV News in the Classroom: What are Adolescents Learning?” Journal of Adolescent Research , 13 (1998): 73-100. Print.

Davis, Stephen, Cathy Grover, Angela, Becker, and Loretta McGregor. “Academic Dishonesty: Prevalence, Determinants, Techniques, and Punishments”. Teaching of Psychology , 19 (1) (1996): 16–20. Print.

Jordan, Augustus E. “College Student Cheating: The Role of Motivation, Perceived Norms, Attitudes, and Knowledge of Institutional Policy. Ethics and Behavior , 11, (2001): 233–247. Print.

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How students cheat

Scribbled notes are no longer the biggest problem.

• 7 June 2024, 4:59am
• From Spectator Life

Daniel Sokol

Over the last decade, I have offered legal advice to thousands of students accused of cheating in their assessments. In university jargon, the term for cheating is ‘academic misconduct’. Although many assessments remain online after Covid, some have returned to the exam hall. There are still instances, therefore, of cheating à l’ancienne , with students writing notes on various limbs or smuggling in scraps of paper with minute writing. 

I have had clients whose former partners have tipped off their ex’s university about historical episodes of cheating

At times, the cheat is caught by an invigilator spotting a nervous glance towards an annotated palm. In other cases, the crib sheet falls out of a pocket or protrudes from its hiding place. Other methods involve concealing notes nearby before the start of the exam, such as in a lavatory, and then finding excuses to visit those places during the exam. Frequent toilet visits will naturally arouse suspicion, especially if the student scribbles furiously on each return to the desk. 

Some students carry phones in exams and, when caught, claim that they ‘forgot to put it away’. This explanation falls flat when the institution shows that the student accessed the online ‘virtual learning environment’, containing lecture notes and revision guides, at the same time as the exam took place.

With no invigilators patrolling the room, it is far easier to cheat in remote assessments. Students can access their notes or online materials, and they can interact with others with little chance of detection (‘hey, what did you get for question three?’). Some work-shy students divide up an exam paper among themselves, sharing the answers with each other. For example, student A would be tasked with answering the first two questions, student B the next two and so on. 

Detection is more likely if a large number of students share materials on a WhatsApp group, or similar platform, because it takes just one guilt-ridden student to inform the university and land everyone in hot water.

Another common giveaway is multiple students making the same, unusual mistake. If student A and student B are the only ones to answer ‘2 + 2 = 143.527’, that constitutes strong evidence of collusion. Occasionally, students A and B each claim that they are as pure as the driven snow and blame the other for pinching their answer.

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A few institutions use specialist proctoring software for online assessments, which can monitor eye and body movements. Some students have been accused of cheating after the software identified suspicious, prolonged gazing away from the screen. Having a covert device next to a computer during the remote assessment is simple enough, but I have had clients who installed listening equipment inside innocent-looking ear protectors (‘there are small children in the house and I need peace and quiet’). This allowed them to communicate with a third party in another room, who had a duplicate computer screen and fed them the answers verbally.

Many clients have paid others to write their essays. One Master’s student confessed to me that every single essay he had submitted that year had been purchased from an essay-writer. I have even had PhD students whose entire thesis – close to 100,00 words – was written by a third party. These essay-writers, aware that their clients are breaching university rules, can be unscrupulous. I have received several panicked calls from students, usually on weekends, who have been blackmailed by the essay-writer: ‘if you don’t pay us £1,000, we will tell everything to your university’. In another example of humanity’s vengeful side, I have had clients whose former partners have tipped off their ex’s university about historical episodes of cheating, sometimes years after the event. This can lead to the revocation of degrees and other qualifications.

This year, I have seen a sharp rise in allegations of AI-related cheating, with many universities still uncertain about how to deal with the rapidly evolving technology. Just months ago, AI-written essays were relatively easy to spot, with its errors and fictitious references. As the errors, or ‘hallucinations’, reduce and students realise that they should avoid cut and pasting responses, it is becoming harder to identify AI-written text. Ironically, there is AI software that ‘humanises’ AI-written text, and the savvier students know to sprinkle deliberate errors in the work.

My clients tell me that cheating is rife, and that the vast majority of it goes undetected. ‘Lots of people on my course have colluded but they didn’t get caught,’ is a phrase I often hear.

In 2022, I commissioned a study which asked 900 undergraduates about cheating. It was completely anonymous. One in six admitted to having cheated in online exams that academic year. Of those, only 5 per cent had been caught. Some 52 per cent of the students knew people who had cheated in online assessments that year.

As a barrister, I do not pass judgement on my clients, innocent or guilty, and I strain every sinew to achieve the best outcome for them. This ranges from securing a finding of ‘no case to answer’ to avoiding the nuclear sanction of expulsion.

However, when I take off my horsehair wig, I believe far more must be done by universities to teach students about the wrongs of academic misconduct. A few slides during induction, and a line or two in a mass e-mail to students, have little impact. They should also make it harder for students to cheat. Given the ease with which students can do so in remote assessments, through collusion, commissioning work from others, and more recently AI, a return to the exam hall should be the norm for most students. Cheating will still happen, of course, but at a lower rate, and while I would have fewer clients, the educational value of a university degree would be improved. 

