EXAM cheats at Scottish schools are facing a crackdown involving anti-plagiarism software and training for teachers on how to spot essays cribbed from the internet.
A review of the extent of cheating by pupils has been conducted by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) following complaints from universities that undergraduates were falling into dishonest ways while at school.
Pupils can now easily acce
ss internet sites which offer standardised essays on a wide range of subjects, meaning they can get good coursework grades with the minimum of effort.
But specialised software, already used by some universities, can recognise regularly repeated phrases and Americanised spellings in essays and flag up potential cases of plagiarism.
The SQA also wants teachers to be specially trained in using internet search engines to check students’ work against essays available on the worldwide web.
SQA chiefs commissioned a study into plagiarism after anecdotal evidence suggested that increasing numbers of pupils were cheating.
Bobby Elliot, an SQA qualifications manager who compiled a report on the issue, said headteachers and education authorities would be asked to consider making use of new cheating detection software in the face of mounting anxiety about the proliferation of cheats’ websites.
He said: "We are aware of the growing concern about plagiarism. Although we don’t compile separate statistics on plagiarism per se, there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that plagiarism is increasing.
"We’re keen to raise awareness of this problem and help schools develop plagiarism policies. The SQA is considering a number of options including an online resource to assist Scottish teachers to identify copied work.
"We are also considering commending detection software to Scottish schools."
In one case, a secondary school pupil was asked to write a Modern Studies essay on how devolution had affected Scotland. The student submitted a paper taken from the internet but which had been written before 1999 and predicted how the political changes might affect the country.
One Scottish secondary teacher, who did not wish to be named, said a "copy and paste" culture had developed among many computer-literate pupils.
"There is no doubt that some Scottish pupils will be using these websites. Although most of the websites that offer essays are American-based, they cover subjects such as Scottish history and films such as Braveheart and Trainspotting.
"There are quite obvious things to look out for but I don’t think a lot of teachers appreciate that essays are so widely available."
Concerns about potential cheating have been raised since changes to the Scottish Highers system six years ago, which meant that less emphasis was placed on exams and more on coursework submitted at regular intervals during the year.
The use of continuous assessment, which can account for up to 20% of an overall grade, rather than traditional supervised exams, has provided greater opportunity for pupils to pass off others’ work as their own.
Examination boards have repeatedly found candidates who achieved much higher marks in coursework than they did in examinations.
Software already being used by British universities analyses students’ work and compares it with essays and e-journals available on the internet.
Lecturers at six Scottish universities - Aberdeen, Dundee, Abertay, Napier, Stirling and Edinburgh - are currently using the technology to check if students are ripping off work from the net.
The innovative system keeps a record of every student essay that is analysed across the country, which is then held on a database to ensure that essays are not ‘recycled’.
The software, which is free for the universities to use, has been available to all British universities and colleges for the last two years.
The Joint Information Systems Committee, a public body which develops technology for the further and higher education sectors, developed the software in collaboration with a US-based firm.
Gill Rowell, policy officer for the Plagiarism Advisory Service, said the software would compare an essay submitted to lecturers on disc or by email with virtually all available resources on the internet.
"It comes back with a colour-coded originality report, which matches texts on the internet with parts of the essay which have been copied."
Several websites - with names such as CheatHouse and DueNow - offers thousands of essays covering a range of subject areas for a subscription charge of £5 a month or one-off fees of up to £60.
One US-based website
which operates a 24-hour service offering to prepare essays on any subject from scratch for around £11 per page said it did not endorse plagiarism.
"It is both unethical and illegal to submit someone else’s work as your own for academic credit," the site claimed.
As well as anti-cheat software, the SQA is also looking at establishing an online resource for secondary teachers, giving advice on how to spot cheating and how to confirm their suspicions.
Every school and college will also be encouraged to adopt a plagiarism policy detailing the consequences of breaking the rules. There is no standard punishment for plagiarism in schools, with some pupils simply asked to resubmit their work, but in other cases facing disciplinary action.
NOT ALL THEIR OWN WORKIT IS not just humble students who have been exposed in cases of plagiarism shame.
Politicians, and even the BBC, have found themselves caught up in copycat scandals.
Prime Minister Tony Blair faced major embarrassment after it was revealed parts of a dossier on weapons in Iraq was the work of an American PhD student, not the intelligence services.
Earlier this month television historian Marc Morris received an apology from the BBC after he tuned into a documentary about Harlech Castle to discover many of the words and phrases used in the BBC4 programme had been lifted from a Channel 4 documentary he had made a year earlier.
However not all accusations of plagiarism are deemed to be founded in fact. In 2002 a claim against Harry Potter author J K Rowling by American writer Nancy Stouffer was thrown out of court - and Stouffer was fined £30,000
