cheating does not pay essay

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Tempted to cheat? Here’s why you should think again…

13 April 2023

Paying someone to write an essay can seem tempting, but the consequences are not. ‘Contract cheating’ can have a long-lasting, negative impact on your academic and professional career.

“Need support with your essay? Short on time and struggling with deadlines? We can help.”  

This offer of support lands in your inbox, and it takes you a minute to realise this isn’t another ‘top tips’ message from UCL. You  are  stuck on an assignment, and you  do  feel like time is running out. It’s easy to understand why you’d read on.   

These marketing messages will sound familiar to many. Essay mills and essay banks target university students in the middle of assessments, when stress levels are at their highest.  

But students are being warned to ignore contact by any individual and organisation offering to do assignments for you. It may sound dramatic, but taking up these offers could affect you long into the future. 

What are essay mills and essay banks?  

Essay mills  write custom essays or assignments for a student, in exchange for a fee. They will tailor the essay to the assignment brief, word count and deadline.  

Essay banks  are similar but less-tailored services that offer a list of pre-written essays to choose from.  

These businesses may try to market these essays as ‘templates’ that you can use to generate ideas or tailor to your own needs.  

What’s the harm?  

Essay mills sound relatively harmless – after all, you’re just getting some outside help to relieve the pressure, right? However, using these services can have serious and lasting consequences:  

‘ Commissioning a third party to do a piece of assessment for you, with the intention of submitting it as if it were your own work’ is treated by UCL as ‘contract cheating’. This is a specific type of academic misconduct which can be investigated and penalised as a breach of UCL’s assessment regulations, the outcome of which may be expulsion. Find out more in  Section 9: Student Academic Misconduct Procedure . 

Assessment at UCL is designed to actually help you learn and progress. If you don’t do the work yourself, you’ll graduate with knowledge gaps . It won’t take long for these to become obvious when you are expected to apply this knowledge in future, putting any future job at risk. 

At UCL, there is a shared understanding that you are here to learn and to contribute positively to that academic community you have joined. By paying someone else to do your work, you’d be letting down your fellow students by buying an unfair advantage and undermining the hard work they have put in to achieve a quality degree.  

It may seem like an easy or quick solution now, but paying an assignment-writing service could come back to bite you. These cheaters know who you are - there have been instances where the third party has threatened to expose the student for commissioning work for them, unless they pay more money. This  blackmail  could have a lasting impact on your reputation and mental health.   

Professional bodies, like those for engineering, laws, architecture etc., take a stern view of cheating and can disbar you from practising your chosen profession . Many professions, e.g., medicine, teaching etc., are also subject to ‘fitness to practise’ procedures designed to determine if you have the knowledge, skills and character required for that career. If you haven’t done the groundwork now, you are setting yourself up for failure down the road. 

Get help with your essays

Firstly, make sure to check out the Understanding Academic Integrity online course , so you fully understand the different forms of academic misconduct and how you can avoid them.

If you are struggling with an assignment, don’t do it alone! There are lots of ways to get help:   

Talk to  your personal tutor ; they are here to support you and can help you make sense of any university policies, procedures or services you might be able to make use of.  

Apply for  Extenuating Circumstances : If you've been affected by unexpected disruptions to your exams or assessments, such as a serious illness or bereavement, UCL has a formal process to quickly let your department know about how they’re affecting your ability to complete an assessment.  

The UCL Student Support and Wellbeing team provide a safe, confidential and non-judgemental space, in which you can discuss any issues that may be affecting your ability to study.  Learn how Student Support and Wellbeing can help .  

Contact the  Students’ Union UCL Advice Service  – a free, confidential and independent advice and support service that offers help on a wide range of student-related issues.  

Need help with your writing? Check out  Academic Writing at UCL  resources or contact the  Language + Writing Support Programme , run by the Students’ Union UCL for international students. 

Complete the Understanding Academic Integrity online course

Further information 

Contact your personal tutor . 

Contact UCL Student Support and Wellbeing .

Find out about illness and unexpected disruptions to your exam or assessment . 

Contact the Students’ Union UCL Advice Service .

Read Section 9: Student Academic Misconduct Procedure . 

Read more similar articles here

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I Signed Up to Write College Essays for Rich Kids. I Found Cheating Is More Complicated Than I Thought.

Like many English majors before me, I found myself walking across the graduation stage in 2019 knowing my college days were behind me—and that I’d soon be unemployed. Despite giving it my all and winding up with a near-perfect GPA, my only immediate options were continuing my part-time bartending job or going to grad school. Since I had already amassed nearly $70,000 in student loans, I chose the former.

For much of the next year, I bartended at the most popular pub in my college town, along with some freelance gigs. Then COVID hit. The bar closed. At first, they told us we’d only be off for two weeks to “stop the spread.” Two weeks turned to two months. Soon came a group text that the bar would be shutting down indefinitely.

When it came to stimulus checks and unemployment, part-time bartenders who are listed as dependents on their parents’ tax returns aren’t entitled to much. I was screwed. My self-esteem cratered. I was fighting with my parents daily. I had nothing to do, nowhere to go, and the countless work-at-home jobs I was applying to had landed me zero interviews.

Toward the end of April 2020, a college friend of mine reached out: “Are you looking for work? I work for this essay writing service, and they’re offering referral bonuses to anyone who joins the team.”

He told me he was writing essays for college kids for a website called Killer Papers, and he was making tons of money. The owner had claimed 30 percent sales growth since most students had moved to distance learning.

Just 24 hours later, I had already interviewed and written my first essay: $40 for a three-page “reflection paper” on how COVID had been affecting college students. Fitting.

I got a quick education on what this system for black-market essays really looks like. The overarching stereotype is that privileged sons and daughters of wealthy families use their money to cheat their way out of their work and into a degree. And … sure, this is often true.

“My parents are doctors, so we’re pretty loaded,” said one client, who claimed he was “cool with the owner of the site” and had been using it since 2017.

“Oh, nice!” I said as I ate my grilled cheese and typed my seventh paper of the day from the basement of my parents’ house.

More disappointing were the many parents who encouraged this behavior, with some going as far as requesting the essay and purchasing it all without their kid lifting a finger. Their children were so lazy that they couldn’t even work with me to get it done. “My son is on the lacrosse team, so try to incorporate a sports struggle into this narrative,” one mother instructed me. I did as I was asked, so long as they left me a tip so I could afford gas.

But for every privileged kid too lazy to write an essay, there was a more complex story. To my surprise, of the hundreds of clients I worked with, many—maybe most—students were simply desperate for the help.

They were not rich. Students would try to negotiate prices or work out payment plans. They said things like “I’ll be back to accept your offer on Friday when my check clears.” An assistant manager at Taco Bell, a drive-through operator at Wendy’s, a cashier at Whole Foods— you name it. My clients had a variety of low-income jobs and attended classes simultaneously. I’d ask them a question about their project, and they wouldn’t get back for a day or two. When I’d finally hear back, they’d say, “Sorry, I was working a double.”

And more often than not, it wasn’t students—or parents—at elite colleges purchasing papers. It was students at community colleges working for minimum wage who didn’t have time to write them.

It was single parents who had to balance work, child care, and college. They often had kids and multiple jobs, and they were just trying to advance their careers with a degree.

It was international college students. A few clients from China told me they could crush any American in calculus, but when it came to writing an English essay for their American lit class, they were at a major disadvantage, especially when COVID began and they went back to China.

The university writing centers that many relied on closed or moved online, but time zone differences meant it was tough to get the help they needed. When faced with the prospect of getting a poor mark or cheating, they chose the latter.

There was also the COVID factor. Variations of “I’ve been following Killer Paper’s Instagram page for years, but I never thought I’d use the site. I’m just so depressed, and my work is piling up” would fill my site inbox as quarantines continued to be extended.

And it got worse. My clients lost friends, family, and even professors. One customer told me that they were on their third professor of the semester for the same course last fall because the first two had died from COVID.

For all the official grumbling about services like mine among professors, I learned something else too: Many professors don’t want to be bothered with students’ struggles. As COVID marched on, so did the deadlines, and a lot of the professors were quite rigid with their rules. On the rubrics I would read from students, I remember seeing one that said, “No missed deadlines. I don’t want to hear your sob story.”

Many of my fellow essay writers themselves were in academia—they wrote papers for students because they couldn’t make ends meet.

If you had told me in March 2020 that in a few months, I’d be making more money as an academic ghostwriter than I ever had in my entire life, I’d have thought you were full of it. In the summer, it was never more than $500 a week for roughly 10 to 12 essays. But during the semester, it could be up to $2,000 a week for 30 to 40 projects—a numbing amount of writing, but a lot of cash.

By the time I started, I was too desperate to worry about the ethics. I felt more bad about the students who were scraping by and paying me for this work, but I developed a payment system where I cut minimum-fee deals for the clients who really needed it. And I justified it to myself, because I had been so out of options.

Eventually, I couldn’t do it anymore, and more opportunities opened up. I went back to bartending when my area reopened. I proofread ebooks, books, and college admissions essays, plus a little freelance writing like this. More “respectable.” But my own little slice of pandemic desperation gave me a window into what many others deal with no matter the times.

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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

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Lesson of the Day: ‘Cheating, Inc.: How Writing Papers for American College Students Has Become a Lucrative Profession Overseas’

In this lesson, students consider the ethics of engaging with the fast-growing industry of essay-writing for hire.

By The Learning Network

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Featured Article: “ Cheating, Inc.: How Writing Papers for American College Students Has Become a Lucrative Profession Overseas ”

Amid the college admissions scandal, another type of cheating was overlooked: Students already in college who pay others to write their papers. In this Lesson of the Day, students analyze their own stance on academic dishonesty and the ethics of employing writers in developing countries — or anywhere — to do that work.

Spend 10 minutes journaling about your experiences with academic dishonesty. For example, have you seen people cheat in school by copying others’ homework, getting answers to test questions or submitting papers written by another student? Have you ever cheated? Have you seen anyone get caught?

