Cheating

Sigh.

I thought I'd designed an assignment that couldn't be plagiarized. I was wrong. I've pasted below the report I sent to Gordon Price at Student Life. The names have been changed to protect the privacy of both innocent and guilty.

Task: Final Analysis, worth 25% of course grade. A mix of course text and personal observations of a classroom team.

Proof of cheating: Wolverine and Flame, both members of the classroom team, The Superheroes, turned in analyses that used the same phrasing of entire paragraphs. Some of the sentences included the misuse of the same words, including “form” for “from” and “defiant” for “definite.” On Wolverine's paper he talked about himself in the third person. After comparing it with Flame’s, I tended to suspect Wolverine of doing the cheating.

Action taken: I made the discovery on Saturday afternoon while reading my stacks of papers. I decided that I would call both students, explain that one of them stole from the other and I would have to take action and flunk the cheater. I called Flame first and left a message to call me back. I then called Wolverine. He was there. Without using Flame’s name, I explained that his work was the same as another student’s, that the phrasing was the same, and that I’d have to flunk someone on the assignment. He immediately confessed. I told him that I would give him an “F” on the assignment and report the issue to Student Life. When Flame called me back right after my call to Wolverine, I told her about the two papers and told her that “the other student” had confessed and would flunk the assignment. I didn’t have the presence of mind at the moment to ask her if she had assisted in the cheating.

Consequences: Wolverine will take an “F” on an assignment that is 25% of his final grade. He will also have his name in a file at Student Life.

Final Thought: If Flame did help Wolverine cheat, I hope she pays for it in some way.