After waiting until the last minute to write his English paper,Ben, a student, decided to plagiarize information from theInternet.
Ben, who did not want his last name revealed, said he used theinformation on the Internet and simply made it his own.
It was the only time he had ever plagiarized, but he received an"A" on the paper, he said.
"I didn't get caught, but I didn't like doing it," Ben said."Waiting until the last minute got me in trouble."
With finals week less then a month away, students might betempted to cheat because they procrastinate. Academic dishonesty isa problem on all college campuses, Deborah Balogh, the associateprovost, said, citing national statistics.
According to the Ball State Student Academic Ethics Policy,students commit academic dishonesty whenever they plagiarizesomeone else's work or cheat.
The policy's definition of cheating includes copying anotherpaper, buying unauthorized materials for a quiz or otherassignment, and changing material on a graded quiz or test andasking it to be re-graded.
"Too often students may think it is no big thing," RichardAquila, chairperson of the Department of History, said. "Thereality is, according to university policies, academic dishonestyis a very big thing.
"Students have been caught cheating in every possible way youcan imagine. Some use old-fashioned crib notes or copy off somebodyelse's paper. Others have gone high-tech, stealing other people'swork from the Internet."
Sophomore Holly Rains said she believes students cheat for tworeasons.
"Either they are lazy and still want to get good grades or theyjust can't get the grades they want and end up cheating," Rainssaid. "Most of the time they just think they will never getcaught."
Balogh said a common situation she sees is when students turn ina paper that contains similar or identical text.
If professors suspect a student is cheating, they have severalways to handle the situation.
According to the policy, an informal accusation allows aprofessor to confront the student and discuss an appropriatesolution.
The English department tries to make this a learning experiencefor students and gives them a chance to confess, Carole Papper,associate professor of English, said.
In an informal accusation, the university does not record theincident and the student does not face the University AcademicEthics Committee.
In a formal accusation, the professor notifies the UniversityAcademic Ethics Committee of the suspected cheating.
The committee is made up of seven faculty members, fourstudents, the associate provost and the dean of students.
After hearing each side and any witnesses, the committeedetermines the disciplinary actions according to the policy.
The committee looks at the nature of the academic dishonesty andif the student had cheated or plagiarized before, Balogh said.
"Cheating could lead to everything from getting an "F" on thetest or assignment to getting expelled from Ball State University,"Aquila said.
Balogh said, however, that expulsion is not commonlyemployed.
"The offense would have to be especially egregious for thecommittee to take this step," Balogh said.
The committee sees approximately three to four cases a year, shesaid.
Papper said she believes a lot of cases are handledinformally.
Papper said she has seen her share of students plagiarizingothers' works in the English department.
"We had a student once plagiarize the whole Democratic nationalplatform," Papper said. "We had a good laugh with that one."
Papper said the student admitted to not having enough time tofinish the assignment and in return was given an "F" on theassignment.
In composition classes, professors learn the way a studentwrites and usually notice when students turn in something that isnot their own, Papper said.
"There are practices that instructors can use that make it moredifficult for students to cheat," Balogh said.
Professors can change assignments and alternate the forms oftests used.
"(Professors) also understand that they need to be on theconstant alert for those few students who do try to cheat," Aquilasaid. "Otherwise, it would be unfair not just to the system, butalso to those students who honestly do their assignments and studyhard to get good grades."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
