Abstract
This chapter provides a framework for markers who suspect that work they are assessing contains deliberately plagiarised passages. Five guiding questions are provided to assist the marker move from the point of suspicion through to deciding on and imposing appropriate penalties. Answers to the five questions are usually complex and often contested. The principles of fairness and defensibility are central to decisions regarding breaches of academic regulations and those principles shape the framework proposed for making decisions about deliberate plagiarism. Fishman’s (2009) definition of plagiarism is used to help determine whether plagiarism exists in the submitted work. The second question revolves around the marker’s decision about intent: was the plagiarism deliberate? Finding that an attempt to gain unearned academic credit has been made leads to the third question which is around the severity of the cheating. This third section outlines criteria that should be used when assessing severity of a breach and stresses the importance of local or institutional agreement on the criteria and the need for them to be explicitly stated in policy documents. Having decided the extent of the breach, the fourth step is to decide an appropriate penalty. A tariff system is proposed that provides a framework for matching defined levels of seriousness with a small number of pre-determined penalties. The fifth and final question revolves around ensuring that decisions are fair, defensible and sustainable and presents five significant factors that should be considered when establishing a framework to deal with deliberate attempts to breach academic regulations.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bailey, C. (2013). Negotiating writing: Challenges of the first written assignment in a UK university. In S. Sovic & M. Blythman (Eds.), International students negotiating higher education. London: Routledge.
Baird, C., & Dooey, P. (2012). Learning in transition: Culture to culture. Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association, 39, 9–20.
Baird, C., & Dooey, P. (2014). Ensuring effective student support in higher education alleged plagiarism cases. Innovative Higher Education, 39(5), 387–400.
Barrett, R., & Cox, A. (2005). ‘At least they’re learning something’: The hazy line between collaboration and collusion. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(2), 107–122.
Bertram Gallant, T. (2008). Academic integrity in the twenty-first century: A teaching and learning imperative. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Blum, S. (2007). My word! Plagiarism and college culture. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Borg, E. (2009). Local plagiarisms. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 34(4), 415–426.
Bretag T., & Green M. (2009). Determining outcomes for academic misconduct: Is it more important to be consistent or fair? 4th Asia Pacific Educational Integrity Conference, 28–30 September Wollongong.
Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., Wallace, M., Walker, R., Green, M., East, J., James, C., McGowan, U., & Partridge, L. (2011). Core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy in Australian higher education. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 7(2), 3–12.
Bretag, T., Mahmud, S., Wallace, M., Walker, R., McGowan, U., East, J., Green, M., Partridge, L., & James, C. (2013). “Teach us how to do it properly!” An Australian academic integrity student survey. Studies in Higher Education, 39(7), 1150–1169.
Carroll, J. (2007). A handbook for deterring plagiarism in higher education. Oxford: Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development, Oxford Brookes University.
Carroll, J. (2014). Revisiting the management of student plagiarism in the light of ideas outlined in 2005. Brookes eJournal of Learning and Teaching, 6(1), 127–144. http://bejlt.brookes.ac.uk/paper/revisiting-the-management-of-student-plagiarism-in-the-light-of-ideas-outlined-in-2005/ Accessed 2 Nov 2014.
Carroll, J., & Appleton, J. (2005). Towards consistent penalty decisions for breaches of academic regulations in one UK university. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 1(1), 122–146.
Carroll J., & Seymour D. (2006). The effect of a penalty tariff on consistent decision-making in cases of student plagiarism. In Proceedings of the JISC International Plagiarism Conference. http://www.jiscpas.ac.uk/2006papers.php.
Chanock, K. (2010). The right to reticence. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(5), 543–552.
Connor, U. (2005). Contrastive rhetoric. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Davis, M. (2013). The development of source use by international postgraduate students. The Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 12, 125–135.
de Lambert, K., Ellen, N., & Taylor, L. (2006). Chalkface challenges: A study of academic dishonesty amongst students in New Zealand tertiary institutions. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 31(5), 485–503.
Fishman T. (2009). “We know it when we see it” is not good enough: Toward a standard definition of plagiarism that transcends theft, fraud, and copyright, 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Educational Integrity (4APCEI) 28–30 September, University of Wollongong NSW Australia.
Gu, Q., Schweisfurth, M., & Day, C. (2010). Learning and growing in a ‘foreign’ context: Intercultural experiences of international students. Compare, 40(1), 7–23.
