Hi I doubt that there is a technical solution to the problem of students buying papers, except perhaps for the less alert students and services. Here is one site that provides free software to change time and date information.
http://www.smartcode.com/downloads/change-created-date-word.html I'm sure there are others. And I suspect that the commercial companies have ways to implant whatever "history" the buyer wants embedded into the file. Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax [email protected] >>> Claudia Stanny <[email protected]> 06-Dec-10 11:37 AM >>> I do a lot of collaborative writing these days and we have a habit of saving versions with new draft dates in the file name. I find that these various new files don't seem to carry the older edit/creation dates. So there is a possibility that a student could avoid detection by saving the file on his/her computer with a new file name. Perhaps the folks in computer science who are interested in forensic computing can answer questions about hidden codes. It would be interesting to know whether these are created and how they could be accessed. Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. Director Center for University Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Associate Professor School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences University of West Florida 11000 University Parkway Pensacola, FL 32514 * 5751 Phone: (850) 857-6355 or 473-7435 [email protected] CUTLA Web Site: http://uwf.edu/cutla/ Personal Web Pages: http://uwf.edu/cstanny/website/index.htm On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 7:13 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Indeed, I could have sworn that this tool allowed its user to see the > hidden data. At least the XP version does not. > > > > Miguel > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Annette Taylor" <[email protected]> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" < > [email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, December 5, 2010 2:43:22 PM > Subject: RE: [tips] more detective work with Word? > > > > Well, this is good if you are a student and want to submit a paper and > want to strip it of all identifying information, but it doesn't tell you how > to read any unstripped hidden information. I have asked our IT folks to > investigate this for me and will get back to you all if I learn anything > practical! > > OTOH I try to pick topics that are not readily available for easy > purchase, i.e., a student would have to pay for a custom written paper and > could not just buy one off the shelf, so to speak. In addition my studnets have > to hand in all of their supporting references (i.e., copies of the papers > cited throughout the paper with relevant passages annotated) and a > peer-reviewed draft with feedback on it with the final showing the changes > that were made. > > Annette > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. > Professor, Psychological Sciences > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > [email protected] > > ------------------------------ > *From:* [email protected] [[email protected]] > *Sent:* Sunday, December 05, 2010 10:35 AM > *To:* Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > *Subject:* Re: [tips] more detective work with Word? > > > > Beth, this link provides useful information, especially if you use Office > 2007, > http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/remove-hidden-data-and-personal-information-from-office-documents-HA010037593.aspx#BM1. > For MS Word 2003 go to: > http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyId=144E54ED-D43E-42CA-BC7B-5446D34E5360&displaylang=en. > I am also aware of commercial software designed to analyze documents, but > don't know anything about those products. > > > > Miguel > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Beth Benoit" <[email protected]> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" < > [email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, December 5, 2010 11:47:19 AM > Subject: [tips] more detective work with Word? > > > I'm deeply unsettled at this time of year by the information about > "contract cheating" (buying term papers online) and how flagrant it is. > Sometimes you are positive that a student didn't write the submitted paper > (how can a D student, who can barely complete a sentence in an essay > question, submit a strongly written research paper?) but we need more ways > to prove it. I'm sure the essay companies do their best to help the > students not get caught. (I've seen some that offer an essay written to a > grade specification, so that a C student will get a paper that's not very > well-written and with some words spelled incorrectly. *Sigh.*) > > Does anyone know of any further little tricks to use with Word that can > help us find these contract cheaters? I'd be particularly interested to > know if there's a way to find out the TOTAL amount of time a student has > spent on "writing" a paper - such as when the student began work on the > paper. For example, if the student bought the paper from a term paper site, > I'd expect that only a few minutes would be spent opening it up into a new > document page, maybe adding his/her own name, etc. > > The information that I posted yesterday does tell the "last" time it was > edited, and how much time was spent and how many "edits" were made. But > this doesn't help if, say, the student worked on it for a week altogether, > saved it, and then opened it one final time, etc. Then it might look like > only few minutes were spent, which of course is very suspicious, but perhaps > incorrectly so. > > Some of the tell-tale signs I've been using, as I described in yesterday's > post, with Leah Adams-Curtis' tips, are in the Prepare->Properties link, > which reveals the author's/owner's name. MOST of the time, this should be > the student's name, but what if he/she is using someone else's computer to > write the paper? That, in itself, shouldn't be incriminating. The other > sign is under the pull-down menu for Document > Properties->Advanced->Statistics, which reveals the editing information > described above. > > But I KNOW that legal departments have other tricks they use to uncover > "secret" notations that aren't intended to show up in the final documents. > Anybody know what they might be, or any other detective tricks? > > Beth Benoit > Granite State College > Plymouth State University > New Hampshire > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13482.917fac06d4daae681dabfe964ca8c74e&n=T&l=tips&o=6989 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-6989-13482.917fac06d4daae681dabfe964ca8c...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a21b0&n=T&l=tips&o=6990 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-6990-13534.4204dc3a11678c6b1d0be57cfe0a2...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13482.917fac06d4daae681dabfe964ca8c74e&n=T&l=tips&o=6993 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-6993-13482.917fac06d4daae681dabfe964ca8c...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d550&n=T&l=tips&o=7002 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-7002-13144.1572ed60024e708cf21c4c6f19e7d...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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