The New Plagiarism
Story by Catherine Carlyle
Photos By Corey Mihailiuk

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There's a war on at universities between faculty trying to detect essays plagiarized from the Web
and students trying to get
good grades

                      To cheat or not to cheat is hardly the question for some university students. In fact, "cheat sites" have never been more plentiful or easier to use thanks to Web access. For the cash-ready undergrad there's a feast of essay-writing services with names like The Evil House of Cheat, Termpaper.com and The Paper Store. But the price of someone else's thoughts doesn't come cheap. Several Web sites we investigated offered "writing services" and "custom essays" with prices ranging from US$7 to $35 - and $70 for proven winners. It isn't unusual for firms to promise a bank of term papers in the 12,000 to 25,000 range, covering every topic imaginable from "Post-Modern Ethnography" to "Theme and Image of Women in Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and Rabelais". One site promises papers with
24-hour-a-day downloads, available by e-mail, fax and Fedex. MasterCard and Visa accepted.

24-hour-a-day downloads, available by e-mail, fax and Fedex. MasterCard and Visa accepted.

The temptation to plagiarize may start as early as high school with the pressure to perform. In Ontario, teachers are trying to head off plagiarism problems early. Greg Collins (BEd '97), who teaches Grade 7 English in Toronto, says he encourages students to gather data from many sources, including the Web. "If you're learning how to compare, contrast and analyze information, then plagiarizing isn't as much of an issue," says Collins.

"The fact is, with the Web, the temptation to copy is there. We've seen it. We will continue to see it. Kids will always try it. We work with them to get them out of 'school thinking' - which is, 'I have to sound really smart and have tons of facts and pretty pictures to get an A.' "

Teachers who assign lousy essays can shoulder some of the blame, he says. "If a teacher asks a kid to find five major reasons to exlain why the War of 1812 happened, you can bet a lot of kids will load up Encarta and start cutting and pasting. They do exactly what they think we want them to do."

Web cheating, dubbed "the New Plagiarism" by author Jamie McKenzie (see sidebar Net Worth) seems to be on the rise. A quick search of databases at both CNN and The New York Times brings up plenty of articles with titles like "Internet Makes Term Papers Hotter than Ever" and "The Latest Academic Vice: Computer-Assisted Cheating".

A CNN survey of US top-achievers in high school noted that 89 per cent said cheating was common, and 76 per cent admitted they had cheated on schoolwork. Ninety-four per cent of those who cheated said they never got caught. Of the 3,351 16- to 18-year-olds surveyed (all of whom had an A or B average), 98 per cent planned to attend college.

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