UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIRE
		 COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM

			      presents

	     "Contract Cheating by Computer Science Students:
		 Exploring the New Plagiarism Phenomenon"

			  Dr. Thomas Lancaster
	   (Department of Computing, Birmingham City University)

		      17 October 2007 (Wednesday)

			  Lecture Theatre E350
		       Hatfield, College Lane Campus
			       3 - 4 pm

	       Coffee/tea and biscuits will be available.

		    Everyone is Welcome to Attend



Abstract:

In recent years Computer Science departments have had to be able to
demonstrate that their courses are plagiarism free, necessary to ensure
the quality and worth of their academic awards. Some mechanisms exist
to aid in this and a double-edged attack to both prevent and detect
plagiarism is often used. Such approaches can work well to eliminate
certain types of plagiarism, such as direct collusion or copying from
Internet sites. The approaches are less effective when a student
presents original work that they have not written for assessment. This
is known as contract cheating.

The seminar will present the latest research into contract cheating,
focusing on it from a Computing Science perspective and supported by
examples. The results of a substantial study of the use of
RentACoder.com, an outsourcing auction site used by students, will be
presented. The study shows that some students cheat habitually
throughout their courses, devaluing the academic qualifications that
they receive.

The contract cheating problem is seen to benefit from the same
doubled-edged attack as was used on plagiarism. A six stage model,
which can be applied to detect contract cheating, will be presented.
The seminar will conclude by suggesting practical techniques which
tutors can use to prevent students from successfully contract
cheating.


About the Speaker: 

Thomas Lancaster is a Lecturer in the Department of Computing at 
Birmingham City University. He obtained his PhD, entitled 'Efficient 
and Effective Plagiarism Detection', from London South Bank University 
in 2003. His ongoing research, with colleague Robert Clarke, focuses 
on the contract cheating phenomenon.  (Birmingham City University is the 
new name unveiled for the former University of Central England in 
Birmingham.  For more information about the name change go to 
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/namechange/official_announcement.html )

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Hertfordshire Computer Science Research Colloquium
http://homepages.feis.herts.ac.uk/~nehaniv/colloq