• Pressed for time.
• Overloaded with work.
• Boring teacher.
• No interest in a required course's subject matter.
• Hacker philosophy “All information should be free for the taking.”
• “If you steal from one another, it's plagiarism: steal from several and it's research.”
• Related magazine articles supporting this theory:
• LA Times Headline: “Going online to get homework isn't a novel thing. To some students, it's not even cheating. It's just evolved into an institution; a big study group of sorts.”   Donald L. McCabe, Rutgers professor, has conducted study indicating 70% of students cheat in college, with plagiarism the most frequent offense.”
• Read from LA Times Article – Student who finds and uses term paper on Internet saves it on computer.  Emails it to a student she's never met who asks for a paper on the subject via a chat room on  that topic. Lending student plans to become an English teacher.

Plagiarism at Shasta College – Gray Areas

• Academic Honesty policy in 1999 - 2000 Shasta College Catalog, page 23.
• Thoughts from Kathleen Lampeter, Director of Student Development:
• This generation of students has been raised by many people  (multiple parents, caregivers, the media) have received mixed ethical messages.
• Faculty should refer suspected plagiarism activities to Kathleen. Center Director should be aware of the process.
• Would need evidence that the material was copied from another source, and comparative evidence of the quality of the student's prior course work.
• Evidence to support the student's stance would also need to be presented.
• There are no set sanctions for plagiarism at Shasta College. Consequences would be developed with input from Center Director and instructor, based on consideration of the student's history, student's intent.

California  Ed. Code  66400 – 66405

• http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html Search site for “term paper.”
• Prohibits selling of term papers, theses and similar materials. Sixteen other states have adopted similar laws.

UC Davis Student Judicial Affairs Case Summaries

• http://sja.ucdavis.edu/SJA/CJR.html Posts selected case histories of student disciplinary offenses, including plagiarism. Disciplinary actions range from attending Writing Lab for improving skills, learning how to cite sources, community service hours, and rewriting plagiarized papers, to academic probation.
• Specific plagiarism cases: http://sja.ucdavis.edu/SJA/CJR/4-28-99.HTML