Plagiarism, Whether Intentional Or Unintentional, Is A Big Problem For Universities

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Plagiarism, whether intentional or unintentional, is a big problem for universities. Not only is it an issue of unfair use of copyrighted material, it speaks to an ethical issue of cheating.
(If you need additional assistance using Microsoft Excel, please refer to the tutorials in the appendices of the Constellation text.)
Consider the following statistics. According to the Plagiarism.org (2013), a survey conducted by Donald McCabe between 2002 and 2005 that included 63,700 U.S. undergraduates and 9,250 graduate students revealed the following data:

  1. 36% of undergraduate and 24% of graduate students admit      to “paraphrasing/copying few sentences from Internet source without      footnoting it.”
  2. 38% of undergraduate and 25% of graduate students admit      to “paraphrasing/copying few sentences from written source without      footnoting it.”
  3. 14% of undergraduate students and 7% of graduate      students admit to “fabricating/falsifying a bibliography.”
  4. 7% of undergraduate and 4% of graduate students admit      copying materials “almost word for word from a written source without      citation.”
  5. 7% of undergraduate and 3% of graduate students admit      “turning in work done by another.”
  6. 3% of undergraduate and 2% of graduate students admit      “obtaining paper from term paper mill.”

In Excel, create a worksheet that addresses the following:

  1. In cell A1, enter the following title for this      worksheet: Student Plagiarism Statistics.
  2. In cell A3, enter the following: Form of      Plagiarism.
  3. In cell B3, enter the following: Undergraduate.
  4. In cell C3, enter the following: Graduate.
  5. In cell D4, enter the total number of undergraduate      students that participated in the study, 63,700.
  6. In cell E4, enter the total number of graduate students      that participated in the study, 9,250.
  7. Beginning in cell A5, enter each of the six categories      of plagiarism identified by this report, one in each row. (These      categories are found under the “Academic Integrity in College and Graduate      School” section showing the results of the survey done by Donald      McCabe.).
  8. Beginning in cell B5, calculate the number of students      that admitted to each offense. To do this, you will need to calculate the      number of students based on the percentage provided. For example, if there      were 63,700 undergraduate students that participated in the survey and 36%      admitted to paraphrasing/copying a few sentences from an Internet source,      then that would mean that 22,932 students admitted to the offense (63,700      * .36). Complete these calculations for all six categories. Be sure to      enter formulas and use proper cell referencing, e.g., = D4*.36.
  9. Calculate the same data for graduate students beginning      in cell C5.
  10. Format all cells with the appropriate data types. Set      numeric fields with no decimals.
  11. Once you have completed the calculations, select the      data cells in the table to create your chart.
  12. Create a chart that will visually display the largest      areas of plagiarism problems. A good example might be a column chart that      shows undergraduate and graduate data side by side. The choice of chart is      your own. Finalize your worksheet by making sure all columns are formatted      to accommodate the size of the data. Format your chart as needed to assure      that the chart looks clean and neat. Be sure that your worksheet looks      professional and polished.
  13. Save your workbook.

See excel worksheet, and chart example here.
Your worksheet must contain:

  1. Accurate calculations with formulas that demonstrate      how you arrived at the values.
  2. An accurate chart that depicts the data in a      professional manner.