Editor's note: This is the second in a series of articles written by students who were enrolled in Jennifer Bloom's spring 2008 graduate course in the higher education and student affairs program at the University of South Carolina. As part of her course syllabus, Dr. Bloom required each student in her class to submit an article to The Mentor or other publications for consideration.

Introduction

Last week Jack used his cell phone to take a picture of the quiz in Chemistry 101 before sending it to his roommate who is scheduled to take the same quiz later that day. Lauren and her roommate watched several videos on YouTube about how to cheat your way through any test. They even tried the suggestion of printing physics notes on the inside of their water bottle labels to take to class for a test. It was a link that friends on her hall passed via Facebook last week; everyone was talking about it. Melissa was just trying to finish her report for class on time, cutting and pasting her way through the vast amount of material she found online.

Events involving academic dishonesty happen on college campuses every day. Research by McCabe, Trevino, and Butterfield (2006) found that 70 percent of undergraduate students openly admit to cheating, while 77 percent believe plagiarism is not a big deal. Cheating is an accepted practice in America today—from the business world to the classroom, the practice of cheating is no longer a hidden vice, but a seemingly celebrated achievement. Martha Stewart may have spent a few holidays in a prison cell due to fraud, but she is still considered a highly successful business woman. The word success is also used when describing the numerous athletes who have tested positive for illegal steroid use (Csorba, 2004). These ethical crises in our country have hit millennial students hard and drastically impacted their generation. Academic advisers are positioned to make a vital difference in the fight to uphold academic integrity that cannot be overlooked. To this end, the foci of this article are on educating academic advisers about the prevalence of academic dishonesty on college campuses and the reasons that students cheat, as well as on sharing specific suggestions for advisers about how to encourage students to practice academic honesty.

Advanced Practices in Academic Dishonesty

The stories at the beginning of this article highlight how easy it has become for students to cheat. Research demonstrates that a majority of all college students engage in some form of academic dishonesty during their undergraduate experience, and new technological advances have made it more difficult to catch cheating students. While crib sheets and test files were the tools of the cheating trade in the past, students now have cell phones to text message answers to each other, advanced calculators to solve mathematics problems, and iPhones and iPods to access information electronically. With the Internet being so readily accessible and highly encouraged as a source for most student research papers, it has become easier to copy and paste plagiarized sections of websites or to even download full-length papers. By being aware of the new practices and methods used in academic dishonesty, academic advisers can find themselves prepared and ready to combat this issue head on when working with students.

Students' Justifications for Cheating

Why do students cheat? The data thus far demonstrate that there are multiple reasons. Many students have been raised in a culture where there is enormous pressure to perform and make top grades in order to guarantee future career and financial success (Paulson, 2006). Some students are not driven by success, but simply find the rules so lenient that it is easier to cheat than to study. Even if they are caught cheating, the punishment is mild enough that is does not deter them from doing so.

Availability is also a factor. Cheating is easy—one quick Google search can deliver hundreds of cheating techniques and methods. Most concerning is that many students do not understand what academic dishonesty is and often do not even realize that they are cheating. Some research attributes students' confusion to poor instruction on proper citation methods and students' ignorance of what constitutes plagiarism (Callahan, 2006). Academic advisers who are willing to learn the academic policies of their institutions have the opportunity to educate their students and engage them in conversations on topics related to academic honesty and integrity.

Role of Academic Adviser

Colleges and universities have realized that they can no longer simply ignore the current cheating epidemic and are choosing to combat the problem on multiple fronts. Some institutions are choosing to promote academic integrity by developing honor codes and opening judicial offices of academic integrity. According to Stephens (2007), “Research indicates that students at institutions with honor codes are half as likely to reporting [sic] cheating on tests and one-third as likely to report engaging in plagiarism” (p. 7). Academic advisers can play an important role in combating academic dishonesty. First, advisers should continue to familiarize themselves with the topics discussed in this paper, as well as learn about the resources available at their institutions for promoting academic integrity. There are numerous online resources for advisers and students to learn more about theses topics, such as The Center for Academic Integrity (www.academicintegrity.org). Advisers should also explore successful intervention methods and judicial means for battling academic dishonesty, including the programs at their own institutions. Advisers should continue to affirm and promote the importance of academic integrity within their departments and by serving as ethical role models by accurately citing sources in all classroom and advising materials.

After advisers make the personal commitment to value academic integrity, they then have the opportunity to educate their students. By having intentional conversations on academic integrity, advisers can assure that students understand the resources and tools to avoid any form of academic dishonesty (Cole & Kiss, 2000). Academic advisers have the opportunity to get to know their students' strengths and weaknesses as they progress through college, and thus are in a position to actively reach out and educate their students. McCabe and Pavela (1997) propose the following ways to encourage student academic honesty:

In summary, academic advisers are well positioned to help educate students about the importance of academic integrity. Using the above recommendations and other material gained from the institution's resources, advisers will be able to actively engage in the fight for academic integrity. No matter what the reasoning behind their actions is, research shows that millennial students are choosing to cheat. Academic advisers have the power to influence and change the current cheating culture one student at a time.