Online plagiarism is on the rise in the UK.

It has been fifteen years sincepioneeringBritish computer programmer, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, created theprotocolswhich power the World Wide Web. But could he have ever imagined how much the web would transform our lives?

And would heapproveof how some British students aretaking advantageof his invention?

Universities and exam boards around the UK are becoming increasingly concerned with the rising number of cases ofplagiarism, many of which arefacilitatedby internet access.

In the UK most school and university students completecourseworkthroughout the academic year whichcontributestowards their final mark. In many cases courseworkmakes up the bulkof the qualification. Since coursework is completed in the student’s own time it cannot bemonitoredby teachers in the same way as an exam.

Derec Stockley,director of examinationsin the UK, explains, “Plagiarism affects coursework more than external exam conditions, and in the cases that come to our attention, more and more are linked to the internet.

At a university level recent reports suggest that plagiarism hasevolvedfromisolated casesof individual cheating to a systematic and evencommercial operation. Students can now pay forbespoke essaysto be written for them by experts.

It is estimated that the market in online plagiarism is now worth ￡200 million a year. Every month more and more websites offering to write students’ essays for them appear on the internet.

Barclay Littlewood, owner of Degree Essays UK employs 3,500 specialist writers andchargesbetween ￡120 and ￡4,000 per essay. However, Mr Littlewoodrefutes the accusationthat he is helping students to cheat.

He says that although students receive an essay that answers their exact question, “They then have to go and do theirresearchoutside our piece,formulate their own opinions, look at their own reference and write the creative and original piece which is distant from ours."