College students have a new book to add to their collection of dictionaries and other reference materials.

It’s the first guide to avoiding cheating and plagiarism, with considerable attention to Web-based research, where many of today’s problems occur.

“There is a real crisis about honesty on campus,” said Charles Lipson, professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of Doing Honest Work in College: How to Prepare Citations, Avoid Plagiarism, and Achieve Real Academic Success.

“Many of the problems can be traced to larger classes, where students don’t receive individual attention, and to misuse of the Internet. Students who want to cut corners can download answers to exams or secretly copy material for their papers,” he said.

Their professors, he said, use the same tools to catch plagiarism and cheating.

Unfortunately, they are catching more and more violations.

Surveys consistently show that cheating among college students is rising.

For instance, while 10 percent of students said in 1999 they cut and pasted unattributed material directly from the Internet to their papers, the percentage rose to 41 percent in 2001, according to the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University.

Another survey found that a third of students admitted to cheating on tests.

“Like all professors, I see cases of cheating or plagiarism occasionally. Every one of them is painful. I also see students who want to do the right thing but aren’t quite sure how to cite their sources or how to complete a take-home exam,” Lipson said.

Lipson said his book aims to reduce the problem by providing clear, consistent rules and explaining why they are important.

According to Lipson, “Sticking to these rules not only helps students learn while they are in college, it prepares them for a lifetime of honest endeavors.”

There are three essential principles for academic honesty, he said.

1. When you say you did the work yourself, you actually did it.
2. When you rely on other people’s work, you cite it. When you use their words, you quote them openly and accurately, and you cite them, too.
3. When you present research materials, you present them fairly and truthfully. That’s true whether the research involves data, documents or the writings of other scholars.

Ultimately, students who do honest work simply learn more, Lipson said.

“Honest work is the path to real learning,” he said.

The same basic principles, he says, apply to faculty as well as students. “Everyone in the university, from the youngest freshman to the most senior professor, is bound by the same standards of academic honesty,” he said.

Lipson's book is in campus bookstores across the country.