Dr. Thomas Lancaster gave a seminar on contract cheating and academic integrity. He has over 30 years of experience in higher education and has extensively researched student plagiarism and contract cheating. His research has found that business, social studies, history and medicine are the most common subjects for contract cheating. While essay mills claim to provide high quality, fast work, in reality students must choose two out of quality, speed and cost. Studies also indicate that contract cheating is often a repeated behavior by students rather than a one-time occurrence. The seminar discussed steps the higher education sector can take to promote academic integrity through policies, teaching, assessment practices, and student support.

1. #contractcheating
@DrLancaster
Friday 10 November 2017
Teaching and Research Seminar
School of Psychology and Neuroscience
University of St. Andrews
BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
DR. THOMAS LANCASTER
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
thomas@thomaslancaster.co.uk

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@DrLancaster
A PRACTICAL SEMINAR
ON CONTRACT CHEATING AND
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Academic integrity advocate and regular media contributor
Joined Staffordshire University as an Associate Dean in 2016
Has actively researched student plagiarism and contract cheating since 2000
Completed PhD on plagiarism detection in 2003 (Computer Scientist by trade)
Knows enough to run a very profitable essay mill
DR. THOMAS LANCASTER
HIGHER EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Former Principal Lecturer (30 years experience) at Birmingham City University
Now largely retired
Has collected over 30,000 attempts made by students to outsource their research
online (just the “tip of the iceberg”)
My co-author on many papers on contract cheating, including the first publication
WITH GRATEFUL THANKS
TO ROBERT CLARKE

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Discussion encouraged live and on Twitter using
#contractcheating
A RESEARCH INFORMED SEMINAR
REVIEWING SECTOR PRACTICE

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@DrLancaster
CONTRACT CHEATING AND
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Contract Cheating Academic Integrity
A student involves (or
attempts to involve) an
unacknowledged third
party in the assignment
production process
Promoting a positive
view of assessment
where individual effort
and contributions are
valued

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
ADVERTISING MADE EASY
THE ESSAY MILL WAY

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Models based loosely on:
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T., (2013), Commercial aspects of contract cheating. 18th ACM conference
on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education.
Student buys an original
assignment from a writer, which
is then handed in to a tutor for
marking
CONTRACT CHEATING MODEL #1 (OF 3)
CONNECT WITH A WRITER

10. 10#contractcheating
@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Student buys an original
assignment from an essay
mill service – which
outsources this to a writer.
Student then hands this in to
a tutor for marking.
CONTRACT CHEATING MODEL #2
GO THROUGH A COMPANY

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Student gets a friend or
family member to complete
their assignment for them,
which they then hand in to
a tutor for marking
All indications are that this model is
the most common, even though
essay mills with flashy websites
attract the most attention
CONTRACT CHEATING MODEL #3
ASK THE FAMILY

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
SECTOR DEVELOPMENTS
WHAT’S HAPPENING ABOUT
CONTRACT CHEATING?

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The QAA recommends that universities:
• Provide clear information and support for students
• Involve students in writing academic integrity
processes and on accompanying panels
• Ban essay mills from advertising on campus
• Vary assessment methods
• Use writing style analysis software
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/publications/information-and-guidance/publication/?PubID=3200
QAA GUIDELINES
OCTOBER 2017

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
QAA Presenting My
(Older) Slides
QAA GUIDELINES
SOME PUBLICITY
BBC TV – October 2017

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
#defeatthecheat
#excelwithintegrity
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
OCTOBER 2017

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@DrLancaster
SO, IS CONTRACT CHEATING STILL
REALLY A PROBLEM?
YES…

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
https://bid4papers.com/blog/paid-for-essay
As well as a video, this company also
provides useful tips to students on how
to cheat better, like:
• Order multiple essays from the same
writer
• Provide the writer with your notes
and stance
• Edit the purchased essay to remove
words you would rarely use
ESSAY MILLS
A RESPONSE TO INTEGRITY?

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
http://www.scotsman.com/news/education/essay-writing-firms-preying-on-students-say-universities-1-4445050
THE SCOTSMAN
14 MAY 2017

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Search on Google
(November 2017)
“psychology essay”
A SEARCH FOR HELP

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@DrLancaster
VISIBLE REQUESTS
ALL LIVE NOVEMBER 2017
Found on Freelancer.com

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Contract cheating has
become the victim of
nichification
ALTERNATIVE SITES
ALL BASED IN THE UK

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
6.6% of students (n=1298) say they have paid for work.
Wider sector estimates usually range from 2% to 10%.
85
236
977
0 200 400 600 800 1000
Yes
No, but I would
consider doing it
No
“Have you ever paid for work?”
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4991344
In an early study over 50% of students said that
they would be willing to commit contract
cheating if their risk of detection was low
Rigby, D., Burton, M., Balcombe, K., Bateman, I., Mulatu, A., Contract
Cheating And The Market In Essays, Journal of Economic Behavior &
Organization, Volume 111, March 2015, Pages 23-37
UK POLL ON THE
STUDENT ROOM
OCTOBER 2017

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@DrLancaster
CONTRACT CHEATING
RESEARCH FINDINGS