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Essays About Cheating: Top 5 Examples and 9 Writing Prompts

Essays about cheating show the value of honesty, see our top picks for examples and prompts you can use in writing.

In the US, 95% of high school students admitted to participating in some form of academic cheating . This includes exams and plagiarism . However, cheating doesn’t only occur in schools. It’s also prevalent in couples. Psychologists say that 50% of divorce cases in the country are because of infidelity . Other forms of cheating exist, such as cheating on a diet, a business deal, etc.

Because cheating is an intriguing subject, many want to read about it. However, to write essays about cheating appropriately, you must first pick a subtopic you’re comfortable discussing. Therefore, we have selected five simple but exemplary pieces you can read to get inspiration for writing your paper.

See below our round-up of top example essays about cheating .

1. Long Essay On Cheating In School By Prasanna

2. the reality of cheating in college essay by writer kip, 3. why cheating is wrong by bernadette mcbride, 4. what counts as cheating in a relationship by anonymous on gradesfixer, 5. emotional cheating by anonymous on papersowl, 1. types of cheating, 2. i was cheated on, 3. is cheating a mistake or choice, 4. tax evasion and cheating , 5. when i cheated, 6. cheating in american schools and universities, 7. review a famous book or film about cheating, 8. a famous cheating quote, 9. cause and effects of cheating.

“Cheating is a false representation of the child’s ability which he may not be able to give without cheating. It is unfair to everyone involved as it deprives the true one of the chance to come on the top.”

Prasanna begins the essay by defining cheating in schools and then incorporates how this unethical behavior occurs in reality. She further delves into the argument that cheating is not learning but an addiction that can result in students losing self-confidence, sanity, and integrity. 

Apart from showing the common causes and harmful effects of cheating on students, Prasanna also adds parents’ and teachers’ critical roles in helping students in their studies to keep them from cheating.

“It’s human nature to want to win, and some of us will go against the rules to do so. It can be harmless, but in many cases, it is annoying, or even hurtful.”

Kip defines cheating as human nature and focuses his essay on individuals who are hell-bent on wanting to win in online games. Unfortunately, these players’ desire to be on top is all-consuming, and they’re willing to go against the rules and disregard their integrity.

He talks about his experiences of being cheated in a game called AoE. He also incorporates the effects of these instances on newbies. These cheaters will humiliate, dishearten, and traumatize beginners who only want to have fun.

Check out these essays about cooperation .

“A cheater is more than likely lying to themselves more than to the people around them. A person can only go so far before their lies catch up to them, begin to accumulate, and start to penalize you.”

Mcbride dedicates her essay to answering why cheating is wrong, no matter the circumstance. She points out that there will always be a definite punishment for cheaters, whether they get caught. Mcbride believes that students who cheat, copy, and have someone else do their work are lazy and irresponsible. These students will never gain knowledge.

However, she also acknowledges that some cheaters are desperate, while some don’t realize the repercussions of their behaviors. At the end of the essay, she admits to cheating but says she’s no longer part of that vicious cycle, promising she has already realized her mistakes and doesn’t want to cheat again.

“Keep in mind that relationships are not based on logic, but are influenced by our emotions.”

The author explains how it’s challenging to define cheating in a relationship. It’s because every person has varying views on the topic. What others consider an affair may be acceptable to some. This includes the partners ‘ interaction with others while also analyzing the individual’s personality, such as flirting, sleeping in the same bed, and spending time with folks.

The essay further explains experts’ opinions on why men and women cheat and how partners heal and rebuild their trust. Finally, examples of different forms of cheating are discussed in the piece to give the readers more information on the subject. 

“…emotional cheating can be described as a desire to engage in another relationship without physically leaving his or her primary relationship.”

There’s an ongoing debate about whether emotional cheating should be labeled as such. The essay digs into the causes of emotional cheating to answer this issue. These reasons include lack of attention to each other, shortage of affectionate gestures, and misunderstandings or absence of proper communication. 

All of these may lead to the partner comparing their relationship to others. Soon, they fall out of love and fail to maintain boundaries, leading to insensitivity and selfishness. When a person in a relationship feels any of these, it can be a reason to look for someone else who can value them and their feelings.

9 Helpful Prompts in Writing Essays About Cheating

Here are some cheating subtopics you can focus your essay on:

Some types of cheating include deception, fabrication, bribery, impersonation, sabotage, and professional misconduct. Explain their definitions and have examples to make it easier for readers to understand.

You can use this prompt even if you don’t have any personal experience of being cheated on. You can instead relay events from a close friend or relative. First, narrate what happened and why. Then add what the person did to move on from the situation and how it affected them. Finally, incorporate lessons they’ve learned.

While this topic is still discussed by many, for you, is cheating a redeemable mistake? Or is it a choice with consequences? Express your opinion on this matter. Gather reliable evidence to support your claims, such as studies and research findings, to increase your essay’s credibility.

Tax evasion is a crime with severe penalties. Explain what it is and its punishments through a famous tax evasion case your readers can immediately recognize. For example, you can use Al Capone and his 11-year imprisonment and $215,000 back taxes . Talk through why he was charged with such and add your opinion . Ensure you have adequate and reliable sources to back up your claims.