Now think about the reasons students might allow other students to use their work. What do they stand to gain?

Finally, what is the most appropriate punishment for academic dishonesty? Do both parties — the person cheating, and the person helping the person cheat — deserve to be punished? Do they both deserve the same punishment? Why?

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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.

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• Plagiarism and Cheating

Academic Integrity in College: How (and why) to Avoid Cheating, Plagiarism, and Abusing AI

Plagiarism and cheating in college are serious offenses — it’s important to be aware of what they are and how to avoid them. And with the use of AI becoming mainstream, it may be tempting to use programs such as ChatGPT to complete your coursework. This guide shows you how to avoid plagiarism and cheating in all forms, and how to use technology responsibly to enhance your work and not appropriate others’.

• What Do They Look Like?
• Academic Integrity
• How to Master Citations
• How to Use AI Responsibly
• Expert Interview

When it’s 2am and you’re staring down a looming list of deadlines, shortcuts can be appealing, even to the most dedicated of students. But there is a difference between shortcuts and cheating. Unfortunately, you can still end up cheating if you do not know the rules.

Especially with access to powerful artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, there is a new, massive gray area to contend with. And the stakes are high. Charges of plagiarism and cheating can lead to failing classes or even expulsion. Therefore, you must always stay vigilant and stay on the right side of the academic honor code. 

But rest assured, a determined and engaged student like yourself is totally capable of maintaining your academic integrity. It’s just a matter of knowing the rules, and we can help with that. Although policies may vary from school to school and classroom to classroom, there are some universal pillars of academic integrity. In this article, we’ll be clarifying what it means to cheat or plagiarize, and how you can avoid it. On top of that, we’ll also dive into AI and the challenges it can present to working ethically. Let’s dive in.

What Do Plagiarism & Cheating Look Like?

Plagiarism and cheating can be intentional or unintentional and can take various forms. Even if you aren’t trying to pull a fast one, it is possible to get caught unawares. So, always know the code of conduct and stay up to date on what unethical practices you need to avoid.

While plenty of syllabi are explicit about the consequences for plagiarism and cheating, the terms are rarely properly defined. So, we are going to bust out our dictionaries and take over. Below, we’ve broken down each type of plagiarism and cheating in detail so that we can all get on the same page. 

Plagiarism looks like…

Intentional: .

In simple terms, plagiarism can be summarized as pretending someone else’s work is your own without giving them credit.

So, let’s focus on the word “intentional,” meaning that someone who intentionally plagiarized knows what they are doing is wrong but does it anyway. A big red flag for intentional plagiarism is if you are trying to hide where your information came from by not citing it properly or at all. 

Common examples of intentional plagiarism include copying and pasting parts of or entire documents without citing, paraphrasing sources without citing, paying someone to write a paper, or making up citations that aren’t used in the assignment. 

Unintentional:

We all make mistakes in our writing. Unfortunately, sometimes those mistakes result in unintended plagiarism. Unlike intentional plagiarism, which is often evident throughout an assignment, unintentional plagiarism is usually small errors within an otherwise honest piece. 

Some common traps for unintentional plagiarism include not knowing when and how to cite your sources, and ineffective paraphrasing. Students may assume that you only need to cite direct quotations as sources, but that is not the case. You need to cite when you reference a source and where you’ve paraphrased or summarized another person’s ideas or research. 

Paraphrasing does not mean that you cannot just replace a few words with their synonyms. To paraphrase correctly, you need to restate the content in an entirely new sentence structure with different language (and then cite it correctly). 

Cheating looks like…

Intentional:.

Plagiarism is a form of cheating, but there are plenty of other ways to cheat as well. At its heart, intentional cheating is trying to gain an advantage by breaking the rules. There are serious consequences for cheating, but cheaters also rob themselves of the knowledge they could have earned by playing fairly. 

Common ways that students intentionally cheat include copying work from others, surreptitiously using notes or other sources during exams, sharing answers for homework or tests with other students, and working together when they are supposed to be working independently. In some extreme cases, cheaters will even pay other people to take their tests for them. 

It’s hard to accidentally copy someone’s answers during a test or pay someone to do your work for you. But unintentional cheating can definitely happen. Usually, unintentional cheating results from misunderstanding instructions or making simple oversights. 

For example, your instructor might allow students to work in groups on some assignments, but not others. So, if you do not pay attention to instructions, you could accidentally collaborate on individual work. Another common source of unintentional cheating is through electronics. Many schools have policies against using electronics during tests, so pulling out your phone to check the time during an exam can result in cheating charges. 

What Does it Mean to Have Academic Integrity?

And who even cares, right? Eh, not so much. If you’re bothering to attend college, you should probably care about your integrity. Not following your school’s academic honor code is a sure way to shortchange yourself when it comes to your education. So, to get the most from your studies, and avoid the consequences of cheating, let’s chat about what it means to study with integrity.

Defining Academic Integrity

Typically, schools have an explicit academic integrity policy, which can be found in the last few pages of any course syllabus. The specifics may vary based on your institution, but usually involve a few core principles. First and foremost is academic honesty (read: no cheating). Other common ones include treating students and faculty with respect, acting in a spirit of fairness, and taking responsibility for your work and actions. 

Why Academic Integrity is Important

For starters, if you’re not following your school’s academic integrity policy, you could find yourself being kicked to the curb. But there’s more to it than that, by acting with integrity, you ensure that you get the most out of your studies. Even if shortcuts are easy solutions that worked for you previously, it rarely works in real-life and work settings. If you get used to taking shortcuts, you’ll take that mindset into your post-college career and could suffer for it. Finally, schools take academic integrity very seriously. Without demonstrating a commitment to the values of academic honesty, your school can lose their certifications and credibility, which can also devalue your diploma. 

Academic Integrity on College Campuses

Schools typically take a multi-pronged approach to ensuring academic honesty on campus. At the highest levels, schools establish honor codes and policies that all students must comply with. Your instructors may receive regular training and reviews to ensure they are upholding integrity standards. They may also have to review academic integrity policies with students at the start of each semester. Students will typically have access to resources including written content, librarians, and writing centers to help ensure their work meets ethical standards. Finally, across the board, students are encouraged to ask questions when they are unsure, and report academic misconduct they may see.

Master Citations with These Simple Guidelines

We feel you, incorporating citations into your work can feel tedious and maybe even pointless. However, they are super important when it comes to academic integrity and providing supporting evidence for your ideas. The bottom line is that anyone who reads your work needs to be able to find exactly where you got your information from. Citations are what makes that possible. Let’s make sure we’re dialed in on the basics of citations by looking at a few common scenarios you might encounter. 

Properly citing your quotations is the difference between plagiarizing someone else’s work and effectively providing evidence to support your thesis. To begin, make sure the quotes are in quotation marks. You can use ellipses or brackets to show where words have been added or removed for clarity (if that sounds like nonsense, don’t stress, we’ll have more resources to help you later on). Now that you’ve got your quote written down, let’s cite it with an in-text citation! In-text citations appear right after the quote either in parenthesis or footnotes depending on the style. Here are a few examples:

The authors describe Hawkeye as “[adopting] the love of land and therefore [thinking] he belongs to the land” (Tuck and Yang, 15)

Notice that the writer used brackets around [adopting] and [thinking] to show that the tense of the quote was altered to fit the rest of the sentence. The parenthesis after the quotation is an MLA in-text citation that includes the authors and the page number where the quotation can be found. If the reader wants more information about the source, they can easily use the information in the in-text citation match it with the article information in the mandatory “Works Cited” page at the end of the essay:

Tuck, Eve, and K Wayne Yang. 2012. “Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor.” Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1 (1): 1–41.

Chicago Style

Unlike MLA style, Chicago style relies on footnotes for in-text citations, like so:

Writing on the conditions of English agricultural workers in the 1850s, Karl Marx observed that, “All progress in capitalistic agriculture is a progress in the art, not only of robbing the laborer, but of robbing the soil”1.

And here is the corresponding footnote:

In Chicago style, the first time you use a source, you’ll include the full citation from your works cited page. After that, you just use the author’s last name, publication year, and the page number for your citation. 

Paraphrasing

Even in a great article or book, the verbatim quotation might not support the point you are trying to make, this is where paraphrasing comes in. Writers paraphrase in order to summarize large amounts of text into a concise explanation, or to make the source’s information easier to interpret for the readers. With Chicago style, you use the same style of footnotes we described above. With MLA there are two ways you can structure in-text citations:

If you use the source’s name while introducing their idea, you only need to include the page number in your in-text citation like so:

Hernández et. al. rightly point out that stable food supplies are a central component to the success of the EZLNs long term fight for self-governance (247).

If you do not use the sources name while introducing their idea (which is totally fine), make sure that it is included in your in-line citation:

Without the outside financial support that the farm continued to rely on, the Freedom Farm Collective was not able to recover from a series of natural disasters that inhibited agricultural productivity (White 85–86).

As always, make sure that in-text citations have a corresponding entry in your works cited page.

Citation Resources

Simple right? Buckle up, because there is more to learn. Depending on the style you are writing in – more on that in a second — you’ll find there are other writing conventions around how your works cited page or bibliography should be formatted. Your citation style also decides how you should lay out the title, page numbers and margins on your paper. It’s a real barrel of fun. Fortunately, there is absolutely no reason to memorize all the rules. There are plenty of resources to help you out. If you have any questions, the Purdue Online Writing Lab is a go-to for all the info you need. They cover the ins and outs of all the style guides and how to cite and format properly within them. Or, maybe your school like the University of Alaska, Fairbanks , provides a good quick explanation on where and when to include citations.

If, at this point you’re thinking “Ugh, why can’t someone just do this for me?” get stoked. Because someone, or rather some things, can do all your citations automatically. Services like Citation Machine or Easy Bib let you type in all your source information and will write your bibliographies for you. Even better, if you also want to keep your sources organized, free programs like Mendeley and Zotero help you keep all your readings in one place. They’ll both write bibliographies for you. And, the best part is they both have plug-ins for Microsoft Word that let you generate in-text citations seamlessly. No copy and pasting required. Databases like JSTOR and WORLDCAT even have their sources already cited in common citation styles.

