Cut and Paste?

Monday 21 January 08

A teaching union surveys suggest that more that half of teachers believe internet plagarism is a serious problem among sixth-form student.

The 58% of 278 teachers who identified it as a problem said they thought 25% of work returned by pupils included material copied from internet sites.

One teacher said a piece of work they saw still contained website adverts. Another teacher voiced concern about how it takes up precious time to spot plagiarism.

"I think the majority of students who engage in plagiarism do it more out of ignorance than the desire to cheat, they really want to succeed on their own merit."

Having a robust school or college policy on plagiarism seems to be critical. However, more than 55% said either their school did not have a policy to deal with plagiarism or they were unaware of one.

Do you cut and paste? Is it really a problem? WIMPS Forum