Start with a  5 paragraph essay  to better organize your points.

Some say everyone will cheat at some point in their life. Talk about the time you cheated – it can be at a school exam, during work, or while on a diet. Put the perspective that made you think cheating was reasonable. Did you feel guilt? What did you do after, and did you cheat again? Answer these questions in your essay for an engaging and thrilling piece of writing.

Since academic cheating is notorious in America, use this topic for your essay. Find out which areas have high rates of academic cheating. What are their penalties? Why is cheating widespread? Include any measures the academe put in place.

Cheating is a frequent cause of conflict on small and big screens. Watch a film or read a story and write a review . Briefly summarize the plot, critique the characters, and add your realizations after finishing the piece. 

Goodreads has a list of books related to cheating. Currently, Thoughtless by S.C. Stephens has the highest rating.

Use this as an opportunity to write a unique essay by explaining the quote based on your understanding. It can be quotes from famous personalities or something that resonates with you and your experiences.

Since cheating’s cause and effect is a standard prompt, center your essay on an area unrelated to academics or relationships. For instance, write about cheating on your diet or cheating yourself of the opportunities life presents you.

Create a top-notch essay with excellent grammar. See our list of the best grammar checkers.

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

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ChatGPT Is Making Universities Rethink Plagiarism

In late December of his sophomore year, Rutgers University student Kai Cobbs came to a conclusion he never thought possible:  Artificial intelligence might just be dumber than humans. 

After listening to his peers rave about the generative AI tool  ChatGPT , Cobbs decided to toy around with the chatbot while writing an essay on the history of capitalism. Best known for its ability to generate long-form written content in response to user input prompts, Cobbs expected the tool to produce a nuanced and thoughtful response to his specific research directions. Instead, his screen produced a generic, poorly written paper he’d never dare to claim as his own. 

“The quality of writing was appalling. The phrasing was awkward and it lacked complexity,” Cobbs says. “I just logically can’t imagine a student using writing that was generated through ChatGPT for a paper or anything when the content is just plain bad.” 

Not everyone shares Cobbs’ disdain. Ever since OpenAI launched the chatbot in November,  educators have been struggling with how to handle a new wave of student work produced with the help of artificial intelligence. While some public school systems, like New York City’s, have banned the use of ChatGPT on school devices and networks to curb cheating, universities have been reluctant to follow suit. In higher education, the introduction of generative AI has raised thorny questions about the definition of plagiarism and academic integrity on campuses where new digital research tools come into play all the time. 

Make no mistake, the birth of ChatGPT does not mark the emergence of concerns relating to the improper use of the internet in academia. When  Wikipedia launched in 2001 , universities nationwide were  scrambling to decipher their own research philosophies and understandings of honest academic work, expanding policy boundaries to match pace with technological innovation. Now, the stakes are a little more complex, as schools figure out how to treat bot-produced work rather than weird attributional logistics. The world of higher education is playing a familiar game of catch-up, adjusting their rules, expectations, and perceptions as other professions adjust, too. The only difference now is that the internet can think for itself. 

According to ChatGPT, the definition of plagiarism is the act of using someone else’s work or ideas without giving proper credit to the original author. But when the work is generated by some thing rather than some one , this definition is tricky to apply. As Emily Hipchen, a board member of Brown University’s Academic Code Committee, puts it, the use of generative AI by students leads to a critical point of contention. “If [plagiarism] is stealing from a person,” she says, “then I don’t know that we have a person who is being stolen from.”

Hipchen is not alone in her speculation. Alice Dailey, chair of the Academic Integrity Program at Villanova University, is also grappling with the idea of classifying an algorithm as a person, specifically if the algorithm involves text generation.

By Julian Chokkattu

By Henri Robbins

By Medea Giordano

By Jaina Grey

Dailey believes that eventually professors and students are going to need to understand that digital tools that generate text, rather than just collect facts, are going to need to fall under the umbrella of things that can be plagiarized from. 

Although Dailey acknowledges that this technological growth incites new concerns in the world of academia, she doesn’t find it to be a realm entirely unexplored. “I think we’ve been in a version of this territory for a while already,” Dailey says. “Students who commit plagiarism often borrow material from a ‘somewhere’—a website, for example, that doesn’t have clear authorial attribution. I suspect the definition of plagiarism will expand to include things that produce.” 

Eventually, Dailey believes, a student who uses text from ChatGPT will be seen as no different than one that copies and pastes chunks of text from Wikipedia without attribution. 

Students’ views on ChatGPT are another issue entirely. There are those, like Cobbs, who can’t imagine putting their name on anything bot-generated, but there are others who see it as just another tool, like spellcheck or even a calculator. For Brown University sophomore Jacob Gelman, ChatGPT exists merely as a convenient research assistant and nothing more.

“Calling the use of ChatGPT to pull reliable sources from the internet ‘cheating’ is absurd. It’s like saying using the internet to conduct research is unethical,” Gelman says. “To me, ChatGPT is the research equivalent of [typing assistant] Grammarly. I use it out of practicality and that’s really all.” Cobbs expressed similar sentiment, comparing the AI bot to “an online encyclopedia.”