Now, one last thing. Before we talk all about AI, we need to talk about style books. Different academic fields use different conventions when it comes to formatting and citation. So, let’s take a look at the three most common forms of citations. All the resources we gave you above can help you cite in any of these styles, and you can usually access a digital copy of the style books through your school library. These guides are updated pretty regularly, so make sure you are referencing the latest version.

• MLA (Modern Language Association) Style: MLA style considered, by some, to be the easiest format to comply with. So much of your academic writing will probably involve MLA. This is especially true for classes in the humanities such as English or cultural studies.
• Chicago Manual of Style:  This and MLA are the most common styles you’ll be asked to write with during your studies. Some professors may even let you choose to write in whichever you prefer. While you’ll certainly encounter some humanities professors who prefer Chicago style, the format is more common in the sciences, legal studies, and public policy programs. 
• AP Style Manual:  The AP manual is the style guide developed by The Associated Press for their journalists. If you are a journalism student, you will become intimately familiar with the conventions of the AP manual. You may also encounter it in some business and communication classes. However, this style is not widely used in other areas of academia.

Responsible AI Use in College

Hopefully it goes without saying that, as a college student, you should not be using AI platforms to do your assignments for you. You’ll need to use the power of AI judiciously to stay within the bounds of your school’s academic conduct code. However, there are times when AI can help speed up and improve your work without wading into murky ethical waters. Below, we’ve called out eight ways that AI can be used appropriately to support your studies:

Use AI to Find Data Points to Support Your Work

ChatGPT can be helpful when you need a quick statistic or a starting point for scholarly research. Try asking the program questions like “please look up the population growth in Asia over the last five years, including citations” or “make me a list of scholarly articles about bay scallops.” The program will jumpstart your work with helpful stats and resources. But remember, you still have to vet your sources, paraphrase, and include citations to the source material. 

Example Prompts: (Call out box)

• What countries are in the European Union?
• How big is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Please include a citation.
• What is the current gender pay gap in the US according to The Census Bureau?

Use for Spell Check and Grammatical Errors

If other spell check services aren’t available, or you find them inconvenient, ChatGPT can do the work for you, including editing for clarity and conciseness. Simply ask the bot to check for spelling, grammar, etc. Then, paste a block of text for it to review. Always keep in mind that the bot does not highlight the changes it makes to your text, and not all the changes will be correct. In addition, there’s a chance that it might also not catch all the mistakes. So, always double check and proofread the completed review. 

Second, while checking for spelling and grammar is probably allowed, some professors may have issues with using ChatGPT to revise for clarity, conciseness, tone, formality, or other characteristics that demonstrate your skill as a writer. Be sure to check your syllabus and discuss with your instructor  before  you submit an assignment that has been heavily edited with ChatGPT.

Example Prompts:

• Read the following paragraph and correct spelling and grammar errors.
• Please read this email draft and edit for clarity.

Use to Check for MLA, AP, or Chicago style

Citations are hard. And missing or incorrect citations are an extremely common source of inadvertent plagiarism. This is where ChatGPT can be a second set of eyes for your work. It can help in a few different ways. First, you can paste a block of text into the chat box and ask it to check for proper citations in the style you are using. It will go through and offer suggestions of where you may need to correct your work. It will also identify places where citations seem needed but aren’t provided. Second, you can take an already completed text, and ask it to change the citation style. Finally, you can send over your bibliography to make sure that each citation is formatted accurately and has enough information. 

• Please read this paper and check for proper in-text MLA citations.
• Reformat this paper into AP style.
• Review this bibliography and make sure that it is in Chicago Style.

Use it for Feedback and Editing Support

On ChatGPT, this can get ethically tricky. Our experiences suggest that ChatGPT cannot supply standalone feedback on your writing. But it will provide revisions and explain why it made changes. This can be a useful way to get feedback, but it can also be a slippery slope if you start submitting ChatGPT revisions as your own work. For feedback, Google Bard is a better way to go, it can read your work and give you a bulleted list of suggestions of how to improve your writing without doing all the work for you. 

• How would you rewrite this text to make it easier to understand?
• Read this section of text and give me some advice on how to improve its quality.

Use it to Research Topic Ideas

This is another spot where you are walking an ethical fine line. Let’s say you’re writing a paper where your assignment is to discuss one of the central themes in Shakespeare’s Romeo  and Juliet . While you’re brainstorming, it might be helpful and appropriate to ask AI to give you a list of major themes within the play. You can then use this information to form your own original thesis. However, asking ChatGPT to write a thesis statement, or even an entire essay for you, would likely be considered academic dishonesty, if they aren’t your own original ideas.

• What are the major contributors to global warming?
• What are the creation myths of different cultures around the world?
• What were the most important social issues of the early 1970s?

Researching and Finding Sources for a Topic

In our opinion, this is one of the most helpful academic uses for AI. Simply ask your bot of choice to generate a list of scholarly sources based on a chosen topic, the more specific the better. It will respond with a list of ten or more articles and their publication information. From there, you can follow up with your library database or open-source options to look up the sources and evaluate their usefulness. 

• Please give me sources that provide a general overview of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
• What are 10 scholarly sources about Sumerian agricultural practices?
• List recent studies about US Bison populations.

Schedule Creation to Help You Stay Organized

Chat bots like Chat GPT and Google Bard can offer helpful tips when it comes to managing your calendar but aren’t ready to handle the task on their own. Fortunately, there are plenty of AI calendar programs out there. Since everyone’s scheduling needs and preferences are different, it may take a few tries to find the service that best fits your needs. But when you do, prepare to revel in the fact that you now have your very own robot personal assistant. What a world!

• What are some tips to keep my calendar up to date?
• How can I format my schedule to support my work-life balance?
• What AI services are there to help me plan my time?

Language Translation

Maybe you’ve seen some of the memes of online translators failing. Fortunately, things have come a long way since the days when Google might mix up the Spanish words for “spouse” and “handcuffs.” Now, you can just copy text straight into ChatGPT and ask it to translate for you. This works even if you don’t know the source language. As in all things, there may still be errors in translations. So, this can be a great tool for casual communication, and getting the gist of foreign language sources. But if you’re preparing to publish and the stakes are high, you should confirm your translation with a fluent speaker. 

• Translate this paragraph of text from Norwegian to English:
• Translate this text from English to Greek:
• What is the Portuguese word for “student”?

Helpful Resources for Students

Are you hungry for more academic integrity content? Don’t worry, there are plenty of wonderful resources out there to help you out. To make it easy for you, we’ve pulled together 20 top-tier articles, websites, and practical tools to help you on your journey to become an ethics champion.

• Academic Integrity Disciplinary Action – School policy varies, but if you’re looking to get an idea of the academic consequences of cheating, The University of California, San Diego’s academic integrity page is a good place to start. This page clearly lays out what to expect if you get caught.
• AI for Everyone: Master the Basics – This free web course from IBM’s edX program introduces students to the key concepts of AI, its limitations, and how it can be used in various settings.
• As AI-Enabled Cheating Roils Colleges, Professors Turn to an Ancient Testing Method – If an oral final exam sounds like your worst nightmare, you aren’t alone. But, according to Douglas Belkin at The Wall Street Journal, that might be our future if AI cheating gets out of control.
• Block Center for Technology and Society – This project from Carnegie Mellon University develops research on the impact of AI across various sectors of society. They also offer free webinars for students and educators to learn more about AI tools and how they affect the educational system.
• Consequences for Academic Dishonesty – When we think about the consequences of cheating, expulsion and failed classes usually come to mind. But, as this tutorial from Northern Illinois University points out, there is more at stake. This article talks about the social and cultural consequences of cheating and gives you a chance to test your knowledge.
• Four ways to help you avoid cheating, plagiarism, and other forms of academic dishonesty – Oftentimes, plagiarism and cheating result from misunderstandings or poor planning. The University of Colorado, Boulder has some tips to help you avoid these common pitfalls.
• Grammarly Proofreading and Plagiarism Checker – This service proofreads your work for spelling and grammar errors and offers feedback on clarity, tone, and style. Once you are done editing, it can also scan your document for potential instances of plagiarism.
• Harness the Power of AI While Avoiding Its Pitfalls – if you’re going to use AI as a study buddy, it is important to have some idea of how it works. This article from Virginia Tech gives a great overview of the strengths and weaknesses of emerging AI programs.
• How to Avoid Plagiarism – This helpful guide from The University of Hong Kong provides an easy to follow, in depth explanation of plagiarism with plenty of helpful examples.
• How to Stop Cheating in College – Certainly new technologies have made it easier than ever to cheat. But it’s a double-edged sword. New technologies also make it easier for instructors to detect dishonesty. This fascinating article from The Atlantic explores the classroom tensions caused by technological advancement.
• How Students Can Us AI and ML Responsibly – If you’re still feeling unclear on how to use AI to support your studies ethically, this article from Business World may be able to help with some of your lingering questions.
• Just How Dishonest Are Most Students? – If all this talk of academic integrity feels mostly theoretical, you’ll be surprised to know that honor codes appear to actually work. This editorial by Dr. Christian B. Miller lays out some startling statistics on the efficacy of academic integrity policies.
• Penn State Academic Integrity Policy – Academic honesty policies vary from school to school. But, Penn State’s in-depth explanation of what academic integrity means and the consequences of cheating can help give you an idea of what to expect.
• Plagiarism.org – This non-profit organization is dedicated to working with educators and students to provide the knowledge, resources, and skills necessary to “write with integrity”
• Purdue Online Writing Lab – This is the MVP of all-things citations. If you only click one link, make it this one. The Purdue “OWL” has an extensive set of resources about different citations styles, advice on how to improve your writing, and its very own citation generator.
• Ref-N-Write – A writing companion that offers help with paraphrasing, an academic phrase bank, document templates, citation help, and a plagiarism checker.
• Scribbr Plagiarism Checker – This site allows you to upload your paper to their free plagiarism checker. It will compare your work against their massive database to ensure that you have not inadvertently plagiarized someone else’s work.
• Some Guidance for Using AI in the Classroom – This piece from Iowa State University is actually written for faculty. But, for students like yourself it is an interesting look into how universities are managing the rapidly expanding capabilities in classrooms.
• Student-Designed Policy on Use of Generative AI Adopted by Data Sciences Faculty – Boston University took a novel approach to addressing students’ use of AI: They asked the students to write their own academic conduct policy. This article outlines how a digital ethics class’s final project transformed into university policy.
• Who Wrote This? – If you want to look at scholarly sources on academic integrity, this article by Simon Sweeney is a good place to start. The paper discusses the growing issue of students paying for essays and how it can be addressed.

