Web sites courting needy students

‘ ‘ ‘ By sharing notes, study guides and old exams on note-sharing Web sites, students could… ‘ ‘ ‘ By sharing notes, study guides and old exams on note-sharing Web sites, students could infringe on both professors’ and Pitt’s copyright policies. ‘ ‘ ‘ New Web sites like Knetwit.com and Isleptthroughclass.com allow users to upload class notes, study guides and any other course materials available to them. Both sites pay users for the materials they upload. ‘ ‘ ‘ According to Pitt’s copyright policy, any materials a professor creates for a class while employed by the University remain the property of the University. Under the same policy, students retain the rights to their own scholarly works, including papers, dissertations and articles. ‘ ‘ ‘ Juan Manfredi, associate dean of undergraduate studies in the School of Arts and Sciences, said that most academic materials used in courses are copyrighted. ‘ ‘ ‘ Manfredi added that if students are posting exams or exam solutions online, they force professors to spend time writing new exams every year. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Good exams take time to write,’ he said. ‘ ‘ ‘ Because students retain the rights to their papers, they can submit or sell them to essay sites, but when another student finds that paper online and presents it as his or her own, that student is plagiarizing. ‘ ‘ ‘ Knetwit.com states in its terms of agreement that ‘you are not allowed to post or distribute any material that you own or which you do not have permission to use,’ and Isleptthroghclass.com says it will ‘act expeditiously to remove content on the site that infringes the copyright rights of others and will disable the access to the site and its services of anyone who uses them to repeatedly infringe the intellectual property rights of others.’ The plagiarism controversy ‘ ‘ ‘ Copyright issues aside, these Web sites still raise one question: Do they encourage plagiarism? ‘ ‘ ‘ The name Knetwit comes from the words knowledge, network and profit. ‘ ‘ ‘ The site functions much like a social networking site. Users create profiles and join schools and courses to upload their notes. ‘ ‘ ‘ When they do so, the site pays them in Koin, an online currency that is redeemed for electronics, cash or other prizes in the Knetwit store. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Knetwit does not condone plagiarism or cheating of any kind’ and suggests that students refer to their student handbooks for their school’s rules and regulations, according to the frequently asked questions section of its Web site.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Isleptthroughclass.com provides the same service as Knetwit, but it gives its users points they can redeem for gift cards instead of an online currency. ‘ ‘ ‘ Isleptthroughclass.com’s ‘about’ page says, ‘The site was founded to meet an age-old challenge ‘mdash; students need notes from classes that they’ve missed because of athletic events, family emergencies, personal illness or to supplement their own poorly taken notes.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Manfredi said that sharing notes is not necessarily cheating, but it depends on the professor’s policy for the class. ‘ ‘ ‘ According to Pitt’s academic integrity policies, professors dictate which outside materials are OK for use as sources for papers and study materials. If a professor were to prohibit note-sharing or collaboration on homework assignments, students who shared their notes would be subject to the appropriate disciplinary procedures. ‘ ‘ ‘ In most cases, professors lower students’ grades, sometimes giving them failing marks on either the assignment they plagiarized or in the entire course, Manfredi said. In most cases, the professor and student resolve the issue among themselves, and rarely does Pitt have to deal directly with cases of plagiarism or cheating. ‘ ‘ ‘ Knetwit.com has sent e-mails to Pitt students urging them to join and share their class notes. Freshman Dyanna Person received one of these e-mails, looked at the site and decided not to join. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘It looked like a lot of people were cheating,’ said Person. ‘I just wouldn’t do it.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Freshman Ly Li said she thinks Web sites like these encourage students to skip class and be lazy. ‘ ‘ ‘ In addition, she said that paying students for posting notes seemed corrupt. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘There are so many resources online and in libraries to draw from,’ said Li. ‘ ‘ ‘ Essay sites like CheatHouse.com also post student essays online and charge a membership fee to download them. ‘ ‘ ‘ Despite its name, CheatHouse.com does not support plagiarism, and a news release from the Web site said that the point of the site is to provide students with inspirational material and sources for their own essays. ‘ ‘ ‘ Jen Schriver, the site’s creator, compared CheatHouse.com to Napster, saying that it can be used to good ends, but also to spread copyrighted material. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I provide a service not too different from that of a library,’ said Schriver in the release. ‘It can be used legitimately, to do research and get inspired, or it can be used to outright plagiarize.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Manfredi said sites like CheatHouse.com could be great if students really are using them to find inspiration for their work. But if they’re plagiarizing, that’s unacceptable. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘If a student uses this to get inspiration and write his own paper, that’s great,’ Manfredi said, ‘but if they copy paragraphs or pages, it’s obviously plagiarism.’