But while students like Gelman use the bot to speed up research, others take advantage of the high-capacity prompt input feature to generate completed works for submission. It might seem obvious what qualifies as cheating here, but different schools across the country offer contrasting takes.

According to Carlee Warfield, chair of Bryn Mawr College’s Student Honor Board, the school considers any use of these AI platforms as plagiarism. The tool’s popularization just calls for greater focus in evaluating the intent behind students’ violations. Warfield explains that students who turn in essays entirely produced by AI are categorically different from those who borrow from online tools without knowledge of standard citations. Because the ChatGPT phenomenon is still new, students’ confusion surrounding the ethics is understandable. And it's unclear what policies will remain in place once the dust settles—at any school.

In the midst of fundamental change in both the academic and technological spheres, universities are forced to reconsider their definitions of academic integrity to reasonably reflect the circumstances of society. The only problem is, society shows no stagnance. 

“Villanova’s current academic integrity code will be updated to include language that prohibits the use of these tools to generate text that then students represent as text they generated independently,” Dailey explained. “But I think it’s an evolving thing. And what it can do and what we will then need in order to keep an eye on will also be kind of a moving target.”

In addition to increasingly complex questions about whether ChatGPT is a research tool or a plagiarism engine, there’s also the possibility that it can be  used for learning. In other educational settings, teachers see it as a way to show students the shortcomings of AI. Some instructors are already  modifying how they teach by giving students assignments bots couldn’t complete, like those that require personal details or anecdotes. There’s also the matter of detecting AI use in students’ work, which is a  burgeoning cottage industry all its own. 

Ultimately, Dailey says, schools may need rules that reflect a range of variables.

“My guess is that there will be the development of some broad blanket policies that essentially say, unless you have permission from a professor to use AI tools, using them will be considered a violation of the academic integrity code,” Dailey says. “That then gives faculty broad latitude to use it in their teaching or in their assignments, as long as they are stipulating explicitly that they are allowing it.”

As for ChatGTP, the program agrees. “Advances in fields such as artificial intelligence are expected to drive significant innovation in the coming years,” it says, when asked how schools can combat academic dishonesty. “Schools should constantly review and update their academic honor codes as technology evolves to ensure they are addressing the current ways in which technology is being used in academic settings.”

But, a bot would say that. 

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Best Learning Essay Examples

Student cheating.

714 words | 3 page(s)

Introduction

Student cheating is used to describe any form of academic dishonesty or using unlawful means to achieve a result. While in college, it is very easy for students to forget long term penalties of the decisions they make because of short term pressure or influence (Thompson, 2013). Cheating may look like an ideal solution to a student who does not study but wants to achieve success in class. The effects and consequences of cheating may be very serious ranging from serious legal problems, academic difficulties and damage of reputation.

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Effects of Cheating According to Hinrichsen (2011), different universities and colleges have different policies stating what punishments the students caught cheating face. Besides these punishments, cheating is an immoral act that has its effects that reflect directly on the student. Cheating makes students come out of colleges without the expected academic requirements. This is because once in college, the students become lazy to study and conduct research which is very necessary in knowledge acquisition. Therefore, cheating students do not meet the academic threshold to perform well in the job market (Archer, 2013).

Consequences of Cheating Cheating can make a student to completely fail a course (Thompson, 2013). This implies that the student not only fails the assignment in which he was caught cheating, but the whole course including the subjects that the student has previously passed. In some institutions, the student is awarded the lowest grade in case of cheating. This pulls down the students aggregate points making the student fail in the final grade awarded.

Students caught cheating may face suspension from the academic institution. After a cheating incident, a student may be forced to be out of school for a whole academic semester or academic year. Suspension makes the students fall behind schedule and loose colleagues. This can also make a student to lose financial aid or sponsorship from other well-wishers. Students who aid cheating may also face the same punishments (Archer, 2013).

In some institutions, cheating may lead to expulsion. The school management may expel a student on the first offense or after a series of the offense depending on the policy of the institution. This does not only entail permanent dismissal from the institution, but also a permanent offense may be imposed in the academic record of the student. This punishment may prevent a student from reaching his academic and career goals and objectives. This also has a negative impact on jobs that may require security clearance on academic background.

Cheating can lead to exposure to legal consequences. This mostly happens when a student uses a person’s copyrighted work inappropriately. This happens when a student carries published work and records it as part of his research without appropriate citation. The student may be forced to pay financial damages to the publisher.

Why students Choose to Study Hinrichsen (2011) outlines that there are various reasons as to why students study. Studying is very essential for a student to acquire the required knowledge for the course of study as outlined in the curriculum. Studying also prepares the student well on how to handle issues that pertain to the course once they complete the studies and go to the job market. Students who study well usually have very high confidence in performing activities related to the course.

How to Avoid Cheating Students should by all means avoid cheating. This can be possible through good preparation for examinations and assignments. Students should also be very careful not to lose focus on the career goals and objectives. Students should also be very careful and avoid the distractions that may be caused from peer influence that may lead to adoption of such negative behavior (Thompson, 2013).

