For Instructors
- Show students how plagiarism reports work, and introduce Originality Check.
- Resource: 6 Principles to Guide Use of Plagiarism Detection Software and Tools created by staff at UMN’s Center for Writing and Academic Technology Support Services.
- Show students the Canvas Quiz Log and/or other course analytics that you access.
- Show students proctoring software (if you have it) – teacher view.
- Let students know your process for reporting infractions and grading practices for addressing instances of academic dishonesty - and your thinking about the ethics, integrity, and learning-based reasons for taking these approaches.
- Resource: Syllabus & Course Site Statement Examples includes examples from UMN faculty from multiple disciplines, and for graduate as well as undergraduate courses.
For Students
- Although it is possible to cheat and get away with it, it is more likely that you will get caught. Cheating not only interrupts your academic progress, but also reflects on you negatively as a student and future professional. Networking begins as a student, and cheating burns those bridges. Cheating can also end up on your transcript and follow you if you transfer to another institution.
- Faculty can often tell when the work is not your work. It is very clear when students take a quiz too quickly or when the voice in their written work shifts.
- Software can often tell, too. Additional software is used in a number of classes to ensure students are caught when cheating (Proctorio, Turnitin).
- There is a cost even when you don’t get caught. Most serial cheaters eventually get caught, but everyone who cheats will pay the larger price of not being good at the work of the field. All content is cumulative and builds on foundational content, so cheating simply means that you won’t learn the content, which will impact your ability to comprehend the advanced content that stems from the work you cheated on.