Cheating

Cheating is usually defined as deliberately engaging in dishonest or fraudulent behavior for one's own gain. When applied to academic dishonesty, cheating often falls into the category of plagiarism, that is, the use of another's work without giving appropriate attribution. Sometimes the plagiarism is characterized as a breach of copyright or an infringement upon another's intellectual property rights. In all cases, cheating and or plagiarism are breaches of expected norms of academic behavior in both the K-12 setting and the university setting.

In law, cheating, although it is fraudulent behavior and academically dishonest, does not rise to the level of a legal cause of action. Most litigation pertaining to cheating and plagiarism is brought because of procedural violations when bringing the cheater to task or for ...