Abstract
An activity designed to actively introduce first year students to issues
related to academic misconduct is described. The activity involves
computing students writing a short essay on a topic related to the
history of computing. The essays are subsequently automatically
checked for non-originality and the outcomes made available to the
students. The results of approximately 350 students from two different
sessions are analysed for any demographic influences. The only
significant findings were that non-originality was a predictor of noncompletion
of first year studies and of a lower percentage outcome.
This paper was submitted to the International Integrity & Plagiarism Conference which ran between 2004-2014. The paper was peer reviewed by an independent editorial board and features in the conference proceedings.