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@DrLancaster
#1 Business
#2 Social Studies
#3 History and philosophical studies
#4 Medicine and related subjects
#5 Education
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2012), Dealing with Contract Cheating: A Question of
Attribution, 1st HEA STEM Conference April 2012, London, United Kingdom
15 subject groups identified
Results #1 to #4 represent over
50% of observed requests
n=627
THE WINNING FIVE SUBJECTS
A CONTRACT CHEATING LEAGUE TABLE

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@DrLancaster
Cheap Essay
Fast Essay High Quality
Essay
THE ESSAY MILL PROJECT
MANAGEMENT TRIANGLE
PICK TWO OUT OF THREE

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@DrLancaster
Cheap Essay
Fast Essay High Quality
Essay
Students paid an
average of $101
USD to buy original
assignments on
Freelancer
n=338
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T. (2013). Commercial Aspects of Contract Cheating,
8th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science
Education (ITiCSE 2013), University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, July 2013
[example from PowerPoint presentation]

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@DrLancaster
Cheap Essay
Fast Essay High Quality
Essay
Freelancer study of
awarded academic
jobs showed an
average of 10 more
bidders
* As shown earlier in
the presentation, the
figures today look
even higher
Wallace, M. J., & Newton, P. M. (2014). Turnaround time and market
capacity in contract cheating. Educational Studies, 40(2), 233-236.

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@DrLancaster
Cheap Essay
Fast Essay High Quality
Essay
26 History essays
purchased in
Australia
8 Fail
10 Pass
5 Credit
3 Distinction
Lines, L., 2016. Ghostwriters guaranteeing grades? The quality of online ghostwriting services
available to tertiary students in Australia. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(8), pp.889-914.

29. 29#contractcheating
@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Our first study (2006)
found that the “average”
student contracted
between 4 and 7 times
Clarke, R and Lancaster, T (2006). Eliminating The Successor To Plagiarism? Identifying The Usage Of Contract
Cheating Sites; 2nd Plagiarism: Prevention, Practice and Policy Conference 2006 - Newcastle, UK, June 2006
Curtis, G.J. and Clare, J., (2017). How Prevalent is Contract Cheating and to What Extent are Students Repeat
Offenders?. Journal of Academic Ethics, 15(2), pp.115-124.
.
Supported by Curtis and Clare
(2017) “Of those who ever
engaged in contract cheating,
62.5% did so more than once”
ONE-OFF CHEATING?
OR HABITUAL?

30. 30#contractcheating
@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
51.0% of academics agreed that their
institution had policies and procedures to
use when a student contract cheated
(n=255)
Students in SE Europe seemed more
willing to discuss contract cheating
than those from the UK, including
admitting writing for other students in
focus groups, and discussing adverts
shown on the university Facebook
Research conducted in six countries in
South East Europe
Glendinning, I., Foltýnek, T., Dlabolová, D., Linkeschová, D. and Lancaster, T. (2017).
Plagiarism in South East Europe Final Report, Council of Europe.
http://www.plagiarism.cz/seeppai

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@DrLancaster
CONTRACT CHEATING
WHAT SHOULD THE SECTOR DO?

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@DrLancaster
Research
There a lots of opportunities
What are the trends by
academic discipline?
Can we detect contract cheating
(the QAA think so)?
Teaching
The QAA recommendations are a
good start.
Can’t stop cheating, but can make
successful cheating less useful.
Reflection? (fakeable?)
Authentic assessment?
#ditchtheessay

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@DrLancaster
Contract Cheating Academic Integrity
How can we show support for
students?
How can we promote the positive
principles of academic integrity?

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@DrLancaster
CONTRACT CHEATING
LINKS AND RESOURCES

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@DrLancaster BEYOND CONTRACT CHEATING
TOWARDS ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2017). Rethinking Assessment By Examination In The Age Of Contract Cheating, Plagiarism Across Europe and Beyond 2017,
Brno, Czech Republic.
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2016). Contract Cheating – The Outsourcing Of Assessed Student Work, in Handbook of Academic Integrity,
Lancaster, T. and Clarke, R. (2014). Using Turnitin As A Tool For Attribution In Cases Of Contract Cheating; 3rd Annual Higher Education Academy
Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Edinburgh, UK.
Clarke, R. and Lancaster, T. (2013). Commercial Aspects Of Contract Cheating; 8th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer
Science Education, Canterbury, UK.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2012). Dealing With Contract Cheating: A Question Of Attribution; 1st Annual Higher Education Academy Conference in
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics,, London, UK.
Clarke, R, and Lancaster, T (2007). Establishing a Systematic Six-Stage Process for Detecting Contract Cheating; The Second International Conference on
Pervasive Computing and Applications, Birmingham, UK.
Lancaster, T and Clarke, R (2007). The Phenomena of Contract Cheating, in Student Plagiarism in an Online World: Problems and solutions.
Clarke, R and Lancaster, T (2006). Eliminating The Successor To Plagiarism? Identifying The Usage Of Contract Cheating Sites; 2nd Plagiarism:
Prevention, Practice and Policy Conference 2006 - Newcastle, UK.
SOME ACADEMIC INTEGRITY RESOURCES
MORE ON GOOGLE SCHOLAR
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lViA0GAAAAAJ

36. #contractcheating
@DrLancaster
Dr. Thomas Lancaster Links:
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog
http://contractcheating.com
Slides available at:
http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY SUPPORT
ADVICE AND CONSULTANCY
STAFF/STUDENT TRAINING
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS