Universities need to fight ‘contract cheating’ together
dubai — Computers and the Internet have made both plagiarism and catching plagiarism easier when it comes to academic papers.
However, the over-use of such software to check integrity of content has pushed many university students to find alternative options such as essay mills — companies that offer ghost writing services for money.
Referred to as ‘contract cheating’, Dr Zeenath Reza Khan, assistant professor at the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD), told Khaleej Times that academics and governing bodies now need to join hands in the fight against rising cases of dishonesty in academics.
“The UAE is now a hub for education, so universities need to ensure they have strong policies in place to create a culture which promotes integrity, so that students don’t cheat.”
With technology on the rise, she said there is no doubt it is negatively impacting the way some students submit work. However, that same technology has proven to be powerful in tackling the issue, too.
“Most universities use a software called ‘Turnitin’. It has an extensive database of articles and when you run an essay through it, it will check the text to see how much has been copied from elsewhere.”
But aside from relying on technology to identify suspect papers, Khan said a holistic approach to teaching students why not to do this is needed in all universities.
Daniel Adkins, CEO of Global Institute Middle East (Education Management Services Provider of Curtin University Dubai), said while students can more easily access and plagiarise material, many professors have now become privy to the tell-tale signs of unoriginal copy.
“Many students are using Internet-based plagiarism checking software to test their plagiarised material and are then adding, removing, or substituting words to get their scores down to zero. This has led to papers being submitted that are so full of incorrect synonyms (that they are ) ... unreadable.”
He said universities need to “update their academic integrity policies” to include this type of synonym-laden paper as an academic integrity violation.
But with a rise in ghost writing companies advertising their paid services to students, there are a number of ways that universities are able to catch this type of malpractice.
“Knowing the student’s vocabulary and style of writing through taking in-class writing samples allows for easy comparison of the student’s writing to the suspected paper.”
Additionally, he said requiring oral explanation and defence of major written assignments also provide a way to catch ghost writing. But like Khan, Adkins said schools and universities need to teach students the ethics of academic integrity and to help them understand how cheating hurts them as individuals in both the short and long-term.
kelly@khaleejtimes.com
The UAE is now a hub for education, so universities need to ensure they have strong policies in place to create a culture which promotes integrity, so that students don’t cheat.” Dr Zeenath Reza Khan, University of Wollongong in Dubai
Many students are using Internet-based plagiarism checking software to test their plagiarised material and are then adding, removing, or substituting words to get their scores down to zero.” Daniel Adkins, Global Institute Middle East