Interview with a College Instructor

Lauren Frick

How prevalent is plagiarism and cheating among college students, and have you noticed any changes in recent years, particularly with the rise of ai technology.

I’ve only been teaching for a year, so I can’t necessarily say whether or not there’s been a significant rise in plagiarism and cheating in recent years based on my personal experience teaching. My practice in the classroom is to give students the benefit of the doubt, but it’s also quite easy to gain a sense of students’ voices as writers in the composition classroom. Significant shifts in tone and structure are giveaways that a students’ work might not be their own. Most often, the point of plagiarism and cheating is tied to incorrect citations or the general lack of in-text citations and/or a bibliography.

What specific measures does the college have in place to detect and prevent plagiarism and cheating, considering the potential use of AI-powered tools?

Because AI is a rapidly developing technology, policies surrounding student use of AI are in flux.

There are, however, tools at instructors’ disposal to help deter plagiarism and the use of AI technology. The Office of Digital Learning (ODL) at UNR lists Respondus Lockdown Browser and TurnItIn as tools that are supported by ODL. They also share GPTZero and GPT-2 Output Detector Demo by Hugging Face as potential external AI detection tools. Whether or not these tools are utilized is up to department and/or instructor discretion. Additionally, instructors can work to try and make their assignments more challenging for AI generators to meet the requirements. Some of those revisions might include asking about current events, focusing on local content, requiring the integration of sources, or having assignments built on previous work.

What are some strategies or techniques that you recommend to students to avoid plagiarism and maintain academic integrity?

Citing sources and ensuring that the proper citation style is used and consistent across the entirety of a body of work is the best strategy I can offer. There are tons of resources that detail how to format in-text citations and bibliographies, whether it be APA, MLA, Chicago Style, or another style type.

Are there any specific policies or guidelines in place regarding the use of AI tools for academic purposes? How are students informed about these policies?

At UNR currently, there are no specific policies or guidelines in place specific to AI in relation to cheating and plagiarism. However, many instructors have begun to include language in the syllabi forbidding the use of AI for assignments.

What measures does the college take to stay updated with emerging AI technologies and their potential implications for plagiarism detection?

There have been a handful of talks and workshops for faculty and staff addressing the rise in student use of AI, and I assume there will be more to come.

What steps does the college take to support students in understanding and adhering to academic integrity principles while using AI tools?

There are none that I am currently aware of. However, I think finding ways to incorporate AI in the classroom and to present it as a potential resource for brainstorming, narrowing down a topic, etc. could be beneficial.

Are there any resources or guidelines available to assist students in navigating potential pitfalls and gray areas associated with AI use?

There aren’t any that I am well-acquainted with currently. But hopefully as colleges become more familiar with how students are utilizing these tools, they will be proactive in creating guidelines to clear up any confusion with AI use.

Are there any specific resources or tools available at the college to help students understand and prevent plagiarism?

UNR, like most universities, has a writing center that can be a very helpful resource to help students understand and prevent plagiarism. Aside from tutoring services where students might practice paraphrasing, quoting, and citing, the Writing and Speaking Center at UNR has all sorts of online guides to help students ensure that they are citing their sources correctly.

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How to stop cheating in universities

Associate Dean, Staffordshire University

Disclosure statement

Thomas Lancaster has previously received funding from the Council of Europe to research and promote academic integrity. He has previously received funding from the Higher Education Academy to establish the UK contract cheating special interest group.

Staffordshire University provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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A recent investigation into plagiarism in higher education by the Quality Assurance Agency found hundreds of companies are regularly producing papers for students to pass off as their own.

And only last year, an advertising campaign saw posters for an essay mill prominently placed around the London Underground – particularly at tube stops near university campuses.

Often involving students paying hundreds of pounds for written-to-order papers, this behaviour became known as “contract cheating” after research I published in 2006 . It remains one of the major challenges in preserving academic integrity across higher education.

This is why the university standards watchdog has issued new government backed guidance to help address the issue. The new guidelines urge universities to ban essay mills from advertising on campus and block their websites, which the universities minister Jo Johnson has said will help prevent “unacceptable and pernicious” cheating at universities.

While some of these services blatantly advertise that they will complete work for students, the majority do not position themselves as contract cheating sites. Instead, they promote themselves using terms such as “academic writing services”, or say they will provide “original model answers” to students.

These services are commonly referred to as “ essay mills ” but do not restrict themselves to just writing essays. An enterprising student could pay to have a set of presentation slides completed for them, along with speaker notes. A student in my academic discipline, computer science, could even hire a third party to optimise a database.

A global issue

But this isn’t just something that happens in the UK. As my own research shows, contract cheating is an international problem .

Recently in Australia, the records of one essay mill, MyMaster , were accessed by the media . The records showed that around 1,000 students from 16 universities paid to have work done for them. This included having assessments written for them and examinations taken on their behalf.

My research across southeastern Europe has also shown that contract cheating is not reserved to the English speaking world either. Students there have reported seeing adverts for essay mills on social media and pinned to noticeboards around campus.

National interventions

For the sector to really demonstrate resilience against contract cheating, national interventions are necessary. These are now beginning to emerge, particularly in the form of guidelines from sector bodies designed to assure the quality of courses.

Like the UK, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency in Australia has also recently provided guidelines on contract cheating for universities.

The University Grants Commission in India has also issued a public notice providing draft guidance on academic integrity. This includes a zero tolerance approach to plagiarism in some key subjects.

But despite these steps forward in a few countries, issuing national level guidance does not yet seem to be on the agenda for most. Ongoing research looking at around 200 countries and the guidance they offer on contract cheating and academic integrity suggests that very few have useful guidelines.

This is something that needs to change. Because it is only by working across local, national and global levels that universities can successfully ensure the value of academic awards.

A growing problem

I have worked as a researcher in the field of plagiarism, student cheating and academic integrity since 2000. And the issue of contract cheating remains at the forefront of everything that I do.

Over the years, I have seen this issue grow. From focus groups I’ve conducted, I know that some students consider access to hired essay writers as being just a standard part of university life. I’ve even experienced students admitting to writing essays for their peers.

But I have also seen how changes in the way students are assessed and tested can make a difference in this area. Rather than a majority of marks hinging on one essay, I have experienced first hand how a more continuous form of assessment can better help students to develop a rounded set of skills – which ultimately makes them more ready for their subsequent employment.

Despite this, contract cheating services continue to be visible. And teaching interventions are not able to keep pace with the wider ways in which students can commit academic misconduct.

Every indication suggests that today’s students are aware of the service essay mills claim to provide. With the financial pressures of university seeing many students having to fund themselves with part-time employment, the essay mills may find themselves with yet more customers.

• Essay mills
• Academic cheating
• Exam cheating
• Contract cheating

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• Our Mission

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.

Search form

Academic honesty: cheating & plagiarism, academic honesty: cheating & plagiarism, what is academic misconduct.

You are guilty of cheating whenever you present as your own work something that you did not do. You are also guilty of cheating if you help someone else to cheat.

One of the most common forms of cheating is plagiarism, using another's words or ideas without proper citation. When students plagiarize, they usually do so in one of the following six ways:

• Using another writer's words without proper citation. If you use another writer's words, you must place quotation marks around the quoted material and include a footnote or other indication of the source of the quotation.
• Using another writer's ideas without proper citation. When you use another author's ideas, you must indicate with footnotes or other means where this information can be found. Your instructors want to know which ideas and judgments are yours and which you arrived at by consulting other sources. Even if you arrived at the same judgment on your own, you need to acknowledge that the writer you consulted also came up with the idea.
• Citing your source but reproducing the exact words of a printed source without quotation marks. This makes it appear that you have paraphrased rather than borrowed the author's exact words.
• Original: If the existence of a signing ape was unsettling for linguists, it was also startling news for animal behaviorists.
• Unacceptable borrowing of words: An ape who knew sign language unsettled linguists and startled animal behaviorists.
• Unacceptable borrowing of sentence structure: If the presence of a sign-language-using chimp was disturbing for scientists studying language, it was also surprising to scientists studying animal behavior.
•  Acceptable paraphrase: When they learned of an ape's ability to use sign language, both linguists and animal behaviorists were taken by surprise.
• Borrowing all or part of another student's paper or using someone else's outline to write your own paper.
• Using a paper writing "service" or having a friend write the paper for you. Regardless of whether you pay a stranger or have a friend do it, it is a breach of academic honesty to hand in work that is not your own or to use parts of another student's paper.
• In computer programming classes, borrowing computer code from another student and presenting it as your own. When original computer code is a requirement for a class, it is a violation of the University's policy if students submit work they themselves did not create.

Note: The guidelines that define plagiarism also apply to information secured on internet websites. Internet references must specify precisely where the information was obtained and where it can be found.

You may think that citing another author's work will lower your grade. In some unusual cases this may be true, if your instructor has indicated that you must write your paper without reading additional material. But in fact, as you progress in your studies, you will be expected to show that you are familiar with important work in your field and can use this work to further your own thinking. Your professors write this kind of paper all the time. The key to avoiding plagiarism is that you show clearly where your own thinking ends and someone else's begins.

Multiple submissions

Multiple submissions is the practice of submitting a single paper for credit in two different classes (in the same quarter or in different quarters). The UW does not have a general policy prohibiting this practice. However, because an individual professor may not permit the practice in their class, a student wishing to make a multiple submission must clear it with both professors involved. Non-compliance will result in a violation of the University's standard of conduct.

