Manual for Cheaters

1
Manual for Cheaters

• What to do if you are caught cheating in my
  classes

2
Introduction

• I love to teach. The best part of teaching is
  when I can help people to develop skills that
  will give them a better life.
• The only part of my job that I really hate is
  dealing with the people that I catch cheating.
  Unfortunately, I catch cheaters every semester.

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Definitions of Cheating

• Any thing you do that tries to take credit for
  work done by someone else.
• Reusing the same work for more than one class.
• Using any resource not permitted by the
  instructor during an exam.
• Any communication with an another person during a
  test.
• Multiple persons turning in the same assignment
  on an individual assignment.

4
NJIT Policy

• New Jersey Institute of Technology has an honor
  code, available on their web site at
  http//www.njit.edu/academics/honorcode.php.
• Note that the honor code indicates four levels of
  severity for offenses.
• I support the honor code, and attempt to follow
  it, sometimes at great personal expense. In one
  case, I had to delay summer employment for three
  weeks to gather evidence and cooperate with the
  honor court.

5
My Policy

• I will always refer serious cases of premeditated
  cheating to the honor court. Serious cases (level
  1 and 2) include bringing notes into an exam that
  are intended to be disguised.
• For lesser severity cheating, I will apply the
  same sanctions that are in the honor code,
  usually the least severe sanction, getting a zero
  grade on the exam or assignment. Any time I do
  this the student may ask to be judged by the
  honor court instead, and I will grant that
  request.

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What I will not do.

• I will not condone or excuse cheating, or let the
  student make up the exam or assignment.
• I cannot excuse cheating without becoming a cheat
  myself, because that would cheat the University,
  honest students and alumni.

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Cheating the University

• The most precious asset of any school is its
  reputation. Students want to attend schools with
  a good reputation and employers want to hire
  graduates of those schools. Any toleration of
  cheating harms the school.
• NJIT hired me to provide a good education for its
  students, not to damage the reputation of the
  University. Do not ask me to betray the school
  by condoning cheating.

8
Cheating other students

• It is not fair to honest students to give
  dishonest students the same grade that they get.
  The job market is competitive, and employers want
  to hire the best qualified employees. I will not
  make it difficult for potential employers to
  identify well prepared students by tolerating
  people who cheat.

9
Cheating alumni

• You only attend school for a few years, but for
  the rest of your life you are associated with a
  school from which you have received a degree.
  The reputation of that school will either create
  or destroy many opportunities for you. I am a
  graduate of NJIT, and the reputation of the
  school has given me much. I intend to protect
  that reputation.

10
Cheating Yourself

• Actually, the person harmed most by cheating is
  the person doing the cheating. If you get credit
  for knowing something you do not know, you are
  setting yourself up for greater failure later on
  when that knowledge is required for a later
  course or on the job.
• It is far better to have to repeat a course or
  even change majors or professions than it is to
  devote a substantial part of your life preparing
  for something at which you can only fail because
  you do not have the background to succeed.

11
Risky behavior

• Cheating in my classes is very risky. I have had
  far more experience than most professors, over
  100 courses at fourteen different colleges and
  universities in two countries in eight different
  degree programs. I have seen a lot of cheating
  by fellow students.
• Also, I have taught long enough to see a lot of
  cheating. I catch cheaters every semester. I
  often have honest students complain about people
  in the class cheating, so I learn about new ways
  to cheat, and am aware when cheating occurs.

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Dead Giveaways

• There are items in tests that tell me immediately
  that students have cheated
• Isolated facts 31 percent of
• Identical unusual words or phrases on more than
  one exam.
• Writing in a style that is not appropriate for an
  exam or for a person not writing in their native
  language.

13
Futility of Cheating

• I have seen many cases in which students who had
  a good idea of the right answer put down the
  wrong answer because they were cheating.
• Two special categories of especially dangerous
  cheating are bringing crib sheets into the exam
  and copying from someone else.

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Dangers of copying

• People tend to cheat because they think they
  dont know the answers. Often that means they
  dont recognize a bad answer. School is
  competitive, and good students dont like
  cheating because it reduces their advantage. So
  you are usually copying from someone who doesnt
  know anymore than you do.
• I had one case where three people who shared
  answers during a test got over half of the
  questions wrong. Not only were the answers
  wrong, they were obviously the same!

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The Cheating Zone

• People who plan to cheat often try to sit as far
  from the professor as possible. That means they
  tend to sit together. You should assume that
  your fellow cheaters are sitting where they are
  because they dont know any more than you do. So
  it is dangerous to rely on them!
• Note People who sit in the front of a class tend
  to get better grades. They see better, hear
  better, and tend to be less distracted by talking
  neighbors and people checking their email or
  doing other things during class.

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Drunk under the lamp post

• A man was walking down the street when he saw a
  drunk crawling on his hands and knees under a
  lamp post. Trying to be helpful, he asked What
  are you doing? Looking for my house key, was
  the answer. He also looked but couldnt find the
  key. He asked Are you sure you lost it here?
  The reply was No, I lost it over there, but the
  light is better here.
• That is one problem with crib sheetsyou tend to
  choose the answer you have instead of the right
  one.

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Test design

• I deliberately design my tests to catch cheating.
  While I use many methods, I will give one
  example. I ask students for their own opinions
  on a piece of a topic. When students answer such
  a question with a detailed amount of related
  material that is not directly relevant to the
  question, I usually suspect a crib sheet of
  hidden answers and grade harshly. That is why I
  tell students to answer only the question asked.

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Using the Internet

• On both take home exams and homework, I know that
  students use the Internet regularly. I actually
  think this is a good thing. But I use Google to
  check any suspicious material.
• So remember, if you use someone elses work,
  reference it and give credit, or you are
  cheating. Also, include your own opinions and
  understanding. I am grading your thinking and
  work, not your ability to use a search engine.

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Open Book Test Rule

• If you look at it during the test and use any
  part of it, even summarized, cite it! I will
  accept short form citations such as these on a
  test
• text, p 97
• Java Security lecture, slides 15-22.
• Web links in cut and paste format
  http//www.iusmentis.com/security/passphrasefaq/
  (trim off any unnecessary part.)
• Tanenbaum and Van Steen, Distributed Systems,
  page 328-9 (if more than 2 authors Tanenbaum et
  al)

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What never to do.

• Best answer Never Cheat!
• Do not ask me for an appointment or call me on
  the phone to ask me to mitigate your punishment
  for cheating or give you another chance. It only
  humiliates you and is unfair to both of us.
• I will not tolerate cheating, or respond to it by
  becoming a cheat myself.

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Arguing Innocence

• The majority of students I catch cheating give a
  flat denial that they were cheating. Some
  continue that denial and never admit cheating.
  Most usually accept the evidence after trying to
  invent theories to convince me they didnt cheat.
  In all cases I am always willing to turn the case
  over to the honor court. So, if you disagree with
  my assessment that you were cheating, present
  your evidence by email. If I reject it, ask to
  go before the honor court. I will abide by the
  decision of the court.

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After You Are Caught

• What do you do next? Deal with it the same way
  you should deal with any failure in life, by
  reexamining your goals.
• Start by asking yourself why you had to cheat.
  If you had to cheat because you really did not
  understand the material, ask yourself if that
  course or that material are important to your
  future plans. If not, find an alternative. If it
  is, you may have to change your plans for the
  future.

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Avoid A Dead End Life

• If you cannot understand material, you may be
  studying in the wrong field. In that case,
  getting caught cheating or failing a course can
  be one of the best things to happen to you. You
  can find something else for which you are better
  suited. It is far better to waste a few years
  than it is to waste an entire life. It is often
  only in times of depression (after failure) that
  many people are able to force themselves to make
  significant changes in their lives.