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Contract cheating is a form of academic dishonesty, in which students get others to complete their coursework for them by putting it out to tender. Academic dishonesty or academic misconduct is any type of Cheating that occurs in relation to a formal Academic exercise The word student is etymologically derived through Middle English from the Latin second-type conjugation Verb "studēre" Coursework is carried out by Students at University or middle / High school that contributes towards their overall Grade, but which Calls for bids or calls for tenders or invitations to tender (ITT (often called tenders for short are special procedures to generate competing offers [1][2][3][4]

The term was coined in a 2006 study[5] by Thomas Lancaster[6] and Robert Clarke[7] at the University of Central England in Birmingham. Birmingham City University (formerly Birmingham Polytechnic and the University of Central England in Birmingham) is a University in the city

Contents

Extent of contract cheating

The first published material detailing the extent of contract cheating is a study by Robert Clarke and Thomas Lancaster. [5] The study presented three main findings:

  1. Over 12 per cent of postings on a popular website for outsourcing computer contract work are actually bid requests from students looking to attempt contract cheating.
  2. Contract cheaters posted an average of 2-7 requests, suggesting that habitual use is made of such services by these students.
  3. A smaller number of users have posted over 50 bid requests, including examples from multiple institutions. This suggests that these are agencies subcontracting work, not students who are directly making use of the services.

Whereas the quality of solutions to assignments sold by essay mill has been questioned, a study by Jenkins and Helmore showed that work obtained though the use of an auction site was of sufficent quality to gain good marks and remain undetected by the module tutor. An essay mill, sometimes also called a paper mill, is the colloquial term for a type of Ghostwriting service which specializes in the sale of Essays term [8]

A more recent study examined over 900 examples of contract cheating by students studying computing subjects. The published results categorise the assignment types (eg Programming, Database, Web Design) and are analysed by country. One new concern identified by this study was the number of major projects (both final year undergraduate and postgraduate) being posted onto auction sites. [9]

Dealing with contract cheating

Approaches for dealing with the problem recognise the distinction between it and "plagiarism" (uncited copying from books, web etc) and "collusion" (copying of the work of other students in the same cohort). [10]

A range of approaches are necessary:

A formal model for a semi-automated way of notifying lecturers that their students are involved in contract cheating has 6 stages - Publication; Collection; Identification; Attribution; Notification and Investigation. [11]

Resources

The Contract Cheating Information Centre at BCU contains a limited selection of anti-cheating and plagiarism resources for academic staff, see http://hebe.cie.uce.ac.uk/soc/InfoC/CCheatInfoC.nsf

The first workshop on Contract Cheating was organised jointly by the Higher Education Academy Centre for ICS and Birmingham City University on 7th March 2008. Details of the programme and copies of material presented are available at http://bsstudents.bcu.ac.uk/sdrive/Bob_Clarke/Contract%20Cheating/index.htm

References

  1. ^ "Student cheats contract out work", BBC/bbc. com, 2006-06-12. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath. Retrieved on 2006-06-14. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the  
  2. ^ Liz Lightfoot. "Cheating students put assignments out to tender on the internet", Telegraph/telegraph. co. uk, 2006-06-13. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the Celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for Retrieved on 2006-06-14. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the  
  3. ^ "Cheating students put homework to tender on Internet", Daily Mail/dailymail. co. uk, 2006-06-13. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the Celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for Retrieved on 2006-06-14. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1276 - While taking exile in Fuzhou in southern China, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the  
  4. ^ "The cybercheats making a small fortune", Daily Mail/dailymail. co. uk, 2006-06-17. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II ( The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat Retrieved on 2007-11-05. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1499 - Publication of the Catholicon in Treguier ( Brittany)  
  5. ^ a b Robert Clarke & Thomas Lancaster (2006-06-19). Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1179 - The Norwegian Battle of Kalvskinnet outside Nidaros. Eliminating the successor to plagiarism? Identifying the usage of contract cheating sites. Retrieved on 2007-05-23. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1430 - Siege of Compiègne: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne
  6. ^ Thomas Lancaster bio
  7. ^ Robert Clarke bio
  8. ^ T. Jenkins and S. Helmore "Coursework for cash: the threat from on-line plagiarism", in Proceedings of 7th Annual Conference for Information and Computer Science, Dublin. Higher Education Academy pp121-126 (August 2006).
  9. ^ Lancaster & Clarke (2007-08-30). Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1363 - Beginning date of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the forces of two Chinese rebel leaders— Chen Youliang and Assessing Contract Cheating Through Auction Sites – A Computing Perspective. Retrieved on 2007-09-13. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 509 BC - The Temple of Jupiter on Rome 's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September
  10. ^ Lancaster, T and Clarke, R “The Phenomena of Contract Cheating”, in Student Plagiarism in an Online World: Problems and solutions, T. S Roberts, Ed. , Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA: Idea Group Inc, 2007 http://www.igi-pub.com/reference/details.asp?id=7031
  11. ^ Clarke & Lancaster, (July 2007) Establishing a Systematic Six-Stage Process for Detecting Contract Cheating. ICPCA07 Conference Proceedings: IEEE Catalog Number: 07EX1679, ISBN: 1-4244-0970-5 pages 342-347
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