Another common form of cheating involves exams. Copying from someone else's paper, using notes (unless expressly allowed by the teacher), altering an exam for re-grading, getting an advance copy of the examination, or hiring a surrogate test-taker are all flagrant violations of University policy.

Collaboration

Educators recognize the value of collaborative learning; students are often encouraged to form study groups and assigned group projects. Group study often results in accelerated learning, but only when each student takes responsibility for mastering all the material before the group. For example, suppose a calculus study group is working on a set of homework problems. Little would be learned if each student worked only one or two problems and merely copied answers for the rest. A more beneficial approach would be for each member to work all problems and be assigned the task of explaining a few problems to the group. Illegal collaboration often occurs on homework in computer programming courses. A common case is when two students outline a program in detail together, and then type it into the computer separately, perhaps making minor modifications or corrections as they type. To a grader's trained eye, the structure of the programs is identical and the students are guilty of cheating because they haven't turned in separate, original work.

Illegal collaboration also occurs on writing assignments in liberal arts courses. Typically, students will create a detailed outline together, then write separate papers from the outline. The final papers may have different wording but share structure and important ideas. This is cheating because the students have failed to hand in something that is substantially their own work, and because they haven't cited the ideas that they've borrowed from each other.

Group projects require careful division of responsibility and careful coordination to control the quality of the final product. Collective work quickly degenerates when some students see it as a way to get through an assignment with the least amount of effort. Group work calls for a different kind of effort, not less of it. When group projects are assigned, the instructor is usually interested in your mastery of group process as well as the subject. Ask the instructor to clarify individual responsibilities and suggest a method of proceeding.

In summary, when a professor says, "Go ahead and work together," don't assume that anything goes. Professors often don't state the limits of collaboration explicitly. It is your responsibility to avoid crossing the line that turns collaboration into cheating. If you're not sure, ask.

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I used ChatGPT to polish my essay, what are the consequences?

I used ChatGPT to polish my essay, now I’m freaking out.

As above, in Feb I had to write a reflective piece about 1000 words for university. The essay was based on my real experiences and reflection. I wrote the essay myself then fed it into ChatGPT with prompts like “ revise this to make it more professional.” And the output it gave looked much better than my original writing, but did not change my original meanings, and I used the chatgpt output pretty much word for word as the essay I submitted. The essay might not be marked until July/August. At the time my intention was not to cheat, I thought it was like using a better version of Grammarly. Especially because I am not a native speaker and have always struggled with writing. Fast forward to today, I realised what I did was shady, put my essay into multiple AI detectors and got picked up as AI written by some. I looked up my university’s policy about AI (published after I submitted the essay), which states you have to openly disclose any use of CharGPT or it will count as contract cheating. I have been living in pure fear the last couple of weeks and it’s ruining my life. I am in my last year of a professional program which means it will attract more severe penalties. I have immense regret for putting my education and career at risk for something so stupid. I also wish the university had talked to us about AI directly early on. In fact, to this day, I have received no information about AI from any faculty member. If I had known this was contract cheating I would never have done it.

I have had no previous experience with academic misconduct, and I have no idea what to expect.

• generative-ai

• 5 Assuming the instructor does not detect the source, I'm kind of curious if you will get a good mark on your essay. I have seen a lot of results from ChatGPT that are not what I would call high quality. It seem to be grabbing things from the net based on keywords (or whatever the correct term is for key phrases) rather than a true understanding. –  Boba Fit Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:23
• I doubt it. Reading back at the essay I submitted now, I realised I could have done a better job myself. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:42
• 4 They'll use ChatGPT to score it :) More seriously, I wouldn't worry too much about it, because you're right that people use things like Grammarly also. Also, people show their essays to others for feedback all the time. My impression is that since you actually wrote the essay and used ChatGPT as a tool, that's different from just asking ChatGPT to write the whole essay for you. But it's better to err on the side of caution in the future. –  cgb5436 Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:54
• After this I think I have PTSD from chatgpt and certainly will not being using AI for any future writings. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 20:07
• " I thought it was like using a better version of Grammarly." You are correct. The issue is that the policies are making a bit fuss about chatGPT and the likes. Just retire from the prize, you do not need to provide a motivation but you can always provide it if you feel like, maybe you can write an essay on why you equated chatGPT as Grammarly on steroids to motivate your dropping out of the competition. –  EarlGrey Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 19:52

4 Answers 4

The consequences for any sort of cheating/misconduct are determined by your institution. Generally, I'd expect more leniency for first offenses and more leniency for things in a "gray area" versus clear violations.

It would seem extremely unfair to me to apply a policy published after your submission, and if you were accused under that policy this seems like a straightforward defense. There is certainly some level of novelty to these tools for everyone involved, and likely to be some growing pains associated with that.

It's possible a strict interpretation would find you have violated some already existing policies, with the new policy only meant to clarify. It could be argued that, especially if you are expected to be graded on things like the language used, you have not submitted work that reflects your own writing abilities. You've also violated any terms of using ChatGPT that require disclosure/attribution.

I don't know what academic system you are in where assignments are graded so long after they are submitted. Possibly you could in the meantime write a proper version of your original script without ChatGPT, confess to having violated a policy before it was a clear policy, and ask that your new submission be accepted. If it were me responsible for assigning a grade, I'd find this to be honest and commendable, but I can't have any idea what the attitude will be at your institution. As BobaFit alludes to in a comment, many people find that ChatGPT's idea of "professional" or good writing really...isn't, so it's also quite possible that the version you've submitted will not get a better grade than what you could have produced yourself, even with your low confidence in your writing.

• Thank you for your comment. The reason why it takes so long is because it wasn’t actually an assignment, it was an application for a prize I was eligible to apply due to good academic standings (how ironic, I know), and we won’t find out who gets the prize until much later. The “policy” about the definition of contract cheating re involving a third party has always been around, but correlating using AI to contract cheating was only published on my University’s website couple of days ago. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:47
• 1 @LonelyStudent If you're feeling so much stress about it, can you simply withdraw your name from consideration for the prize? –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 19:56
• I actually really want to withdraw my name but do not know how to. I emailed the person who sent out the invitations to apply weeks ago asking when we might find out the results but got no response. There’s no clear procedures on how to withdraw, and I’m worried if I ask to withdraw now it will look suspicious. I don’t think I will get the prize and I certainly hope I don’t, due to the essay being mediocre and off topic. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 20:03
• 4 @LonelyStudent I think it's really probably not a big deal. You could email them and say "there's a new policy that makes clear that disclosure of ChatGPT usage is required, you had used ChatGPT previously to edit your submission, even though the policy was posted after your submission you feel most comfortable if your name is withdrawn from consideration". They might thank you for your honesty and withdraw your name, they might say oh it really doesn't matter, I think it's extremely unlikely there would be any other consequence. It's not worth anyone's time and you haven't benefitted. –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 20:11
• Thank you for your time and valuable advice. I think I will write an email to formally ask for my application to be withdrawn, but I don’t feel comfortable admitting using ChatGPT as the reason as I feel embarrassed and worry that it will attract unwanted attention . However, if they raise the suspicion of using AI I will be honest and admit. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 6, 2023 at 21:33

Earlier in the year, I wrote a policy thought on conversational AI (ChatGPT . I refer to this as in my view, your use of ChatGPT us what I thought it could be. An assistive tool rather than a replacement tool.

You indicated that you used ChatGPT to polish up your essay. Although you did not say to what degree this polishing up is. What is instructive is that you're not saying you wrote your essay with ChatGPT: in essence, it was not written by ChatGPT from ground up.

In the circumstances, I'll strongly iterate that

• you send a follow-up declaration email: indicating that ChatGPT was used as a consulted tool to polish your essay.
• you could even send through a supplemented copy of your essay (unofficially, as the submitted essay remains the official), along with your declarative email. The supplementary will be in two parts. The first is the exact same copy you submitted. The second part (more of appendix), will succinctly outline how ChatGPT was used or consulted.

PS: I took note of

I looked up my university’s policy about AI (published after I submitted the essay), which states you have to openly disclose any use of CharGPT or it will count as contract cheating.

By sending the declarative email, you are infact (proactively) aligning to the university's policy. The policy came after you've submitted. You've now sighted it and acting on it.

My view about conversation AI like ChatGPT is that it should not be banned outrightly. It should be encouraged as part of learning processes: as learning scaffolding.

[Extract from my policy thought on ChatGPT ]

• Students must disclose their ChatGPT search terms (keywords)
• Students must include their ChatGPT result verbatim as an appendix
• Students must write their own assignment/assessment submission
• Students must show their creativity, their critical thinking and cognitive skills in their writing
• It is a crime or punishable offence to use tools to paraphrase ChatGPT results.
• Students must show their own originality .
• For computing-based assignments/assessments, students must fully comment on their work: introduction/summary, each line of code, and each function/class

• 1 Thank you for your advice. Unfortunately I cleared ChatGPT history so I don’t have access to the conversations anymore. As this essay wasn’t an assignment but a application for a prize, my plan is to consult with the student advocate first and then send a formal email acknowledging the use of ChatGPT and ask for my application to be withdrawn. –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 9, 2023 at 7:07
• 1 Do you still have a copy of the essay that you originally wrote? –  Neithea Commented Apr 9, 2023 at 9:52
• I used google doc, which has version histories, but it did not save every single edit so I only have the first half of the essay I originally wrote –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 9, 2023 at 10:35
• I would imagine it won’t be too difficult to argue the essay was originally written by me since it was based on personal experiences, which AI can’t do –  LonelyStudent Commented Apr 9, 2023 at 10:37

Disclose to your lecturer, and seek to remedy the problem

Since your essay has not yet been assessed, and the university itself has not detected the use of ChatGPT, I recommend that you approach them and advise your use of this facility for "polishing", let them know that you are worried that this may not be allowable, and ask them if they would prefer for you to resubmit the earlier version of your essay prior to adding this "polish".

