The pressure is on during the fifth week of the quarter, and
with midterms and papers due, some may see plagiarism as an
effortless alternative to genuine work.
Increased usage of the Internet has brought with it higher
levels of plagiarism cases on campus, according to Assistant Dean
of Students Heidi Hanzi.
“With the Internet, there’s more of a temptation and
more accessibility to work on so many different topics,”
Hanzi said. “And when it is late at night, it is tempting to
take something off the Internet, even when the paper is almost
done.”
Adding to the temptation are Web sites selling completed papers
to students.
“You can use one of our papers to lessen your stress
level,” says TermPapersRUS.com, one such site that describes
itself as a research aid for students.
“If it isn’t in our database of more than 25,000
sample term papers, essays and research studies, then we will write
one for you,” the site says.
Third-year economics student Anand Sambhwani said he has heard
of online term paper services, but thinks they are
counterproductive to being a student in the first place.
“If you got into school here and you’re paying
$15,000 a year (in expenses), it’s not worth it to buy
papers. You have to live up to the UCLA standard,” Sambhwani
said.
Where academic integrity alone will not deter plagiarism,
detection services step in to help.
Professors at UCLA and other universities are using sites like
turnitin.com. to detect plagiarism in their students’
work.
Founded in 1996 by then UC Berkeley graduate student John
Barrie, this self-described “eclectic mix of former teachers,
doctoral students, designers, computer scientists and business
professionals” has organized services on the site to detect
and deter plagiarism.
When professors register with turnitin.com, students submit
their assignments through the Web site, which then compares it to
other students’ papers and to information on the Web, to
highlight similarities between a person’s work and work that
already exists.
Within 24 hours, the result is a custom, color-coded
“Originality Report,” complete with internet source
links for each paper where plagiarism is found.
Steven Kim, a lecturer in the Chemistry and Biochemistry
Department, used turnitin.com last year and said he will continue
to use the site this year.
“If most students are aware that we are capable of
detecting plagiarism,” said Kim, “then most students
are intelligent enough not to jeopardize the rest of their
careers.”
“It causes both students and faculty to have additional
work, but if it means protecting the integrity of the
student’s work and the grade they earn, then such measures
should be taken,” he said.
Possible cases of plagiarism are sent to the Office of the Dean
of Students for review. If plagiarism is confirmed, the consequence
is typically a two-quarter suspension, with the more severe cases
resulting in a year’s suspension.
Hanzy says there seems to be a larger number of younger students
sent to the Dean for review, usually because of uncertainty about
what constitutes plagiarism.
“Some students don’t know how to properly cite, but
it’s still plagiarism,” Hanzi said.
Professors sometimes take it upon themselves to help remedy this
situation. Astronomy professor Mark Morris dedicates an entire
lecture to clarifying the meaning of plagiarism to students in his
GE Cluster, Evolution of the Cosmos and Life, which consists of
first-year students only.
Morris believes students use the Internet irresponsibly because
of “the naive impression that the Internet is not the same as
books.”
“Instead of bringing things into the brain and remitting
them with an individual interpretation, plagiarism short-circuits
the process and works against actual learning,” Morris
said.
Morris’ approach to combatting plagiarism has worked.
“Plagiarism in my classes used to be depressingly common;
but, maybe because we are trying so hard from the beginning, we do
not see it so much anymore,” Morris said.
The number of students caught for plagiarism ranges from two to
12 people per quarter.