Universities crack down on Facebook plagiarism

31 October 2008 14:18 GMT / By Katie Scott

University students are apparently using social networking websites like Facebook to copy each other's work.

The consultancy Plagiarism Advice has urged universities to rework their plagiarism policies with "internet working in mind", reflecting how much time students now spend on the web - talking to each other as well as researching.

The call comes after a university newspaper revealed how widespread plagiarism actually is.

Cambridge University's student newspaper, Varsity, found 49% of undergraduates confessed to copying other people's work and passing it off as their own.

The poll, which was anonymous, took in 1000 students and found that law students were the most likely to plagiarise.

In fact, 62% of these - the country's future lawmakers - admitted that they had broken university rules.

One anonymous student said: "Sometimes, when I am really fed up, I Google the essay title, copy and throw everything on to a blank word document and jiggle the order a bit. They usually end up being the best essays".

But only 5% of the students had been caught.

Full tags

Software, Online, Websites, Facebook