If you were the one to make this approach (as opposed to having the university detect it and raise it with you) then that is much less likely to be interpreted as cheating. Moreover, even if your previous submission were to be regarded as a breach of academic rules, if you were to take the initiative to bring this to the attention of the university and offer to resubmit, that would be a heavily mitigating factor. The likely outcome is that your lecturer will counsel you on what is and is not allowed, and will want you to submit the pre-ChatGPT version of your essay.

Assuming you still have your pre-ChatGPT draft, I recommend that you immediately write to your lecturer to disclose the problem and seek a solution. Here is an example of the kind of thing I have in mind:

Dear Professor ... I am writing in relation to my essay I submitted in February, which I understand is due to be assessed soon. I am writing to disclose that for this essay I constructed an initial draft that I wrote myself, but then I used ChatGPT to polish the prose for the essay, and took substantive changes from this source. The essay presently does not cite ChatGPT as a source. It has come to my attention that this might not be allowed under university rules, and so I would like to find out (a) if use of ChatGPT for this purpose is allowed; (b) if and how I am supposed to cite ChatGPT as a source; and (c) if not allowed at all, what I should do to go about remedying this error. In case it is not allowable to use ChatGPT for revisions of the essay, I have retained the previous draft of my essay prior to use of ChatGPT and would be happy to submit that version in lieu of the presently submitted version. If use of ChatGPT is allowable with attribution, then I would like to revise my essay to make the required attribution. Please accept my sincere apologies if I have done the wrong thing here, and for any inconvenience it has caused. I would appreciate if you could advise me on what you would like me to do with my essay in order to make sure it is compliant with university rules. ...

If we don't know where you study and we don't know the internal regulations, we can't answer this question. Each university deals with this according to its own regulations, so it would probably be best to contact your own study department or someone who understands these regulations and consult them.

From a professional point of view, I would recommend developing your own methodology for recognizing the veracity of chatGPT responses. ChatGPT is not an AI that has logical intelligence, so its answers may be wrong. ChatGPT is a chatbot that synthesizes some text (probabilistically, I guess) from bibliographic sources provided to it during learning. The output is then sorted - the developers assign points to the individual outputs (so, for example, expressive answers are pushed to the back). However, this mechanism cannot check for itself if, for example, there are things that contradict each other in its answer. It is developed to synthesize text, answer, and speak. It can be worse with the truth of the lyrics.

The correctness of the answer also depends on the accuracy of the question. When you ask a question that is not in direct line with the answer (even if it seems like it is), the chatbot will answer it, but in reality, it is not an answer to your question. It is best to play with it a little to see what answers different chatGPT contexts offer to the same question asked in different ways and how the bot answers conflicting questions or situations that occurred after the last update.

With the above two paragraphs, I want to tell you that after using chatbots, for example in the direction of deepening information, you need to be careful about them not to ruin your knowledge.

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Contract cheating

Curtin understands that students have busy lives and that working, studying and completing assignments can be stressful. 

Sometimes, this can lead to a decision to take a shortcut with your academic work. You may be tempted to use help from generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) software, a friend, family member, or an online company offering writing or tutoring services, but this may put you at risk for contract cheating and potential blackmail.

What is contract cheating?

Contract cheating (also known as assessment outsourcing or ghost writing) can be defined as submitting written or creative work which has been drafted or produced by another – including Gen-AI software , friends, family, or a paid contracting service, and claiming authorship for it. This includes:

• Allowing someone or an organisation to draft or complete an assessment task on your behalf
• Contracting another person to do the work for you
• Purchasing work from another source
• Allowing or contracting another person to edit and substantially change your work
• Unapproved, inappropriate, or undisclosed use of Gen-AI software within an assessment task.

The following programs are available at Curtin:

• The  Academic Integrity Program (AIP)  is a compulsory educational program that provides information about contract cheating.
• The  Academic Integrity Website  has comics and other resources that discuss contract cheating.

Inappropriate use of Gen-AI software may be considered assessment outsourcing. To avoid this, learn about appropriate use of Gen-AI technologies.

Some legitimate university websites (like those ending in ‘edu.au’) are being hacked by contract cheating organisations. They insert malicious code into the university website that redirects students to the illegal cheating website. Australia’s higher education regulation agency TEQSA has provided advice to students  to help (reproduced with permission):

• Check the URL of any page you click on and ensure it is the correct website.
• When searching for academic support, use the search function within your institution’s website. Do not use a search engine.
• Do not use any website that asks for payment from you in order to access ‘study support’ or which offers essay or assignment writing services.
• Be wary when clicking links to any third-party website left in comments on a website or on social media pages.
• Confirm that essay or other competitions are legitimate. Illegal cheating services sometimes hold fake contests in a bid to get student work to on-sell.
• Never share your work online. This includes via social media or websites that ask for a sample of your work in return for ‘free’ support.
• Report any suspect website link on your institution’s website to your institution’s website team.
• Ensure you understand academic integrity. TEQSA’s  resources for students  are a great place to start.
• The  Australian Cyber Security Centre  has more general information for individuals about staying safe online.

Guy Curtis (2020) has created a list to help students.

Tell-tale signs that you are looking at an illegal cheating site:

• Asking for payment to complete assignment work for you.
• Assurances that they offer good quality writers/writing.
• An Order button.
• Prices linked to assignment length and completion times.
• Attempts to justify why buying assignments might be okay.
• Testimonials from customers, often accompanied by stock photos of people who aren’t real students.
•  Guarantees of plagiarism-free work.
• The need to create a personal account and login.
• One of a number of nearly identical sites with different domain names.
• Terms of service that disclaim responsibility if students are caught submitting work from the site.
• Various service guarantees such as 24/7 support, live chat, feedback, money-back if unsatisfied (research shows they don’t always deliver on these*).
• Ellis, C., Zucker, I. M., & Randall, D. (2018). The infernal business of contract cheating: Understanding the business processes and models of academic custom writing sites. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 14(1), 1. doi: 10.1007/s40979-017-0024-3
• Rowland, S., Slade, C., Wong, K-S. & Whiting, B. (2018) ‘Just turn to us’: the persuasive features of contract cheating websites, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(4), 652-665, doi: 10.1080/02602938.2017.1391948
• *Sutherland-Smith, W., & Dullaghan, K. (2019). You don’t always get what you pay for: User experiences of engaging with contract cheating sites. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 44(8), 1148-1162. doi: 10.1080/02602938.2019.1576028
• TEQSA (2021) Advice for students: Always check the link you click. Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, Australian Government. Accessed 21.9.2021 https://www.teqsa.gov.au/advice-students-always-check-link-you-click

You are at risk of contract cheating if you inappropriately use Gen-AI software (inclucing, but not limited to, Chat GPT, Gemini, GitHub Copilot, Resemble.ai, etc.) in an assessment task, such as without attribution (using in-text citations and references), proper acknowledgement, and prior approval from your UC.

You are also at risk of contract cheating if you ask someone to:

• Complete an assignment for you (see video example on Youtube )
• Substantially edit your assignment
• Do your university work, with our without compensation
• Check your work through Turnitin
• Check test or quiz answers (such as through websites like Chegg.com)
• Sit a test or quiz for you
• Provide someone with your login details

You may be at risk of contact cheating if you provide information to people or organisations outside of Curtin, such as:

• Your student number and student card details
• Assignment questions, briefs or content
• Lecture notes
• Marking rubrics or marking guides

You may also be at risk of contact cheating if you enter contests where you submit your work for a chance at winning prize money.

Curtin offers the following study support options:

• Study support
• Online programs and resources for writing, research and English language
• Referencing resources
• Unihub events and workshops
• Studiosity  – 24/7 access to FREE online personalised feedback for short writing submissions. Or chat live to real advisors who are experts in their fields and have your questions answered quickly. Access Studiosity through your Blackboard units.

Other options include:

• Asking for an extension from your lecturer
• Talking to your tutor or unit coordinator

Missing out on learning

At university you develop a range of new skills, knowledge and experience by engaging in your studies. If you contract cheat you will not gain these fundamental skills and this may put you in a situation where you lack the skill-set required to succeed in your chosen profession.

Loss of credentials

Curtin’s ability to detect contract cheating is continuously improving through technological advancement and staff training. This means that even after graduation, the risks associated with contract cheating continue. Your degree may be rescinded if we find you engaged in contract cheating during your studies.

Risk of extortion

Curtin is also aware that some students have been blackmailed by the people and organisations who completed the work the student submitted (see video example ). Sometimes the contracted organisation or person will threaten to tell Curtin about the cheating if the student does not pay. This blackmail could be one-off or ongoing.

If you or someone that you know are in this situation, it is important that you contact the  Student Wellbeing Advisory Service ,  Student Assist  or  [email protected]  at Curtin for help.

Tutors can be helpful in some instances, however you are responsible for setting the boundaries for appropriate assistance. If at any point the tutor begins to substantially edit or complete parts or your assessment then this becomes contract cheating.

If you are considering hiring an editor or asking someone to proofread or edit your work, make sure to clearly outline your expectations for the scope of the edit. You can refer to the Guideline for Professional Thesis Editing [.pdf 40kB] .

The person should only highlight or indicate where there are problems rather than changing the text for you. If you provide them with an electronic copy of your document it is preferable for them to use commenting tools rather than to change the work.

Professional editors, as part of their usual role in document production, often make changes within the document. However, as a student submitting your work for assessment, accepting the changes of an editor may be seen as contract cheating or plagiarism as you are claiming the work of someone else as your own.

The elements of a document that an editor may be able to check for you are:

• Typographical and spelling errors
• Errors in word usage
• Errors in grammar and syntax
• Errors and inconsistencies in punctuation
• Consistent use of formatting, capitalisation, abbreviations, or systems of measurement (metric versus imperial)
• Consistent and accurate application of academic writing conventions such as captions for tables/figures, formatting of in-text citations and referencing
• Connections and transitions between paragraphs and sections.