Conclusion Studying is very crucial for a student. This is because of the preparation that it puts in a student for future activities (Archer, 2013). Cheating is an activity that averts the intention of academic studies and should be totally discouraged. This is because it affects the academic acquisition process in a student and thus may lead to creation of half-baked professionals who may not produce good results at work.

• Archer, J. (2013). Exam Cheating. Retrieved from. http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/effects-students-caught-cheating-college-6186.html
• Hinrichsen, E. (2011). Consequences of Exam Cheating. The Bright Hub. July 2011
• Thompson, V. (2013). Effects of Exam Cheating. Retrieved from http://education.seattlepi.com/effects-students-caught-cheating-college-1219.html

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clock This article was published more than  1 year ago

We tested a new ChatGPT-detector for teachers. It flagged an innocent student.

Five high school students helped our tech columnist test a ChatGPT detector coming from Turnitin to 2.1 million teachers. It missed enough to get someone in trouble.

High school senior Lucy Goetz got the highest possible grade on an original essay she wrote about socialism. So imagine her surprise when I told her that a new kind of educational software I’ve been testing claimed she got help from artificial intelligence.

A new AI-writing detector from Turnitin — whose software is already used by 2.1 million teachers to spot plagiarism — flagged the end of her essay as likely being generated by ChatGPT .

“Say what?” says Goetz, who swears she didn’t use the AI writing tool to cheat. “I’m glad I have good relationships with my teachers.”

After months of sounding the alarm about students using AI apps that can churn out essays and assignments, teachers are getting AI technology of their own. On April 4, Turnitin is activating the software I tested for some 10,700 secondary and higher-educational institutions, assigning “generated by AI” scores and sentence-by-sentence analysis to student work. It joins a handful of other free detectors already online. For many teachers I’ve been hearing from, AI detection offers a weapon to deter a 21st-century form of cheating.

But AI alone won’t solve the problem AI created. The flag on a portion of Goetz’s essay was an outlier, but shows detectors can sometimes get it wrong — with potentially disastrous consequences for students. Detectors are being introduced before they’ve been widely vetted, yet AI tech is moving so fast, any tool is likely already out of date.

It’s a pivotal moment for educators: Ignore AI and cheating could go rampant. Yet even Turnitin’s executives tell me that treating AI purely as the enemy of education makes about as much sense in the long run as trying to ban calculators.

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Ahead of Turnitin’s launch this week, the company says 2 percent of customers have asked it not to display the AI writing score on student work. That includes a "significant majority” of universities in the United Kingdom, according to UCISA , a professional body for digital educators.

To see what’s at stake, I asked Turnitin for early access to its software. Five high school students, including Goetz, volunteered to help me test it by creating 16 samples of real, AI-fabricated and mixed-source essays to run past Turnitin’s detector.

The result? It got over half of them at least partly wrong. Turnitin accurately identified six of the 16 — but failed on three, including a flag on 8 percent of Goetz’s original essay. And I’d give it only partial credit on the remaining seven, where it was directionally correct but misidentified some portion of ChatGPT-generated or mixed-source writing.

Turnitin claims its detector is 98 percent accurate overall. And it says situations such as what happened with Goetz’s essay, known as a false positive, happen less than 1 percent of the time, according to its own tests.

Turnitin also says its scores should be treated as an indication, not an accusation . Still, will millions of teachers understand they should treat AI scores as anything other than fact? After my conversations with the company, it added a caution flag to its score that reads, “Percentage may not indicate cheating. Review required.”

“Our job is to create directionally correct information for the teacher to prompt a conversation,” Turnitin chief product officer Annie Chechitelli tells me. “I’m confident enough to put it out in the market, as long as we’re continuing to educate educators on how to use the data.” She says the company will keep adjusting its software based on feedback and new AI advancements.

The question is whether that will be enough. “The fact that the Turnitin system for flagging AI text doesn’t work all the time is concerning,” says Rebecca Dell, who teaches Goetz’s AP English class in Concord, Calif. “I’m not sure how schools will be able to definitively use the checker as ‘evidence’ of students using unoriginal work.”

Unlike accusations of plagiarism, AI cheating has no source document to reference as proof. “This leaves the door open for teacher bias to creep in,” says Dell.

For students, that makes the prospect of being accused of AI cheating especially scary. “There is no way to prove that you didn’t cheat unless your teacher knows your writing style, or trusts you as a student,” says Goetz.

Why detecting AI is so hard

Spotting AI writing sounds deceptively simple. When a colleague recently asked me if I could detect the difference between real and ChatGPT-generated emails, I didn’t perform very well.

Detecting AI writing with software involves statistics. And statistically speaking, the thing that makes AI distinct from humans is that it’s “extremely consistently average,” says Eric Wang, Turnitin’s vice president of AI.

Systems such as ChatGPT work like a sophisticated version of auto-complete, looking for the most probable word to write next. “That’s actually the reason why it reads so naturally: AI writing is the most probable subset of human writing,” he says.

Turnitin’s detector “identifies when writing is too consistently average,” Wang says.

The challenge is that sometimes a human writer may actually look consistently average.

