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A tree trunk impales an unlucky snowman on the USU Quad. (Cassi Cline photo)
A tree trunk impales an unlucky snowman on the USU Quad. (Cassi Cline photo)Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Internet Cheating: Story?
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Students finding new cheats on Internet
Assignments, essays being outsourced
In a new twist on using the Internet for academic cheating, students are outsourcing their essays and assignments through freelancer websites intended to allow prospective employers to post one-time jobs for skilled professionals to bid on.
An entry on GetAFreelancer.com — “Proposal letter for MBA final project” — requests a project on a finance subject such as exchange rates or international finance, adding, “first i need to agree for the subject then ill (sic) take the proposal and the full project also.”
Another outlines an American history assignment that appears to have been cut-and-pasted directly from a course syllabus, with 26 people bidding to complete the job for an average price of $119.
Another student provides lecture notes related to a computer programming assignment and requests that it be completed as thoroughly as possible, “but not to a point where it looks suspicious.”
Some students are turning to freelance job sites and online marketplaces like Craigslist and Kijiji to outsource their academic work.
“This is just one more option in a range of options students have, whether they’re seeking things out on essay mills or going a step further and trying to hire someone to do it,” says Deborah Eerkes, director of the office of student judicial affairs at the University of Alberta. “As technology changes, there are new ways of cheating and I would not say that technology increases cheating; I would say it provides another option for those who would choose to cheat anyway.”
Many Canadian universities and instructors require students to submit assignments to plagiarism-detection programs like TurnItIn.com to verify their originality against an extensive database of academic content. Eerkes suspects students are outsourcing their assignments through classified sites because they don’t trust essay mills to provide original material, but she points out there’s no guarantee any ghostwriter a student hires won’t rip off material from another source.
And it can be just as telltale if students submit work that’s a little too good, she adds.
Jane Everett, dean of students at McGill University, sees these efforts to outsource coursework as a new twist on the essay editing services advertised on bulletin boards at campuses across the country, where “editing help” can be a euphemism for paying someone else to write the assignment. Students posting their assignments online for bidders is a new development, she says, and it could make cheating much harder for professors and administrators to catch.
“If this is indeed original work that’s given in exchange for a fee, it might be difficult to detect or find proof that it was written by someone else,” she says.
Shannon Proudfoot
Canwest News Service
03 Feb. 2010 The Windsor Star
Students finding new cheats on Internet
Assignments, essays being outsourced
In a new twist on using the Internet for academic cheating, students are outsourcing their essays and assignments through freelancer websites intended to allow prospective employers to post one-time jobs for skilled professionals to bid on.
An entry on GetAFreelancer.com — “Proposal letter for MBA final project” — requests a project on a finance subject such as exchange rates or international finance, adding, “first i need to agree for the subject then ill (sic) take the proposal and the full project also.”
Another outlines an American history assignment that appears to have been cut-and-pasted directly from a course syllabus, with 26 people bidding to complete the job for an average price of $119.
Another student provides lecture notes related to a computer programming assignment and requests that it be completed as thoroughly as possible, “but not to a point where it looks suspicious.”
Some students are turning to freelance job sites and online marketplaces like Craigslist and Kijiji to outsource their academic work.
“This is just one more option in a range of options students have, whether they’re seeking things out on essay mills or going a step further and trying to hire someone to do it,” says Deborah Eerkes, director of the office of student judicial affairs at the University of Alberta. “As technology changes, there are new ways of cheating and I would not say that technology increases cheating; I would say it provides another option for those who would choose to cheat anyway.”
Many Canadian universities and instructors require students to submit assignments to plagiarism-detection programs like TurnItIn.com to verify their originality against an extensive database of academic content. Eerkes suspects students are outsourcing their assignments through classified sites because they don’t trust essay mills to provide original material, but she points out there’s no guarantee any ghostwriter a student hires won’t rip off material from another source.
And it can be just as telltale if students submit work that’s a little too good, she adds.
Jane Everett, dean of students at McGill University, sees these efforts to outsource coursework as a new twist on the essay editing services advertised on bulletin boards at campuses across the country, where “editing help” can be a euphemism for paying someone else to write the assignment. Students posting their assignments online for bidders is a new development, she says, and it could make cheating much harder for professors and administrators to catch.
