A Grade Just for Cheaters

Simon Fraser University in Canada's British Columbia has just created a new grade for students determined to have plagiarized or otherwise cheated. After an investigation, if the student is determined to have cheated, the head of the department involved (and only the head) may assign the grade FD for Failure with Academic Dishonesty. The FD would remain on the student's transcript for the rest of the student's tenure at Simon Fraser, and for up to two years after graduation. Other universities use similar "special grades"; the University of Alberta awards an F8 or F9 grade for academic dishonsty, but the grade can be altered after three years to an F. Some schools award an F or a grade that describes the students' performance exclusive of the work that was not theirs, and uses a special note or transcript symbol to indicate that the grade was because of academic dishonesty.

With the use of the Internet making direct plagiarism as well as purchased papers increasingly common, faculty are using Google, professional comparison services like Turnitin.com, and even local databases of previous students' work and purchased papers to help prevent successful cheating. High profile cheating scandals like the 2007 Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, involving more than thirty MBA students, have drawn a great deal of attention. Cheating students tend to evolve into cheating professionals—even into faculty who plagiarize, so there's good reason to stop it before it happens.

In case you're not sure, exactly, what the differences are between plagiarizing, and researching, here are some guides to preventing accidental plagiarism, or copying.