Last week the Red and Black published an interesting article on cheating and file-sharing. The article cited a Stanford study that reported an increase in cheating in computer science classes and an increase in cheating allegations. Both of these were attributed to more advanced technology. Students have become more savvy at copying files and extracting information from online sources. Faculty and administrators have also improved in tracking reports to databases of published works. Ah technology you double edged sword!

So how do we as instructors help our students avoid the temptation of easily obtainable online papers, cut-and-paste plagiarism, and file sharing? I was fortunate to find one answer to this question last week, just 2 days after reading the article, when I participated in a large-lecture course (almost 300 students). Students were to prepare an in-class group summary on information they had researched prior to class. The instructor was very explicit in her description of what constitutes plagiarism, giving examples of a well cited and a plagiarised paragraph on a PowerPoint slide to show the students exactly what was expected of them. The students were a bit surprised, but took the information to heart and wrote well-cited summaries.

In addition, to the academic honesty statement on the syllabus, I think this is a great way to reach students. We can best teach by example, especially with students who are used to instant access to information, and may not think of accrediting those sources. What other methods do you employ?