“If this is indeed original work that’s given in exchange for a fee, it might be difficult to detect or find proof that it was written by someone else,” she says.
Shannon Proudfoot
Canwest News Service
03 Feb. 2010 The Windsor Star
Monday, February 1, 2010
Story Ideas
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More Story Ideas
• SAD? Seasonal Affective Disorder. There are a LOT of people who get blue during the winter, and the evil inversion just makes it worse.
• Why does USU WANT the College of Eastern Utah? The Legislature will decide whether to approve a merger of USU and CEU in Price. But what's in it for USU? CEU is a basically a tech school, with cosmetology and traffic safety and welding and large-truck repair. And today’s (2/1/10) HJ reports (click here) that CEU is in fiscal crisis. Why?
• Avalanche Danger? I keep getting these alerts from the weather service, and over the weekend heard a lot of booms from the Wellsvilles—snowfields breaking lose. Sources: National Forest Service, Utah Climate Center? Ski Patrol and emergency rescue outfits...
MENDON, UT
Your Radar | Current Conditions | 15-Day Forecast THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER. THIS AVALANCHE WARNING IS FOR THE LOGAN AREA MOUNTAINS IN NORTHERN UTAH. HEAVY SNOW AND WIND HAS CREATED EXCEEDLINGLY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS AND THE DANGER IS HIGH FOR MOST ASPECTS AT ALL ELEVATIONS. BACKCOUNTRY TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
• USU Film Festival: Immigration, Part of “Crossing Boundaries,” Art Department, Starts Friday, Feb. 5 (see flyer)
• Speaker: Journalist and Author Amity Shlaes, “What Threatens the American Economy Today?” Friday, Feb. 5, Business School Auditorium (BIZ 215), 1:30-2:30.
• Speaker: Documentary journalist & filmmaker Helen Whitney, Emmy and DuPont Award winner, screens her film on photographer Richard Avedon, 1 p.m. FAV 113, followed by Q&A.
• Summer Job Fair, Feb. 9, TSC—but not about jobs, so much...how about summer scams?
• February is Black History Month. Find some local link?
• March is Women's History Month. In addition to the Women & Gender Studies program gala dress-up-as-your-favorite-woman-in-history pageant on March 25, the National Women’s History Month Project sends the following, which might inspire someone:
February Highlights in US Women's History
Feb 24, 1912 - Henrietta Szold founds Hadassah, the world's largest and oldest women's Zionist organization focusing on healthcare and education in the US and Israel.
Feb 15, 1921 - The Suffrage Monument, depicting Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott and carved by Adelaide Johnson, is dedicated in the nation's capitol.
Feb 27, 1922 - US Supreme Court upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which guarantees women the right to vote .
Feb 15, 1953 - Tenley Albright is the first American woman to win the world figure skating championship.
Feb 18, 1953 - Rachel Carson is elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
Feb 12, 1962 - Eleanor Roosevelt becomes first chair of the President's Commission on the Status of Women.
Feb 6, 1973 - Government Printing Office rules that the prefix "Ms." is acceptable optional identifying label in government publications.
Feb 9, 1973 - First convention of National Women's Political Caucus meets in Houston, TX.
Feb 1, 1978 - First postage stamp to honor a black woman, Harriet Tubman, is issued in Washington, DC.
Feb 16, 1980 - Mary Decker breaks the indoor mile world record finishing race in 4:17:55.
Feb 21, 1980 - AFL-CIO votes to reserve 2 seats on its 35 member executive team for a woman and a member of a minority group.
Feb 4, 1987 - First National Women in Sports Day is celebrated in Washington, DC.
February Birthdays
Feb 1, 1878 (1950) - Hattie Wyatt Caraway - First woman elected to the US Senate (1932) and first woman to preside over the Senate in 1943.
Feb 3, 1821 (1910) - Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell - First woman awarded a medical degree in U.S. (1849).
Feb 3, 1874 (1946) - Gertrude Stein - Poet, author, art critic; "A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose."
Feb 4, 1913 - Rosa Parks - "Mother of Civil Rights Movement;" her arrest after refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, leads to Dr. Martin Luther King's bus boycott and eventual Supreme Court decision to integrate buses.
