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Exam and coursework cheats

Hundreds of WA university students have been caught cheating in exams and plagiarising course work.

More than 1300 students have been nabbed trying to pass off other people's work as their own since January 2006, documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show.

Academics say it is impossible to know how many other students may be cheating on assignments - ghost-written ones were the hardest to detect.

Penalties for plagiarism can include suspension, loss of marks, failure of a unit or expulsion.

During the past three years, 545 students have been picked up for plagiarism at Curtin University, 304 at Murdoch, 270 at the University of WA and 182 at Edith Cowan University.

Eighteen students were reported for cheating in exams at ECU, 50 at Murdoch, 155 at Curtin and 44 at UWA.

Curtin, Murdoch and ECU said plagiarism detection software Turnitin was a useful tool.

Students could check their work for plagiarised text and staff could check students' work.

ECU said the number of students caught cheating had risen since 2006.

This was partly due to the prevalence of online information sources which increased the potential for plagiarism but also reflected the university's vigilance in identifying it.

"All universities are becoming more vigilant on the issue," deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Arshad Omari said.

Curtin deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Jane den Hollander said the trend had stabilised over the past three years as the university worked at raising student awareness of the consequences of cheating.

"The penalties for plagiarism are now so draconian that people tend to really think about it before they do it," she said.

Murdoch deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Jan Thomas said the number of students caught plagiarising fell 10 per cent since 2006, due to plagiarism detection software and students knowing the penalties.

UWA requires all first-year students to complete a course on ethical academic conduct.

The West Australian (Perth) January 22, 2009 Thursday Second Edition Computer program helps unis catch 1300 cheating students BYLINE: BETHANY HIATT SECTION: MAI; Pg.

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