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Resources
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Web Search
Find a submitted essay on the web (main page) |
How?
How does a student
download an essay?
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Why?
What motivates a student
to download an essay?
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Essay Sites
a few places where students find essays on the net
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Prevention
How to stop the problem
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Guest Book
Write down your comments or stories, view others'
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Created
by
Matt Clare
A concerned student and Student Technology Assistant at Brock University, Ont. Canada
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The Internet offers many things to the student as far as essays; research opportunities,
format help, and many other positive opportunities. However, there is also
the option to download and submit an entire essay from resources on the
web.
Such sites work by allowing users to
submit their works so that others may later download them. There is nothing
wrong with this sharing of information, a student may be proud of his or
her work and want it to be available to be read by the world.
The fraudulent act occurs when a student
then takes another person's work and submits it as their own. It is these
fraudulent acts that this site is intended to assist in detecting.
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The reasons why a student might feel the
need to download an easy rather then create their own work vary in the
same way that no student is the same as the next. In fact
the Internet can be used by students to improve their skills, rather then
circumvent their own development. That said, there are some common reasons:
Reasons of Desperation:
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English as a Second Language students often have trouble with creating an entire essay in English
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Pressure to perform and achieve a mark higher than they are capable of (ironically
some of the worst essays ever can be found on the web)
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Pressure put upon them as far as time: i.e.. other essays & exams,
after school job, family commitments, etc.
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Poor concept of plagiarism laws and customs surrounding art as property
Reasons of Maliciousness:
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Apathy (the most common) - A simple unwillingness to create an original
essay
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An individual may be capable of producing an original essay that would
achieve a passing grade, however he or she wants achieve even more for
far less work
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The best prevention is to promote honesty and create unique and creative assignments.
There are other sites dedicated to promoting this type of honesty:
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Robert A. Harris,
Professor of English, Vanguard University of Southern California, 1996-2001, has recently written two valuable books on the subject.
He also maintains a useful website.
At his website www.virtualsalt.com you can find a few key articles on the subject, including ideas on how to approach the issue of plagiarism. |
Additionally, many secondary and post-secondary schools have subscribed to
TurnItIn.com
for about CDN$4000.00/year.
The TurnItIn.com Site
is based on electronic submission, which not only saves paper but allows student to
submit essays at 11:59pm and be on time. The site then provides educators with a commented version
that indicates what is suspect and what source it looks lie
Currently in Ontario the
University of Western Ontario (Canada) has subscribed to this service
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