Academia takes plagiarism more seriously than racism.

Academic Chatter™ It also thinks plagiarism is the biggest academic integrity issue, and sticks its head in the sand about contract cheating.

YetAnotherShaun Academic Chatter™ Contract cheating is plagiarism.

Kane Murdoch Professor Cath Ellis YetAnotherShaun Academic Chatter™ I agree, Kane Murdoch. Most definitions given of plagiarism are narrow, and say that with better referencing it will be avoided. I prefer 'misconduct' or similar as the umbrella term, and then plagiarism as a particular kind that uses words/ideas that should be attributed.

Kane Murdoch Dr Katherine Seaton Professor Cath Ellis YetAnotherShaun Academic Chatter™ I tend to agree with your concerns Kane. If unis begin to conflate contract cheating with plagiarism they may not take it as seriously as they should, and fail to appreciate how different it is.

Kane Murdoch Matthew Jones Professor Cath Ellis YetAnotherShaun Academic Chatter™ Not sure that's quite true, but the time and resources to develop unique questions and to write up reports etc is not provided.

Dr Katherine Seaton Kane Murdoch Matthew Jones Professor Cath Ellis YetAnotherShaun Academic Chatter™ The book gets thrown down hard around here when contract cheating is detected. If a piece of contracted work is bespoke though it’s hard to prove.

Jason Dutton Dr Katherine Seaton Kane Murdoch Matthew Jones Professor Cath Ellis Academic Chatter™ It can be easier to detect than many think, but it requires that someone has a broader view of the student's past work (as in multiple courses) and data than a marker typically has. It's why unis need to #makeitsomeonesjob