On economics, math and lab reports, students tend to hew to set styles, meaning they’re more likely to be misidentified as AI writing, says Wang. That’s likely why Turnitin erroneously flagged Goetz’s essay, which veered into economics. (“My teachers have always been fairly impressed with my writing,” says Goetz.)

Wang says Turnitin worked to tune its systems to err on the side of requiring higher confidence before flagging a sentence as AI. I saw that develop in real time: I first tested Goetz’s essay in late January, and the software identified much more of it — about 50 percent — as being AI generated. Turnitin ran my samples through its system again in late March, and that time only flagged 8 percent of Goetz’s essay as AI-generated.

But tightening up the software’s tolerance came with a cost: Across the second test of my samples, Turnitin missed more actual AI writing. “We’re really emphasizing student safety,” says Chechitelli.

Say hello to your new tutor: It’s ChatGPT

Turnitin does perform better than other public AI detectors I tested. One introduced in February by OpenAI, the company that invented ChatGPT, got eight of our 16 test samples wrong. (Independent tests of other detectors have declared they “ fail spectacularly .”)

Turnitin’s detector faces other important technical limitations, too. In the six samples it got completely right, they were all clearly 100 percent student work or produced by ChatGPT. But when I tested it with essays from mixed AI and human sources, it often misidentified the individual sentences or missed the human part entirely. And it couldn’t spot the ChatGPT in papers we ran through Quillbot, a paraphrasing program that remixes sentences.

What’s more, Turnitin’s detector may already be behind the state of the AI art. My student helpers created samples with ChatGPT, but since they did the writing, the app has gotten a software update called GPT-4 with more creative and stylistic capabilities. Google also introduced a new AI bot called Bard . Wang says addressing them is on his road map.

Some AI experts say any detection efforts are at best setting up an arms race between cheaters and detectors. “I don’t think a detector is long-term reliable,” says Jim Fan, an AI scientist at Nvidia who used to work at OpenAI and Google.

“The AI will get better, and will write in ways more and more like humans. It is pretty safe to say that all of these little quirks of language models will be reduced over time,” he says.

Is detecting AI a good idea?

Given the potential — even at 1 percent — of being wrong, why release an AI detector into software that will touch so many students?

“Teachers want deterrence,” says Chechitelli. They’re extremely worried about AI and helping them see the scale of the actual problem will “bring down the temperature.”

Some educators worry it will actually raise the temperature.

Mitchel Sollenberger, the associate provost for digital education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, is among the officials who asked Turnitin not to activate AI detection for his campus at its initial launch.

He has specific concerns about how false positives on the roughly 20,000 student papers his faculty run through Turnitin each semester could lead to baseless academic-integrity investigations. “Faculty shouldn’t have to be expert in a third-party software system — they shouldn’t necessarily have to understand every nuance,” he says.

Ian Linkletter, who serves as emerging technology and open-education librarian at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, says the push for AI detectors reminds him of the debate about AI exam proctoring during pandemic virtual learning.

“I am worried they’re marketing it as a precision product, but they’re using dodgy language about how it shouldn’t be used to make decisions,” he says. “They’re working at an accelerated pace not because there is any desperation to get the product out but because they’re terrified their existing product is becoming obsolete.”

Said Chechitelli: “We are committed to transparency with the community and have been clear about the need to continue iterating on the user experience as we learn more from students and educators.

Deborah Green, CEO of UCISA in the U.K., tells me she understands and appreciates Turnitin’s motives for the detector. “What we need is time to satisfy ourselves as to the accuracy, the reliability and particularly the suitability of any tool of this nature.”

It’s not clear how the idea of an AI detector fits into where AI is headed in education . “In some academic disciplines, AI tools are already being used in the classroom and in assessment,” says Green. “The emerging view in many U.K. universities is that with AI already being used in many professions and areas of business, students actually need to develop the critical thinking skills and competencies to use and apply AI well.”

There’s a lot more subtlety to how students might use AI than a detector can flag today.

My student tests included a sample of an original student essay written in Spanish, then translated into English with ChatGPT. In that case, what should count: the ideas or the words? What if the student was struggling with English as a second language? (In our test, Turnitin’s detector appeared to miss the AI writing, and flagged none of it.)

Would it be more or less acceptable if a student asked ChatGPT to outline all the ideas for an assignment, and then wrote the actual words themselves?

“That’s the most interesting and most important conversation to be having in the next six months to a year — and one we’ve been having with instructors ourselves,” says Chechitelli.

“We really feel strongly that visibility, transparency and integrity are the foundations of the conversations we want to have next around how this technology is going to be used,” says Wang.

For Dell, the California teacher, the foundation of AI in the classroom is an open conversation with her students.

When ChatGPT first started making headlines in December, Dell focused an entire lesson with Goetz’s English class on what ChatGPT is, and isn’t good for. She asked it to write an essay for an English prompt her students had already completed themselves, and then the class analyzed the AI’s performance.

The AI wasn’t very good.

“Part of convincing kids not to cheat is making them understand what we ask them to do is important for them,” said Dell.

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The Sydney Morning Herald

Thousands of students caught cheating overwhelm university integrity departments, by daniella white, save articles for later.

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Thousands of students have been accused of cheating and paying others to do their work as the record number of misconduct cases forces universities to beef up their investigation departments.