Hinds, J. (1987). Reader versus writer responsibility: A new typology. In U. Connor & R. Kaplan (Eds.), Writing across languages: Analysis of L2 text (pp. 141–152). Reading: Addison Wesley.
Howard, R. M. (2000). Sexuality, textuality: The cultural work of plagiarism. College English, 62(4), 473–491.
Hunt R. (2004). Whose silverware is this? Promoting plagiarism through pedagogy. JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service Conference, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. 24–28 June.
Lancaster T., & Clarke R. (2012). Dealing with contract cheating: A question of attribution. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/stem-conference/Computing1/Thomas_Lancaster_Robert_Clarke.pdf.
Levin P. (2003). Beat the witch-hunt! Peter Levin’s guide to avoiding and rebutting accusations of plagiarism, for conscientious students. http://student-friendly-guides.com/wp-content/uploads/Beat-the-Witch-hunt.pdf. Accessed 1 Nov 2014.
Marshall, S., & Garry, M. (2006). NESB and ESB students’ attitudes and perceptions of plagiarism. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 2(1), 26–37.
Martin, J., & van Haeringen, K. (2011). Can a policy change practice? An evidence-based approach to developing policy. The International Journal for Educational Integrity, 7(2), 13–22.
McCabe, D. (2005). Cheating among college and university students: A north American perspective. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 1, 1.
McCulloch, S. (2012). Citations in search of a purpose: Source use and authorial voice in L2 student writing. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 8(1), 55–69.
McGowan, U. (2005). Does educational integrity mean teaching students NOT to ‘use their own words’? International Journal for Educational Integrity, 1, 1.
Morris E., & Carroll J. (2011). Policy works: Recommendations for reviewing policy to manage unacceptable academic practice in higher education, Higher Education Academy. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/academicintegrity/policy_works.
Neville C. (2009). International students, writing and referencing. Referencing and Writing Symposium, University of Bradford, UK. 9 June 2009.
Park, C. (2003). In other (people’s) words: Plagiarism by university students – literature and lessons. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 28(5), 471–488.
Park, C. (2004). Rebels without a clause: Towards an institutional framework for dealing with plagiarism by students. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28(3), 291–306.
Pecorari, D. (2010). Academic writing and plagiarism: A linguistic analysis. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.
Rigby, D., Burton, M., Balcombe, K., Batemand, I., & Mulatue, A. (2015). Contract cheating and the market in essays. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 111(2015), 23–37.
Saltmarsh, S. (2004). Graduating tactics: Theorising plagiarism as consumptive practice. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 28(4), 445–454.
Schmitt, D. (2005). Writing in the international classroom. In J. Carroll & J. Ryan (Eds.), Teaching international students: Improving learning for all. London: Routledge.
Sutherland-Smith, W. (2010). Retribution, deterrence and reform: The dilemmas of plagiarism. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 32(1), 5–16.
Tennant P., & Duggan F. (2008). Academic misconduct benchmarking research project: Part 2. https://www.york.ac.uk/media/staffhome/learningandteaching/documents/keyfactors/AMBeR_PartII_Full_Report.pdf
Tennant P., & Rowell G. (2009–10). Benchmark plagiarism tariff: A benchmark tariff for the application of penalties for student plagiarism in higher education. www.plagiarismadvice.org/BTariff.pdf
Walker, J. (1998). Student plagiarism in universities: What are we doing about it? Higher Education Research and Development, 17(1), 89–106.
Whitley, B., & Keith-Spiegel, P. (2002). Academic dishonesty: An educator’s guide. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Yeo, S., & Chien, R. (2007). Evaluation of a process and proforma for making consistent decisions about the seriousness of plagiarism incidents. Quality in Higher Education, 13(2), 187–204.
Zivcakova, L., Wood, E., Forsyth, G., Dhillon, N., Ball, D., Corolis, B., & Petkovski, M. (2012). Examining the impact of dons providing peer instruction for academic integrity: Dons’ and students’ perspectives. Journal of Academic Ethics, 10(2), 137–150.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
About this entry
Cite this entry
Carroll, J. (2016). Making Decisions on Management of Plagiarism Cases Where There Is a Deliberate Attempt to Cheat. In: Bretag, T. (eds) Handbook of Academic Integrity. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-098-8_54
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-098-8_54
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-287-097-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-287-098-8
eBook Packages: EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education