So, if someone comes to Yahoo! Answers for help with their homework, is that cheating?

Question

If someone asks: how do you do this math problem? Or: name 3 important things Thomas Jefferson did. Is that research? Or cheating?

Thoughts?

Answer 1

I'm a teacher, and someone who has been on the internet since the early 1990s. So this is all new to everyone.

Cheating can definitely occur here if a student is lazy and asks for help because they're too lazy to do their own research. That's why I very carefully pick and choose which questions I answer. Being a teacher, and being someone who is tricky too, I tend to point someone in the right direction, but not give everything away. An answer is best if you get a point or tip in the right direction, then discover the answer yourself, or come to your own conclusions.

It's amazing to me how many people don't use online resources. So many questions here can be answered in milli-seconds just by going to a search engine and typing in the relevant keywords! But humans are lazy, and we'd rather do anything at times than our own thinking.

As a teacher, I also worry about plagiarism. More and more, though, that's becoming easier and easier to detect. Any teacher worth his/her salt knows a student's writing voice. When that writing voice changes suddenly or drastically, any good teacher can smell plagiarism instantly. It's simply a matter of going to the computer, plugging in a sentence or a few keywords, and any plagiarist is outed immediately -- and failed.

And the further up you go, as in high school or college, plagiarism can get you not just a failing grade on an assignment, but a failing grade in a whole class, or it can even get you kicked out of college. And that's the way it should be. Intellectual integrity is key.

The key is that you have to know how to do citations. Starting in late elementary or middle school -- and ideally continuing throughout high school -- students should be required to do at least one report a year, complete with works cited page, to keep those research skills up.

Bottom line to me as a teacher of 14 years is this: if a student is smart enough to use this resource, then s/he must also be smart enough socially and intellectually to weed out good answers from the bad. That index of maturity is another mark of a good, average or poor student. It is also the responsibility of the teacher, principal, school, school board and school district and state to come to terms on what's acceptable use online or not. A highly connected, slightly sneaky teacher may request email addresses at the beginning of school, then monitor this site to see what activity goes on, and determine personally if it's cheating, laziness or appropriate research.

There is no one rule for this. It depends upon individual students, individual students' strengths and weaknesses, connectivity of teachers, teachers' personal views on what is cheating, what is research and what is laziness, etc.

Cheers, hope this helps. -- K

Answer 2

Asking "how" to do something is ok. Asking for an answer is cheating. It is just as easy for you to go to Wikipedia and type in Thomas Jefferson as someone else. What makes you think that someone will even give a correct answer. Some kids would get a laugh by having you turn in a wrong answer.

Asking a professional a question about his field of expertise could be research but when an answer just comes from another student it is not research.

What you can do is list three things you think Thomas Jefferson did and ask an opinion about their importance. That would be research.

Answer 3

Of course it is. Kids always find the easy way out and this is the easiest right now. You will notice, though, that those who choose to answer the questions usually go into more detail than the student needs and some are darn good teachers. No, I don't think Yahoo Answers should do a thing. We are capable of answering or not answering as we choose. Students who come here usually find themselves skimming the text looking for the answers while they are waiting for responses. The really lazy students who post all their questions on here generally fail to get responses anyway.

Answer 4

The point of education is to learn. If you just want the "Right Answer" there is no learning. Same as if you copy out of the text , the teacher, or something where else.
If you truly have a better understanding from the experience then you have accomplished the mission.
I hope the questioner and the responder both strive for understanding and not just a grade.

Answer 5

Cheating: Yes.
Annoying: Very.

Answer 6

If someone wants specific answers, I consider that cheating. If they ask where to find or how to do something, I don't consider that cheating.

Answer 7

Ha ha! That's the first thing I thought when I saw such a question a moment ago! But I answered anyway. And yes. But it doesn't matter as long as they learn it.

Answer 8

sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. tell them to go look it up on google if you're not comfortable with it. And with a math problem, it's good to explain it to them if they don't get the problem.

Answer 9

It's cheating.

Answer 10

There is a section called 'Homework,' so I no I think not. This is for students to help each other, but, anyone can answer.

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