Feb 4, 1921 - Betty Friedan - Author, The Feminine Mystique (1963); Cofounder of National Organization for Women (NOW).
Feb 7, 1867 (1957) - Laura Ingalls Wilder - Author of beloved "Little House" books.
Feb 9, 1944 - Alice Walker - First African American woman to win Pulitzer Prize for fiction, The Color Purple (1983) .
Feb 10, 1927 - Leontyne Price - First international American opera star .
Feb 13, 1906 (1990) - Pauline Frederick - First woman network radio and TV correspondent (1939).
Feb 15, 1820 (1906) - Susan B. Anthony - Leader of 19th century women's right movement; strategist; lecturer.
Feb 16, 1870 (1927) - Leonora O'Reilly - Labor organizer; founding member of Woman's Trade Union League; helped found NAACP.
Feb 18, 1931 - Toni Morrison - Pulitzer Prize winning novelist; first African-American to win Nobel Prize for Literature (1993).
Feb 21, 1855 (1902) - Alice Freeman Palmer - Educator; Founded American Assn. of University Women (AAUW) in 1882.
Feb 22, 1876 (1938) - Gertrude Bonnin (Zitkala-Sa) - Writer; Sioux Indian activist; founded National Council of American Indians (1926).
Feb 22, 1892 (1950) - Edna St. Vincent Millay - First woman to receive Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1923).
Feb 27, 1902 (1993) - Marian Anderson - Contralto; sang to 75,000 at famous Easter concert at Lincoln Memorial in 1939.
A year-round women's history calendar is available on our website in the News and Events category.
Which Great Woman Was Born On Your Birthday? Watch people crowd around to see whose birthday they share. 750 women from U.S. history are named on this oversized poster with day by day listings, colorfully bordered with images representing their many activities.
24" x 37" Celebrate Women! Poster.
Celebrating Black Women's History Poster
A striking two-color design features original portraits of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune, Madame C. J. Walker, Lena Horne, Lorraine Hansberry, Wilma Rudolph, Rosa Parks, and Marion Anderson. Perfect for Black History Month in February, or anytime throughout the year. 18" x 24"
More Story Ideas
• SAD? Seasonal Affective Disorder. There are a LOT of people who get blue during the winter, and the evil inversion just makes it worse.
• Why does USU WANT the College of Eastern Utah? The Legislature will decide whether to approve a merger of USU and CEU in Price. But what's in it for USU? CEU is a basically a tech school, with cosmetology and traffic safety and welding and large-truck repair. And today’s (2/1/10) HJ reports (click here) that CEU is in fiscal crisis. Why?
• Avalanche Danger? I keep getting these alerts from the weather service, and over the weekend heard a lot of booms from the Wellsvilles—snowfields breaking lose. Sources: National Forest Service, Utah Climate Center? Ski Patrol and emergency rescue outfits...
MENDON, UT
Your Radar | Current Conditions | 15-Day Forecast THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE FOREST SERVICE UTAH AVALANCHE CENTER. THIS AVALANCHE WARNING IS FOR THE LOGAN AREA MOUNTAINS IN NORTHERN UTAH. HEAVY SNOW AND WIND HAS CREATED EXCEEDLINGLY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS AND THE DANGER IS HIGH FOR MOST ASPECTS AT ALL ELEVATIONS. BACKCOUNTRY TRAVEL IS NOT RECOMMENDED.
• USU Film Festival: Immigration, Part of “Crossing Boundaries,” Art Department, Starts Friday, Feb. 5 (see flyer)
• Speaker: Journalist and Author Amity Shlaes, “What Threatens the American Economy Today?” Friday, Feb. 5, Business School Auditorium (BIZ 215), 1:30-2:30.
• Speaker: Documentary journalist & filmmaker Helen Whitney, Emmy and DuPont Award winner, screens her film on photographer Richard Avedon, 1 p.m. FAV 113, followed by Q&A.
• Summer Job Fair, Feb. 9, TSC—but not about jobs, so much...how about summer scams?
• February is Black History Month. Find some local link?
