Turned out they had the same professor. Professors are fighting plagiarism by using search engines and Web sites that let them check students' work. Some professors also are writing papers again. Faculty are reluctant to report students, and students won't turn in a peer for fear of becoming a social outcast. Cheating is highest in courses where students know the professors won't report them, McCabe said.
Honor codes are one way colleges are combating cheating.
On campuses with honor codes, that number drops to 53 percent. Honor codes aren't unusual on Lowcountry college campuses, but none are probably as strict as The Citadel's. Break the honor code and you could be expelled. In the last four years, The Citadel has averaged 11 or 12 reported cheating cases a year. About a handful are thrown out after the initial investigation, said Michael Barrett, a retired brigadier general who teaches history and serves a faculty adviser to the cadet-run Honor Committee.