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A Wangled, Wired Web
What You Need to Know About Online Cheating
By Tracy L. Doerr
There is dark side to the Internet that parents might be overlooking. Although you may closely monitor your children's use of the 'net to protect them from pornography and adult chat sites, do you know what your child is doing when researching a school project? Is it information they are logging on for or are they tracking down "cheater sites" for completed assignments to pass off as their own?
As a parent, you probably praise the value of the Internet when it comes to your student doing research. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 87 percent of parents believe that the Internet helps their children with their homework.
"Most online teens see the Internet as a giant homework helper and many use email and instant messaging to get their friends and teachers to help them when they are stuck on assignments," says Lee Rainie, director of the project. "Those are certainly the main reasons that parents hope their children are online."
The Web can be a great educational tool, but it is being abused.
Just as there are dozens of online sites to aid students with their studies, there are as many overt cheat sites. They offer assignments that students can copy, paste, print and then pawn off as their original work.
Plagiarism is a timeless issue for academia. Copying another's work is nothing new, but the advent of the 'net has propelled the problem to a new level. For the unethical student, being online makes cheating faster and easier.
There are more than 200 "term-paper mill" sites on the Web, and new ones are being added daily. Popular sites brag about their tens of thousands of clients, and add hundreds of manuscripts to their databases each week. Some are free. Others, with more detailed research, charge prices per page ranging from $4.95 U.S. to a $35 U.S. or more.
Don't think your teen would take advantage of these sites? A study of 4,471 students from 25 U.S. high schools conducted earlier this year by Don McCabe, a professor at Rutgers University School of Management in New Brunswick, N.J. and founder of the Center for Academic Integrity, found that 52 percent of students admitted to stealing material off the Internet.