• March is Women's History Month. In addition to the Women & Gender Studies program gala dress-up-as-your-favorite-woman-in-history pageant on March 25, the National Women’s History Month Project sends the following, which might inspire someone:
February Highlights in US Women's History
Feb 24, 1912 - Henrietta Szold founds Hadassah, the world's largest and oldest women's Zionist organization focusing on healthcare and education in the US and Israel.
Feb 15, 1921 - The Suffrage Monument, depicting Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott and carved by Adelaide Johnson, is dedicated in the nation's capitol.
Feb 27, 1922 - US Supreme Court upholds the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which guarantees women the right to vote .
Feb 15, 1953 - Tenley Albright is the first American woman to win the world figure skating championship.
Feb 18, 1953 - Rachel Carson is elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
Feb 12, 1962 - Eleanor Roosevelt becomes first chair of the President's Commission on the Status of Women.
Feb 6, 1973 - Government Printing Office rules that the prefix "Ms." is acceptable optional identifying label in government publications.
Feb 9, 1973 - First convention of National Women's Political Caucus meets in Houston, TX.
Feb 1, 1978 - First postage stamp to honor a black woman, Harriet Tubman, is issued in Washington, DC.
Feb 16, 1980 - Mary Decker breaks the indoor mile world record finishing race in 4:17:55.
Feb 21, 1980 - AFL-CIO votes to reserve 2 seats on its 35 member executive team for a woman and a member of a minority group.
Feb 4, 1987 - First National Women in Sports Day is celebrated in Washington, DC.
February Birthdays
Feb 1, 1878 (1950) - Hattie Wyatt Caraway - First woman elected to the US Senate (1932) and first woman to preside over the Senate in 1943.
Feb 3, 1821 (1910) - Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell - First woman awarded a medical degree in U.S. (1849).
Feb 3, 1874 (1946) - Gertrude Stein - Poet, author, art critic; "A rose is a rose is a rose is a rose."
Feb 4, 1913 - Rosa Parks - "Mother of Civil Rights Movement;" her arrest after refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, leads to Dr. Martin Luther King's bus boycott and eventual Supreme Court decision to integrate buses.
Feb 4, 1921 - Betty Friedan - Author, The Feminine Mystique (1963); Cofounder of National Organization for Women (NOW).
Feb 7, 1867 (1957) - Laura Ingalls Wilder - Author of beloved "Little House" books.
Feb 9, 1944 - Alice Walker - First African American woman to win Pulitzer Prize for fiction, The Color Purple (1983) .
Feb 10, 1927 - Leontyne Price - First international American opera star .
Feb 13, 1906 (1990) - Pauline Frederick - First woman network radio and TV correspondent (1939).
Feb 15, 1820 (1906) - Susan B. Anthony - Leader of 19th century women's right movement; strategist; lecturer.
Feb 16, 1870 (1927) - Leonora O'Reilly - Labor organizer; founding member of Woman's Trade Union League; helped found NAACP.
Feb 18, 1931 - Toni Morrison - Pulitzer Prize winning novelist; first African-American to win Nobel Prize for Literature (1993).
Feb 21, 1855 (1902) - Alice Freeman Palmer - Educator; Founded American Assn. of University Women (AAUW) in 1882.
Feb 22, 1876 (1938) - Gertrude Bonnin (Zitkala-Sa) - Writer; Sioux Indian activist; founded National Council of American Indians (1926).
Feb 22, 1892 (1950) - Edna St. Vincent Millay - First woman to receive Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1923).
Feb 27, 1902 (1993) - Marian Anderson - Contralto; sang to 75,000 at famous Easter concert at Lincoln Memorial in 1939.
A year-round women's history calendar is available on our website in the News and Events category.
Which Great Woman Was Born On Your Birthday? Watch people crowd around to see whose birthday they share. 750 women from U.S. history are named on this oversized poster with day by day listings, colorfully bordered with images representing their many activities.
24" x 37" Celebrate Women! Poster.
Celebrating Black Women's History Poster
A striking two-color design features original portraits of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune, Madame C. J. Walker, Lena Horne, Lorraine Hansberry, Wilma Rudolph, Rosa Parks, and Marion Anderson. Perfect for Black History Month in February, or anytime throughout the year. 18" x 24"
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