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Big brother is watching Mimi O'Malley By now, you've surely learned that getting into the College of your choice is just another notch on your belt. Competition is keen, and you're desperate to score high on the SAT. So you start surfing the Net, and stumble onto a message board where students are bragging about snagging copies of the SAT test. You're intrigued so you post a note begging for help. To your surprise, an e-mail returns offering you $150 for a faxed copy of the exam. What are you going to do? According to a 1998 survey conducted by Who's Who Among American High School Students, 80 percent of you would pay up; half of you wouldn't think it's wrong to do so. And although a U.S. News & World Report poll found 90 percent of college kids believe cheaters never pay the price for cheating, beware... Big brother is starting to tune in! The Evolution of Cheating From using cell phones to dial multiple-choice answers into alphanumeric pagers (storing everything from algebra formulas to English notes), to carrying devices with infrared signaling to 'transmit' information across a classroom without a professor knowing, cheating methods are getting more and more high-tech. Even the Internet boasts a virtual academic candy store: term papers from hundreds of on-line paper mills; chat rooms where students can swap science projects and math solutions; and 'cram schools' that charge test-takers hundreds of dollars for copies of exams. On the Net, there can be a fine line between research and  

plagiarism

 , however, students usually know the difference. "The decision to plagiarize is a deliberate act to deceive because they are pressed for time, or just plain lazy," says Dr. Barbara Glatt, founder of the Glatt Screening Program, which aims to catch cheaters. In late 1987, Dr. Glatt fielded an initial 250 inquiries about her plagiarism Screening Program, a computer-based system that uses a student writer's textual fingerprint. She currently receives more than 1,000 inquiries per year. "The Internet has provided a bull market for plagiarism," she says. Her software removes every fifth word from a submitted paper and then examines it through six statistical tests. "The program is 99 percent effective," assures Glatt. "I'll Be Watching You" That's what the profs are saying as new advances to combat cheating are being created. And, it's not just professors who are developing them. Back in 1994, Alex Aiken, then a University of California at Berkeley graduate student, along with other aspiring student programmers, created software to stop computer science plagiarizers in their tracks. Called MOSS (Measure of Statistical Similarity), it specifically tackles the problem of students "borrowing" by detecting sections of computer code copied in homework assignments. MOSS software provides tangible proof of cheating, especially if a professor needs to confront a suspected cheater. Even if computer programming isn't your main course of study, liberal arts and Business majors are not immune to new anti-cheating technology. Plagiarism.org allows teachers and students to upload term papers, which the site then compares with a database of manuscripts collected from other schools and from the Internet. In case you're wondering how accurate this service is, check this: Last year, a neurobiology professor testing the program caught 45 of his 320 students lifting passages or entire term papers from the Internet. Plagiarism.org founder John Barrie spent four years perfecting algorithms so sensitive that they can even detect copied papers with deliberate alterations. Above all else, these resources provide the proof of fraud should a student be accused of cheating. Since most university legal departments do not want to waste time and resources searching for plagiarists, these pro-active types of programs are cost-effective in the long run. Aside from high-tech whistle-blowers, some professors are resorting to simpler ways to combat copycats. By giving assignments closely tied to the individual course goals, for example, the only option for many wannabe cheaters is to purchase an expensive custom-written paper. Other professors require their students to submit a thesis statement, an opening paragraph, an outline, and a first draft of their work. In other words, do your work! Don't get caught in the "I need to hang out with my girls" or "I can't miss Monday Night Football" lazy trap. You'll sleep better knowing you have nothing to hide from Big Brother after you hand in your test.

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