Using Microsoft Excel

Using Microsoft Excel
Plagiarism, whether intentional or unintentional, is a
big problem for universities. Not only is it an issue of unfair use of
copyrighted material, it speaks to an ethical issue of cheating.
(Please refer to the Microsoft Excel tutorials in the appendices of the Constellation text.)

Consider the following statistics. According to the Plagiarism.org
(2013), a survey conducted by Donald McCabe between 2002 and 2005 that
included 63,700 US undergraduates and 9,250 graduate students revealed
the following data:

1. 36% of undergraduate and 24% of graduate
   students admit to “paraphrasing/copying few sentences from Internet
   source without footnoting it.”
2. 38% of undergraduate and 25% of graduate
   students admit to “paraphrasing/copying few sentences from written
   source without footnoting it.”
3. 14% of undergraduate students and 7% of graduate students admit to “fabricating/falsifying a bibliography.”
4. 7% of undergraduate and 4% of graduate
   students self-report copying materials “almost word for word from a
   written source without citation.”
5. 7% of undergraduate and 3% of graduate students self-report “turning in work done by another.”
6. 3% of undergraduate and 2% of graduate students report “obtaining paper from term paper mill.”

In Excel, create a worksheet that addresses the following:

1. In cell A1, enter the following title for this worksheet: Student Plagiarism Statistics.
2. In cell A3, enter the following: Form of Plagiarism.
3. In cell B3, enter the following: Undergraduate.
4. In cell C3, enter the following: Graduate.
5. In cell D4, enter the total number of undergraduate students that participated in the study 63,700.
6. In cell E4, enter the total number of graduate students that participated in the study 9,250.
7. Beginning in cell A5, enter each of the six
   categories of plagiarism identified by this report, one in each row.
   (These categories are found under the “Academic Integrity in College and
   Graduate School” section showing the results of the survey done by
   Donald McCabe.)
8. Beginning in cell B5, calculate the number of
   students that admitted to each offense. To do this, you will need to
   calculate the number of students based on the percentage provided.
9. For example, if there were 63,700
   undergraduate students that participated in the survey and 36% admitted
   to paraphrasing/copying a few sentences from an Internet source, then
   that would mean that 22,932 students admitted to the offense (63,700 *
   .36). Complete these calculations for all six categories. Be sure to
   enter formulas and use proper cell referencing, e.g. = D4*.36
10. Calculate the same data for graduate students beginning in cell C5.
11. Format all cells with the appropriate data types. Set numeric fields with no decimals.
12. Once you have completed the calculations, select the data cells in the table to create your chart.
13. Create a chart that will visually depict the
    data, in a way that makes it easy to see the largest areas of plagiarism
    problems.  A good example might be a column chart that shows
    undergraduate and graduate data side by side. The choice of chart is
    your own.
    Finalize your worksheet by making sure all columns are formatted
    to accommodate the size of the data. Format your chart as needed to
    assure that the chart looks clean and neat. Be sure that your worksheet
    looks professional and polished.
14. Save your workbook.