The large-scale return of international students has reignited fears of a cheating black market linked to visa fraud, while forensic IT advances have helped investigators find more cheating students.

The University of Sydney recorded a 1000 per cent increase in serious academic cheating in two years. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Australia’s higher education watchdog, Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), has warned that cheating companies run by criminal syndicates are becoming more aggressive in their pursuit of students and are even making threats against investigators.

New figures reveal Sydney University recorded a 1000 per cent increase in serious academic cheating referred to the registrar between 2021 and 2023, with extra resources needed to get through a backlog of cases.

Guy Curtis, an academic integrity expert from University of Western Australia, said universities had gotten much better at detecting contract cheating and were catching people even before markers had even looked at an assignment.

He said institutions were using forensic IT methods to find “patterns of engagement” with computer systems and detect contract cheating , where students pay companies or individuals to ghostwrite essays or assignments.

“What we know about contract cheating is that it’s still fairly prevalent [even with advances in AI] because students are worried about the ways to detect AI use,” Curtis said.

“There are forums on contract cheating writers and I’ve seen them discuss that students have been caught for using AI and come back to have real people write things for them.”

Curtis said the widespread return of international students after the pandemic also increased concerns of the intersection between visa and admission fraud, and contract cheating organised crime groups.

“The system would be such that a person coming into Australia who might be involved in a low-paid job or sex trafficking, comes to Australia on a student visa,” he said. “And part of the package for people who are exploiting that student as a worker is that the student’s enrolment in university is maintained by the fact they continue to pass courses, because the work is done by other people.”

At the University of Wollongong, substantiated allegations of academic misconduct rose almost 50 per cent in 2023 compared to 2022.

The university attributed much of the increase to a spike in misconduct on online exams and of the 526 matters, 406 resulted in a “low-level” outcome, and 120 in a “medium-level” outcome.

TEQSA’s director of the academic integrity unit, Dr Helen Gniel, said the watchdog was concerned about a rise in aggressive behaviour from contract cheating providers who often have links to organised crime.

“We know that blackmail [of students] happens,” she said. “We’ve seen direct evidence where people have written to TEQSA and said ‘I did all this student’s work and they didn’t pay me, I want you to take away their degrees’.

“[There’s also been] an uptick in aggression directed at the staff who do the really important work of detection.”

She said the watchdog was also concerned that contract cheating providers were expanding the services they offered to include such things as admissions fraud.

Sydney University said its move away from online exams in 2023 resulted in a reduction in exam misconduct. However, at the same time it reported a “concerning increase” in contract cheating cases – which involves students paying other people to do their work for them.

It said it increased resources to manage the record number of academic integrity breaches flowing through from 6608 cases in 2022 and 5076 new alleged breaches in 2023.

The university recorded 940 contract cheating cases in 2023, up from 444 in 2022.

The record number of alleged breaches in 2022 saw a three-fold increase in serious academic misconduct cases referred to the registrar during 2023: 1038 cases in 2023, up from 345 in 2022 and 92 in 2021.

“Alongside a number of indicators of misconduct, we also use a range of technologies to detect and investigate cases,” a spokeswoman said.

“Where appropriate, we investigate writing style, IP address, website access and use analytical data, text- and code-matching software, web bots and other resources.

“Our decision maker then makes a finding on the balance of probability, taking all the evidence into account.”

University of NSW, which did not provide 2023 data or answer specific questions, said its efforts were focused on educating students on the appropriate use of generative AI, the risks of engaging with contract cheating providers and penalties where academic misconduct is detected.

Curtis said that as universities got better at detecting cheating, they needed to have the resources to deal with the increased case load.

“I have seen in a few universities over the time, one of the reasons they develop a central unit of academic integrity is that they have instances where they have so many cases that they realise it breaks their existing system.”

Australia’s anti-cheating laws make it an offence to provide or advertise academic cheating services in higher education and give TEQSA the power to block access to sites providing the illegal services .

Late last month, TEQSA blocked 79 new websites that offer contract cheating services, bringing the total number of banned pages to almost 370.

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How teachers and students feel about a.i..

As the school year begins, their thinking has evolved.

By Natasha Singer

I sat in on a ChatGPT workshop this month for teachers at Walla Walla High School, about 270 miles southeast of Seattle. As a reporter who covers education technology, I have closely followed how generative artificial intelligence has upended education .

Now that the first full school year of the A.I. chatbot era is beginning, I wanted to ask administrators and educators how their thinking had evolved since last spring. Walla Walla, a district that serves some 5,500 students, seemed like a timely location to begin the conversation. After blocking student access to ChatGPT in February, Walla Walla administrators told me they unblocked it last month and are now embracing A.I. tools.

So I jumped at the chance to learn more about how teachers there are planning to use chatbots with their students this academic year. You can read more in my story today about how school districts across the country are repealing their ChatGPT bans.

My colleague Kevin Roose has some great suggestions in his column today on how schools can survive, “and maybe even thrive,” with A.I. tools this fall. Step one, Kevin says: “Assume all students are going to use the technology.”

We recently asked educators, professors, and high school and college students to tell us about their experiences using A.I. chatbots for teaching and learning. We got a massive response — more than 350 submissions. Here are some highlights:

Teaching with A.I.

