Competency - LexisNexis

I conducted an "easy search" on my topic: plagiarism and high school students in Major U.S. and World Publications, News Wire Services, and TV and Radio transcripts. 457 records were retrieved. I then searched within results adding librar* and narrowed it down to 30 hits. The majority of the hits were very relevant to my interest. One in particular from UPI, dateline March 8, 2007, Durham, N.C.:

Add e-cheating to parent's Web worries

Add this to the worry list of what can happen when kids go online: They can learn how to cheat, a skill educators say has moved into American classrooms.

Across the net, blogs and Web sites instruct visitors how to scam their way past others on sites such as ClubPenguin.com, where younger players seek coins to furnish igloos, or Whyville.net, where tweeners try to earn higher salaries, The Chicago Tribune said Thursday.

For high school and college students, the Internet is a virtual library of term papers.

One educator said e-cheating is an example of how competitive modern culture has become.

Cheating in school is "absolutely getting worse" over the last 20 years, said Tim Dodd, executive director at the Center for Academic Integrity at Duke University in Durham, N.C. "We've looked at middle-school behavior and seen students begin the life of a plagiarist."

Students are downloading material and passing it off as original as early as the fifth grade, Dodd said.

It's the notion that young children are learning to cheat to get ahead that is troubling, he said.

"There are subtle and not-so-subtle messages that only getting ahead matters," he said.

I find this to be extremely relevant. Articles of this type could help the librarian/media specialist convince administrators of the need for teaching research/citation skills and assisting students to avoid accidential (and/or intentional) plagiarism.

I found this search engine to be very user friendly. The 'Power Search' feature was especially impressive as more options are available including using connectors, natural language, and Keywords (Index Terms).