When reviewing the editor’s comments you can implement corrections for spelling, punctuation, formatting and style but should carefully consider recommendations that could substantially alter the meaning, the flow, or the originality of your document. As much as possible consider recommended sentence or paragraph changes and put them into your own words.

If you plan to use an editor for your thesis it is recommended that you:

• Discuss your desire to use an editor with your supervisor before approaching an editor
• Discuss the scope of the edit with your supervisor and ensure that the editor understands and agrees to apply this when reviewing your document
• Indicate within the appropriate section of your theses that an editor was used and include a description of the scope of the edit.
• Follow the  guidelines for the editing of research theses by professional editors [.pdf 40kB] .

No. The use of file sharing and assignment help websites such as Chegg.com are not condoned for use at Curtin. If you are asking someone online or elsewhere to provide you with assessment answers, this should be a major red flag that you are contract cheating.

If you are in need of assistance, Curtin offers the following study support options:

Contract cheating is considered academic misconduct and the usual penalty is an annul (ANN) for the unit in which the cheating occurred. This means that you will not receive credit for the unit. A reoccurrence of contract cheating may result in an escalation of penalties.

Curtin University acknowledges the contribution of  UNSW  for some information on this page.

Contact for assistance

Student Wellbeing Advisory Service

Guild Student Assist

Useful documents

Academic integrity student guide [.pdf 2.4MB]

Student conduct guide [.pdf 3MB]

Student checklist to prevent plagiarism [.pdf 98kB]

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Does A.I. Really Encourage Cheating in Schools?

For my columns during the back-to-school season, I thought it would be useful to go over the state of public education in America. This series will be similar to the one I wrote on parenting a few months back in that it will be wide-ranging in subject, so please bear with me.

This past spring, Turnitin, a company that makes anti-cheating tools to detect the use of A.I. in student papers, released its findings based on more than two hundred million samples reviewed by its software. Three per cent of papers had been more or less entirely written by A.I. and roughly ten per cent exhibited some traces of A.I. It’s never a great idea to rely on data that a for-profit company releases about its own product, but these numbers do not suggest some epidemic of cheating. Other research has shown that there hasn’t been a significant increase in student plagiarism since the unveiling and mass popularization of large language models such as ChatGPT. Students seem to cheat a lot, generally—up to seventy per cent of students reported at least one instance of cheating in the past month—but they cheated at the same rates before the advent of A.I.

What has increased is the number of teachers and adults who seem convinced that all the kids are cheating. A study by the Center for Democracy and Technology found that “a majority of teachers still report that generative AI has made them more distrustful of whether their students’ work is actually theirs.” Such suspicions have been paired with real questions about the efficacy of A.I.-detection tools, including one concerning finding that showed A.I. detectors were more likely to flag the writing of non-native English speakers. This uncertainty, along with the failure of many school districts to implement a clear and comprehensive A.I. policy, has led to another layer of debate among educators about how to handle instances of alleged cheating. A set of guidelines on the use of Turnitin, which was recently released by the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Kansas, warned teachers against making “quick judgments” based on the company’s software and recommended that educators instead “take a few more steps to gather information,” including comparing previous examples of the student’s work, offering second chances, and talking to the student. (Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI, the company that developed ChatGPT, had built its own detection tool, which was much more accurate than its competitors’ software, but had held off releasing it, because admitting that students did indeed use ChatGPT to cheat might be bad for business.)

Educational data is notoriously unreliable. There’s a whole lot of it—kids take tests every day and have nearly every part of their educational journeys tracked from the age of five—but, if you dig into many education studies, you’ll find a whole lot of noise and almost no signal. When trying to parse what, for example, a small increase in statewide reading scores might mean about the efficacy of a given program, the best one can do is look at the data, try to eyeball some larger trend, and then present it somewhat halfheartedly. Here’s what I believe is happening in schools with ChatGPT: teachers are probably a little overly suspicious of students, in part because they have been given tools to catch cheaters. Those panoptic tools have likely scared some students straight, but cheats are going to cheat. When I was in high school, graphing calculators were blamed for student cheating. Ten years later, the ubiquity of cell phones in classrooms stirred up visions of kids across the country texting one another test answers whenever a teacher’s back was turned. Wikipedia also had its moment as the destroyer of research and knowledge in schools; today, it’s clear that Wikipedia has been a net good for society and probably more accurate and less biased than the Encyclopædia Britannicas it replaced.

The situation reminds me of the problem with sports-gambling apps . Gambling, like plagiarism, isn’t new. If you stick a hundred people who have never placed a bet in their lives in a casino, a small number of them will come back the next day, and the next, and the next. The rest will either never bet again or gamble only occasionally and in a responsible manner. Cheating in school strikes me as a similar phenomenon—maybe it’s true that most kids engage in a little bit of unethical schoolwork, but some portion of kids never will and many more likely do so only in the most trivial (or trying) situations. Technology does change the experience; it can encourage edge cases to start tossing dice at a craps table or asking ChatGPT to write a paper. But, for the most part, it’s not why adults gamble on sports or why kids cheat at school. And just as Wikipedia didn’t ruin the written word—and likely deepened the research of many student papers by simplifying the introductory task of getting to know a subject—the five-paragraph essay will survive large language models.

The rush to solve A.I. cheating and the myriad educational tools that have been developed and sold to schools across the country raise a tertiary, and far more interesting, question than whether or not the written word will survive. When we think about students’ work, where do we draw the line between what has sprung out of their developing mind and what has not?

In STEM subjects, the lines are a little clearer. If a student just looks over a neighbor’s shoulder and writes down the same answer, most people agree that’s cheating. But if a student is trying to prove that he understands how to solve a complicated math problem that involves some multiplication, does the use of a calculator mean that the student is cheating? He is not being tested on whether he knows how to multiply or not, so why waste time and potentially introduce careless errors? I do not think that having ChatGPT write a paper is the same thing as using a calculator for more menial and elementary tasks within a larger math problem, but it’s worth asking why we feel differently about the automation of research and the written word. Even in the fine arts, patrons and appreciators have long accepted that the artist doesn’t need to actually perform each brushstroke, construct every sculpture, or build every bit of a large installation. Small armies of uncredited assistants have their hands all over the works of Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, and Jeff Koons, which has kicked up periodic controversies, but not enough to end the practice. Would we think less of these artists if a machine just did all of the assistants’ work?

These questions are abstract and ridiculous, but they also reflect the arbitrary way in which we think about what constitutes cheating and what does not. Outside of blatant acts of plagiarism, the line between cheating and not cheating in the humanities seems to rely on the amount of time it takes to complete a task. For example, if a student visited a library archive to research what happened in the week after D Day, spooled some microfiche into an ancient machine, and dutifully jotted down notes, we would likely think more highly of that effort than if the student found the same article in a Google search, and certainly more so than if he paraphrased some Wikipedia editor’s reading of that article.

Under this logic, school isn’t about creating new scholarship or answering questions correctly—it’s about teaching proper work habits. A young person who takes the time to go into a library is more likely to develop the types of work habits that will allow him to find accompanying bits of information that might be useful in creating a novel, an algorithm, or a convincing argument. Setting aside the obvious offense of dishonesty, the problem with cheating isn’t so much that the student skips over the process of explaining what they learned—it’s that they deprive themselves of the time-consuming labor of actually having read the book, type out the sentences, and think through the prompt.

One of the fundamental crises that the Internet brought to classrooms was the sense that, because references to facts and history no longer needed to be stored in your brain, nothing really needed to be learned anymore. Search engines, Wikipedia, and ChatGPT all demanded the same explanation: If we have these tools, what’s the point of these lessons? Schools tend to change slowly, even if education trends come and go. This is a good thing and mostly owes to the fact that good teachers tend to have long careers. But, since the days when I was a teacher, in the mid-two-thousands, I’ve noticed a subtle shift in the way people think about what kids should learn in the humanities. The idea of memorization, for the most part, has gone away; children are no longer forced to rattle off the date of the First Defenestration of Prague (1419) or commit the same lists of vocabulary words to memory. At the same time, most of the political fights that people get into over schools these days hinge on curriculum choices, which have always struck me as both silly and wildly beside the point. It’s actually pretty hard to shake a child’s beliefs with a stray book or lesson. But I sometimes wonder if the doctrinaire push in today’s schools, the intense fights over how to teach history or math, the censorious book bans in some states, come from a collective fear that the knowledge-retention part of school might now be outdated. Since it’s hard to justify why kids should learn dates and vocabulary words and the like, we have subtly shifted the purpose of school to teaching them what to believe and how to go through life as a good person. This is an admirable goal but will usually end in bitter conflict over which values matter.

Opinions in education, as a rule, move very quickly and oftentimes in a reactionary way. But the actual implementation of any consensus can take decades to complete. This inefficiency can be harmful—it’s taken far too long to remove phones from schools, for example—but it also allows for little panics like the current one around large-language-model cheating. I do not think A.I. encourages cheating in some revolutionary way, and I imagine any rise in plagiarism might have more to do with the extraordinary pressure of college admissions and the overly competitive atmosphere in many high schools. Until that changes, some population of kids will convert any new app into a cheating tool, educational technology will sell blockers, and the cycle will just repeat itself. It doesn’t have to be this way. The A.I.-cheating panic gives us a chance to reëmphasize the work-habit part of schooling and to walk away from claims that the books that children read are somehow dangerous or that only one version of history can be taught. This, it should be said, is not so different from the way that thousands of teachers across the country already think about their jobs, but the work part of school has become far more gauche than it used to be, with schools across the country eliminating homework and focussing more on developing a student’s love of a subject or the implied politics of a curriculum. A little revanchism, such as in-class essays written with a paper and pencil in elementary and middle school, might go a long way. The lesson is almost always the actual doing of the lesson, not the facts that are learned. ♦

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From Criteria to Conclusion: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing an Evaluation Essay

How to Write an Evaluation Essay

Have you ever written a movie review on IMBD? Or maybe you have recently left your opinion under a viral TikTok video? If you have done anything from these above, you have practically tried writing an evaluation piece. The only main difference is that in terms of evaluation essay examples, the writing is much longer and more elaborate. It also usually follows a more formal writing style and format. However, as a separate essay type, it has its own structural nuances and thus may be a bit tricky to complete on the first try. No worries though, because in this article you will find all the important details about how to create an outline and write an evaluation essay as well as which aspects you should pay attention to during the work process. 