I love A.I. chatbots! I use them to make variations on quiz questions. I have them check my instructions for clarity. I have them brainstorm activity and assignment ideas. I’ve tried using them to evaluate student essays, but it isn’t great at that.

— Katy Pearce, associate professor, University of Washington

Before they even use ChatGPT, I help students discern what is worth knowing, figuring out how to look it up, and what information or research is worth “outsourcing” to A.I. I also teach students how to think critically about the data collected from the chatbot — what might be missing, what can be improved and how they can expand the “conversation” to get richer feedback.

— Nicole Haddad, Southern Methodist University

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• INSTITUTIONS

BEIJING, June 7 -- With rain easing summer heat in Beijing on Friday morning, conditions were cool and fresh as tens of thousands of students made their way to venues to take China's 2024 national college entrance examination.

Buses have been ordered to take detours and construction operations have been halted, as authorities implemented steps to avoid noise at the city's 105 entrance examination test sites during the four-day exam period, according to the municipal government's notice.

On Friday, a total of 13.42 million young people across China began participating in this year's college entrance test, known as the gaokao. This number is a record high since matriculation resumed in China in 1977, and marks an increase of 510,000 students compared to last year, the Ministry of Education revealed.

Wearing a red dress, Liu Jinhuan gave her daughter a big hug and then watched her walk towards a gaokao test site inside Beijing 101 Middle School in Haidian District in the northwest of the Chinese capital.

"I chose this dress for an auspicious start on the first day of my daughter's exam. I believe taking the gaokao exam is quite an experience for young people like my daughter, preparing them to learn how to face future challenges in life," she said.

The exam is considered crucial for young Chinese people, with results determining their university admissions and even shaping their career prospects.

This year, the seven provincial-level regions of Heilongjiang, Gansu, Jilin, Anhui, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Guangxi have introduced changes to the exam. In addition to the unified national exam for the three major subjects, namely Chinese, mathematics and foreign language, students in these regions are allowed to choose between physics and history when taking the exam, and select two among the other four subjects -- ideology and politics, geography, chemistry and biology.

Meanwhile in Beijing, following two days of the unified national exam for the three major subjects, students will need to take exams for three of the other six subjects -- ideology and politics, history, geography, physics, chemistry and biology.

China's college admission rate has seen a significant rise in recent years. Nonetheless, the gaokao, the largest exam of its kind in the world, is still widely recognized as one of the toughest college entrance exams globally.

Although the pressure is intense, it is considered a fair game for those who study hard, rewarding them with good scores and access to the country's institutions of higher learning.

The Chinese government and the whole society have shown great determination to ensure the fairness of the gaokao.

Special provisions are in place for students with disabilities and other special needs, according to authorities. These include the creation of Braille exam papers for 15 visually impaired candidates across 11 provincial-level regions. Notably, support is available for over 11,000 candidates with disabilities this year.

To ensure the fairness of the exam, police departments are targeting cheating in all forms, from providing exam papers or answers ahead of exams to relaying answers to students via wireless devices during exams. Those who cheat during the exam run the risk of being stripped of their college enrollment qualification prospects for a period ranging from one to three years.

In south China's Guangdong Province, advanced technology including artificial intelligence is involved in checking for exam cheating.

All examinees can only reach the test sites in Guangdong after passing two checks using detectors and another when passing through a security machine gate -- all of which are designed to detect electronic devices.

Meanwhile, intelligent inspection systems are used to monitor exam venues in the province, where radio signal shielding equipment is also used to prevent cheating.

SOCIAL SUPPORT

Chinese society, renowned for valuing young people's education, is enthusiastically mobilized to give a helping hand to gaokao candidates.

Outside the exam venue of Beijing 101 Middle School, traffic police appeared on the street as early as 6 a.m. on Friday to help smooth and reduce the flow of vehicles and pedestrians, as the school is located near the famous Summer Palace scenic spot as well as Tsinghua University and Peking University.

Parents of examinees waited quietly outside the school, which has prepared beach umbrellas and benches on the sidewalk for them.

In Shanghai, four major taxi dispatch centers started as early as June 1 to accept taxi bookings for students taking the exam.

The public security department of Liaoning Province in northeast China has also been active in assisting students, setting up service booths at test sites to provide an on-site ID verification service in case gaokao candidates lose or damage their ID cards before the exam.

In addition, police vehicles on street patrol make a point of assisting gaokao examinees in case of traffic congestion and other emergencies that may prevent them from taking the exam.

Thankfully, gaokao is no longer the only option for young people in China seeking to pursue higher education.

"I passed an enrollment exam at the Liaoning Rail Transit Vocational College in April to study mechanical manufacturing and automation," said Kang Yuhan, a high school senior in Liaoning.

He feels the vocational college qualification will give him an advantage in securing better job prospects in the country's thriving railway sector.

Higher vocational colleges, which are currently booming in China, make independent decisions concerning enrollment of students. Such enrollment tests took place ahead of the gaokao. In the manufacturing hub of Liaoning, a total of 54,000 high-school candidates were admitted to such vocational colleges in April 2024.

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