Detecting contract cheating in written submissions can be difficult beyond direct plagiarism detectable via technology. Successfully identifying potential cases of contract cheating in written work such as essays and reports is largely dependent on the experience of assessors and knowledge of student. It is further dependent on their familiarity with the patterns and clues evident in sections of body text and reference materials to identify irregularities. Consequently, some knowledge of what the patterns and clues look like is required. This paper documents how to identify some of the patterns and clues observed in essay and report submissions. Effective assessment design with specific contextual requirements make irregularities easier to detect and interpret. The irregularities identified were confirmed as instances of contract cheating through conversations held with postgraduate students. An essential element of the conversations was the evidence presented for discussion. Irregularities were noted on a pro-forma specifically developed for this purpose. Patterns identified include misrepresented bibliographic data, inappropriate references, irrelevant material and generalised text that did not address the assessment question or grading criteria. The validated patterns formed the basis of identifying potential instances of contract cheating in later submissions. Timely conversations with students before the end of semester are essential to determining whether the patterns and clues link to poor knowledge of academic writing conventions or classified as contract cheating necessitating the application of appropriate penalties under institutional policies and procedures.

中文翻译：

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在论文和报告提交中检测合同作弊：过程，模式，线索和对话

除了通过技术可检测到的直接窃，检测书面提交中的合同作弊可能还很困难。在书面作品（如论文和报告）中成功确定潜在的合同作弊案例在很大程度上取决于评估者的经验和学生的知识。进一步取决于他们对正文和参考资料部分中明显的模式和线索的熟悉程度，以识别违规行为。因此，需要对模式和线索的外观有所了解。本文记录了如何识别在论文和报告提交中观察到的一些模式和线索。具有特定上下文要求的有效评估设计可以更轻松地发现和解释违规行为。通过与研究生进行的交谈，确定的违规行为被确认为合同作弊的实例。对话的基本要素是为讨论提供的证据。在为此目的专门开发的备考中记录了不规则性。识别出的模式包括曲折的书目数据，不适当的参考文献，不相关的材料以及未解决评估问题或评分标准的概括性文本。经过验证的模式构成了在以后的提交中识别潜在合同欺诈实例的基础。