What is An Evaluation Essay?

An evaluation essay is a form of writing where the author assesses a particular subject, event, or phenomenon based on a set of criteria. The aim is to provide an unbiased and well-reasoned judgment of the topic in question. Unlike a review, which may be more subjective, an evaluation essay requires the writer to provide evidence and reasoning to support their assessments. You’re not just telling your friend, “This movie was awesome!” Instead, you’re breaking down the elements that made it awesome (or not so awesome) and helping them see why your judgment makes sense. The purpose is to inform the reader, helping them understand the value, significance, or quality of the subject matter.

So, what exactly makes an evaluation essay? There are four key components: criteria, judgments, evidence, counterarguments, and credibility. 

Key Components of the Essay

This is where you set the bar for what you’re evaluating. Let’s say you’re reviewing an app. Your criteria might include things like the user interface, how well it functions, and whether it’s worth the price. These are the specific aspects you’ll focus on to assess the app. The more clearly you define your criteria, the easier it is for your readers to get where you’re coming from.

Once you’ve laid out your criteria, it’s time to make your call. This is your actual evaluation based on the criteria you’ve set. For example, if you’re evaluating a coffee shop, you might judge it based on the quality of the coffee, the vibe of the place, and the service. But don’t just stop at your judgment—explain why you’re making that call (which scoring you gave for each of the aspects, for example).

Here’s where you back up your judgment with some solid proof. It’s not enough to say, “The coffee was amazing.” What made it amazing? Was it the rich flavor, the perfect temperature, or the barista’s skill? Providing specific examples or facts makes your argument stronger and your evaluation more convincing.

• Counterarguments

A good evaluation essay also takes into account other perspectives. Maybe the coffee was great, but the service was slow. By acknowledging potential counterarguments, you show that you’ve thought critically about your evaluation. It makes your essay more credible and shows that you’re not just being one-sided.

• Credibility

Speaking of credibility, this comes from using reliable sources, presenting your argument fairly, and being upfront about any limitations in your evaluation. In the example of the coffee shop, it helps if you’ve visited a variety of similar places or have a decent understanding of what makes a good cup of coffee. This shows your readers that you know what you’re talking about and that your evaluation is grounded in real experience, not just a one-time visit.

So, to sum it up, the main point of a good evaluation essay is to give a thoughtful, well-supported opinion. You’re guiding your readers through your thought process, showing them how you arrived at your conclusion, and making sure they understand your perspective. 

Creating an Evaluation Essay Outline: What You Should Know

The outline is important in any type of writing. However, it plays an even a larger role when it comes to presenting a thought-out and precise evaluation that will in the end support your own opinion on the matter. Here’s what your outline should typically include:

• Hook: Start with a compelling opening sentence to win over the reader’s attention.
• Background Information: Provide some context about the subject you’re evaluating.
• Thesis Statement: Clearly state your evaluation, summarizing the main criteria you will use to assess the subject.
• Criteria: Each paragraph should focus on one criterion you’re using for evaluation.
• Evidence: Support each criterion with evidence or examples.
• Judgment: Explain how the evidence supports your evaluation for each criterion.
• Restate Thesis: Summarize your main points and restate your evaluation.
• Final Thoughts: Offer any concluding remarks or suggestions for further consideration.

Writing an Evaluation Essay Step-by-Step

Now, we’ve covered the basics: the structure and main characteristics of the evaluation essay as a type of writing. The logical question is, how you should go about writing the essay so as not to lose the train of thought and present all the facts. Below you will see exactly how to do that.

Describe the Evaluation Criteria

First things first, what you need to do is establish the criteria by which you’ll be evaluating your subject. These criteria are the specific angles you’ll use to analyze the different aspects of whatever you’re evaluating. Let’s get back to the example of the essay about a coffee shop. Your criteria, in such a case, might include the quality of the coffee, the atmosphere, the service, and the overall value for money. These will serve as the foundation for your judgments, so take the time to brainstorm and define them clearly before you begin writing.

Write a Plan

With your criteria in hand, the next step is to create the outline that was previously mentioned. This sort of a “map” will keep you on track and help make sure that your essay flows logically from one point to the next. Start by outlining the main ideas you’ll cover in each body paragraph, each corresponding to one of the criteria you’ve established. Think about the order in which you want to present your arguments and how you’ll transition between them. 

Write the Evaluation Essay

Now that you’ve got your plan, it’s time to get writing! Start with a strong introduction that grabs your reader’s attention and clearly states the purpose of your evaluation. Then, move into the body paragraphs. Follow the structure discussed earlier: introduce the subject, make your judgment, apply your criteria, and provide evidence to support your opinion. Be sure to make your reasons clear and compelling, and guide your reader smoothly from one point to the next.

Write the Conclusion

Finally, you can put an end to your writing by summarizing the main points of your essay and restating your overall judgment. Reflect on the significance of your evaluation and its broader implications—what does your assessment say about the subject as a whole? Leave your readers with something to dwell upon. It might be a thought-provoking question, a call to action, or a final insight that ties all the parts of your essay together.

Review the Finished Essay

Before you hit submit, take some time to review and revise your essay. Check for any grammatical errors, typos, or awkward sentences that could distract from your argument. Make sure your essay flows smoothly from start to finish, and that your ideas are well-supported by evidence. Don’t forget to double-check that you’ve covered all the evaluation criteria you set out in the beginning. Once you’re confident that your essay is complete, give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back—you’ve just written a thorough and thoughtful evaluation essay!

What to Pay Attention to to Reach The Higher Grade

Even when you’ve chosen your topic, developed your ideas, and laid out the structure of your evaluation essay, there’s always that lingering question: “Have I covered everything?” Understanding what professors look for when grading your evaluation essay can help you feel more confident about your work and make sure you’re not missing anything important. So, if you want to reach that higher grade, check out the criteria below that is most of the times considered when grading your papers.

• Clarity and Coherence

Why It’s Important: Clarity and coherence are the foundation of effective communication in writing. If your essay is well-organized and easy to follow, your professor will be able to understand your arguments without getting lost in confusing phrasing or jumbled ideas. 

What to Check: When reviewing your essay, make sure your ideas are laid out in a logical order. Each paragraph should build on the last, and transitions between sections should be smooth and natural.

• Thesis Statement

Why It’s Important: The thesis statement is the heart of your evaluation essay. It presents your overall judgment or evaluation of the subject and sets the tone for the entire piece. Professors look for a clear and concise thesis because it shows that you have a focused argument and understand the purpose of your essay.

What to Check: Make sure your thesis statement is prominently stated in your introduction and that it clearly conveys your main evaluation. 

• Use of Evidence

Why It’s Important: Evidence is what makes your evaluation credible. Professors expect you to back up your judgments with relevant examples, facts, and arguments that demonstrate critical thinking skills. Without strong evidence, your essay might come off as opinionated rather than well-reasoned.

What to Check: Review each of your main points to ensure they are supported by concrete evidence. 

• Depth of Analysis

Why It’s Important: Depth of analysis separates a basic evaluation from an insightful one. Professors want to see that you’ve engaged deeply with the subject, exploring its complexities and nuances rather than just scratching the surface. 

What to Check : Ask yourself if you’ve provided a thorough analysis. Look for areas where you can explore underlying themes, implications, or connections.

• Critical Thinking Skills

Why It’s Important: Critical thinking is a key skill that professors try to cultivate in students. They want to see that you’ve thought acutely about the subject, considered alternative viewpoints, and addressed potential counterarguments.

What to Check : As you review your essay, look for places where you’ve considered other perspectives or acknowledged possible criticisms of your evaluation. 

• Use of Language and Style

Why It’s Important: Good writing means you know how to say what you want to say. Most educators look for essays that are well-written, with clear, concise, and engaging language. 

What to Check: Proofread your essay carefully for any errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling. Beyond technical correctness, try to write in an engaging and appropriate tone of voice and writing style

• Originality and Insight

Why It’s Important: Originality shows that you’re bringing something new to the table, rather than just repeating what others have said. Professors appreciate essays that offer fresh perspectives or innovative interpretations because they demonstrate creativity and deep engagement with the subject.

What to Check: Reflect on your essay and ask yourself if you’ve added any original insights or perspectives. Are you saying something new or looking at the subject in a way that others might not have considered? 

• Compliance with Instructions

Why It’s Important: Following the assignment guidelines is non-negotiable. Your lecturer provides specific instructions for a reason, and failing to comply with them can result in a lower grade, no matter how well-written your essay is.

What to Check : Double-check the assignment guidelines to ensure you’ve met all the requirements. This includes word count, formatting, and any specific instructions related to the content or structure of your essay.  

Writing an evaluation essay, aim to construct a well-reasoned, thoughtful analysis that guides your reader through your perspective with clarity and insight. Your main goal is to craft an essay that informs yet at the same tine challenges your reader to see the subject in a new light. With the right approach, you can create a compelling piece that stands out and meets the high standards your professors are looking for.

How should I start an evaluation essay?

Start with a hook to grab the reader’s attention, followed by some background information on the subject, and end with a clear thesis statement that outlines your evaluation.

What are the 5 key features of an evaluation essay?

The five key features include a clear thesis statement, well-defined criteria for evaluation, solid evidence to support the evaluation, balanced analysis, and a strong conclusion.

How to write an evaluation report?

 An evaluation report follows a similar structure to an evaluation essay but is often more detailed and may include additional sections like methodology, findings, and recommendations. Start with an introduction, followed by a detailed evaluation, and end with conclusions and recommendations.

How to end an evaluation essay?

The best way is to end by summarizing your main points and restating your thesis in light of the evidence you’ve provided. You can also offer final thoughts or suggestions for further consideration.

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