Establishing a Systematic Six-Stage Process for Detecting Contract Cheating

This paper proposes a systematic six-stage process that tutors can use to detect students who are contract cheating. Contract cheating is where students have original work completed for them and submit it, without acknowledgement, for academic credit. A background to the problem is presented along with the current problems of preventing and detecting contract cheating. Examples of how pervasive computing techniques have made it easier for students to cheat are given. A description of how contract cheating is currently detected is presented, with shortcomings of these methods detailed. The paper formalises new six-stage contract cheating detection process developed to parallel approaches taken in the plagiarism literature.