Internet helps professors catch plagiarized term papers

SEATTLE (AP) -- Some years ago, college students began using the Internet to buy, sell, distribute and copy term papers. Now professors are using the Internet to catch plagiarism.

"When the world becomes your oyster, there are so many more opportunities to access information and there are more opportunities to cheat," said Gus Kravas, vice provost for student affairs at Washington State University. "We've had to become more vigilant."

A paper on Bill Gates set off alarm bells for George Dyson, who teaches history of technology at Western Washington University. The language seemed too sophisticated, and Gates' age was off by two years.

Dyson checked one phrase with an Internet search engine. Bingo. Up came a 2-year-old paper from a University of Michigan computer science class. "The wording hadn't even been changed," Dyson said. "It really was no mystery to solve."

The extent of cheating is hard to determine.

The University of Washington recorded eight disciplinary cases involving plagiarism this year, 10 in 1997 and seven in 1996, including three using Internet sources this year, one last year and four in 1996.

Most plagiarism, however, is handled by instructors or deans without formal disciplinary action and thus is not reflected in the statistics, said Ernest Morris, the university's vice president for student affairs.

Fred DeKay, associate dean of the Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University, said plagiarism is fairly rare there but Internet usage is more typical when it does occur. In one case last year, he said, a business ethics student was caught lifting articles from the Internet.

Faculty use seminars, e-mail, discussion lists and library Web sites to compare notes on catching cheaters. Some post lists of Web sites offering free papers on the Web. There are also commercial programs.

Software offered by Glatt Plagiarism Services of Chicago removes strategic words from essays and then asks writers to fill in the blanks. Plagiarists get low scores, owner Barbara Glatt said. Another aid to professors is the electronic coding in documents and pictures on some Internet sites.

"You may vary the spacing between words (in a document) just by tiny amounts. You can encode a one or a zero," said Hector Garcia-Molina, a computer science professor at Stanford University. "A human cannot see it." Many professors say fakes can largely be flagged through attention and common sense.

Kevin Laverty, a University of Washington assistant business professor in Bothell, gets suspicious when he notices writing that is more journalistic than academic. "If I can find the (plagiarized) article in 15 minutes ... that's how much effort they are putting into it," Laverty said.

Robert Harris, an English professor at Southern California College in Costa Mesa, suggests checking students' ability to read from their papers without stumbling.

Web addresses or other unusual text at the top or bottom of the page and gray letters in the copy may reflect material printed directly from the Internet, says Lisa Hinchliffe, a University of Illinois librarian.

Nor will cribbing from multiple sources often be effective, said Ron Johnson, vice president for computing and communications at the University of Washington.

"When a cut-and-paste thief cheats, what you are getting is a product that is not too smooth," Johnson said. "They may get away with cheating, but they won't get a good paper."