This fact has not escaped the notice of desperate students looking for material to pass off as their own. Many online discussion groups require only a simple command or e-mail address to join. Once part of a list, a member can be privy to some very sophisticated strands of conversation. In a number of fields, it's not uncommon for original research to appear in an online discussion group before it comes out in print or any other format. What really makes deliberate online cheating possible are the capabilities of word processing programs.
Word processors allow information to be altered to fit the needs of the potential cheater.
Once in such a program, the context of words can be changed, and whole parts can be re-written with the cheater's own words. A great deal of dishonest Internet information ends up on assignments due to sheer ignorance. Like most of the rest of us, students are dazzled by the speed and vastness of the Internet. With information free for the taking, it's easy to see how facts, words, and ideas can innocently appear on assignments without proper credit to the source. Some students are also stunned to discover that the Internet is not an entity unto itself, and that the sites they're using are created by individuals who need to be acknowledged.