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What to do When You Suspect or Encounter
SCHOLASTIC DISHONESTY

Discovering Scholastic Dishonesty

Occasionally, as a paper or test is being graded, something may appear odd or suspicious or in some other way cause you to wonder if the student engaged in an act of cheating or plagiarizing.  This can feel demoralizing, especially for someone whose life work is in the pursuit of academic excellence. It may seem daunting to verify and address the situation.  However, the University has a centralized office, the Office for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity (OSCAI) to assist in these matters so they can be addressed with minimal difficulty and allow faculty members to stay focused on their teaching and research. Below are some steps you can take for different types of scholastic dishonesty.

The University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents Student Conduct Code’s¹ definition of Scholastic Dishonesty is: 
Plagiarizing; cheating on assignments or examinations; engaging in unauthorized collaboration on academic work; taking, acquiring, or using test materials without faculty permission; submitting false or incomplete records of academic achievement; acting alone or in cooperation with another to falsify records or to obtain dishonestly grades, honors, awards, or professional endorsements; or altering, forging, or misusing a University academic record; or fabricating or falsifying of data, research procedures, or data analysis.

First of all, do not take the incident personally

Instructors who have dedicated themselves to learning and imparting their knowledge to students will sometimes feel very disappointed when they discover cheating in their classes.  However, please remember that it is not about any failure on the instructor’s part to prevent this.  It is a good idea to put practices in place to help prevent opportunities for cheating, but even in the best planned class cheating still occurs. 

For cases of suspected plagiarism²

Make a copy of the paper or test and mark the suspicious elements.  Indications that a paper may be plagiarized include:

• Change in style or tone from the student’s other written work.
• Unusual citation styles or formatting.
• Last minute changes in topic.
• Unusual word choice, including overly technical terminology.
• Typographical errors from scanning or cutting and pasting a paper.  (E.g., the “%” sign in place of an apostrophe.)
• Presence of a URL printed on the paper.  Alternatively, dark lines that indicate the URL were covered up and the paper was then recopied.
• References to illustrations or tables that are not included.
• Reference to a course or assignment that is not accurate.

Additional ways to verify plagiarism include

• Ask the student.  (Below is information on steps to take in meeting with a student.)
• “Google” within quote marks a phrase that seems out of place. 
• Browse paper mill websites.³ (Do not spend excessive time searching for the identical item, as there are multiple mills with different papers on each. A solid case for plagiarizing can be organized without a “smoking gun.”)
• With the name removed, for privacy and to avoid possible bias, ask a colleague to review the paper against samples of the student’s work.
• Check out the resources in the Center for Writing.
• Use an on-line prevention/detection program such as Turnitin.com. The University has a contract with Turnitin.com.  If you are a faculty member who wishes to use this program, contact OSCAI for the password information and procedures. Take a look at the website of Turnitin.com.

Cheating on assignments or examinations

In cases where two assignments are overly similar, make a copy of both and mark those elements.  Signs that an assignment has been copied include:

• Certain wrong answers match between two assignments.
• When labels given to diagrams, etc. are identical, but not common to the class.
• A student with a test “B” has answers for the multiple-choice test that match test “A.”  The students sat next to each other during the test. You or a TA observed odd behavior, such as sitting at an odd angle, repeated glancing at a particular spot, rustling papers, whispering, etc., or another student reports such behavior.

It can also be helpful in cheating cases to ask a colleague to review the tests against each other as well as some tests you are not questioning, with all names removed, to see if they observe the similarities.

Other types of cheating

There are other types of cheating. The most important thing to remember is to obtain as much work from the students to indicate that there might have been cheating.  Also, write down any notes such as time it occurred and the names of the TA’s or other people who are aware of the situation or may have witnessed the incident. When making a report, document as much pertinent information as you can about the incident.

Steps to take in meeting with a student

• Once you have concluded that scholastic dishonesty has most likely occurred, inform the student that you need to meet with him/her.  You should have in mind a suitable penalty or outcome based on your stated expectations and standards for the class or assignment.
• Present the student with the information and evidence that has formed the basis of your conclusion.  (You might want to have a third [confidential] party present to witness the meeting, such as a TA or an administrative support person.)
• Provide the student with an opportunity to respond.  Taking the student’s response into account, indicate to the student what action you will be taking and that the matter will be reported to the OSCAI.  Use the OSCAI scholastic dishonesty report form.
• If end of the semester time constraints do not permit such a session, contact the student in writing (his or her University email account being a good option), outlining the problem and asking the student for his/her response and giving him/her a deadline to respond.  Then, depending on the response of the student (assuming the student responds), you might drop the incident after hearing the response, OR you will assign the student a “sanction” such as an “F” in the class or on the paper. If the student does NOT respond, indicate that on your report that you tried to reach the student and assign the grade.
• Make sure you retain copies of questionable exams and assignments to assist in reporting.
• If you decide that cheating most likely occurred, then send your report with all pertinent documents, including a copy of the syllabus to OSCAI: Rm 211 ApH, 3505 (211 Appleby Hall, 128 Pleasant St. S.E., Mpls., MN 55455). Once your report is received, OSCAI will send the student a letter confirming the report of misconduct and the penalty assigned.  The letter, copied to you, and the student’s collegiate student affairs office, will outline the process of appealing a submission of scholastic dishonesty.

Why report scholastic dishonesty to the Office for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity (OSCAI)?

Once in a while OSCAI staff hears negative comments from faculty about reporting students.  Following are some comments and the answers that the staff provides:

1. “I don’t want to punish the student more by reporting this to OSCAI.”
   It’s not hurting a student to hold him/her accountable for his/her actions.  If the student has cheated in other classes, it is important for there to be centralized reporting so that this student’s pattern of cheating can be discovered.  It could be hurting the student’s future if you do not report it.
2. “It’s too much work on my part to report this to OSCAI.”
   The report does not have to be long or overly detailed. OSCAI encourages the report to be short and to the point. Usually when an incident of scholastic dishonesty is discovered, it’s easier to deal with it promptly than to let it happen over and over again when it becomes much more difficult to document and report.
3. “Students cheat.  Why should I bother taking the time to do anything about it?”
   More and more, cheating and unethical practices are being discovered in academic and corporate sectors. This creates dire consequences for those involved and for those affected by their actions.  The efforts an instructor makes to address cheating during a college student’s academic career could make enough of an impact that it might change the course of the student’s future life and even have positive societal impact.

University Resources:

1. Office for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity:  612-624-6073
   • Sounding board for sorting out if a matter is inexperience with citation, sloppy workmanship, and/or plagiarism.
   • Support in addressing misconduct.
   • Suggestions for reducing plagiarism and cheating.
   • Consideration of charges and sanctioning under the Student Conduct Code.
2. Center for Teaching and Learning Services:  612-625-3041 
3. Center for Writing: 612-626-7579 
4. Center for Academic Integrity
5. Student Conflict Resolution Service: 612-625-5900

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1. University of Minnesota’s Board of Regents Policy, Student Conduct Code.  http://www1.umn.edu/regents/policies/academic/Code_of_Conduct.html
2. Christine Whittington, Maine Academic & Research Initiative for Electronic Resources (MARINER), University of Maine System Libraries (2000).
3. Christine Whittington, Maine Academic & Research Initiative for Electronic Resources (MARINER), University of Maine System Libraries (2000).
   
4. Modified from the “Frequently Asked Question from Faculty” section of the OSCAI Website, (2004)