PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Dee, Thomas S.
AU  - Jacob, Brian A.
TI  - Rational Ignorance in Education
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.47.2.397
DP  - 2012 Mar 31
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 397--434
VI  - 47
IP  - 2
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/47/2/397.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/47/2/397.full
SO  - J Hum Resour2012 Mar 31; 47
AB  - Plagiarism appears to be a common problem among college students, yet there is little evidence on the effectiveness of interventions designed to minimize plagiarism. This study presents the results of a field experiment that evaluated the effects of a web-based educational tutorial in reducing plagiarism. We found that assignment to the treatment group substantially reduced the likelihood of plagiarism, particularly among student with lower SAT scores who had the highest rates of plagiarism. A followup survey suggests that the intervention reduced plagiarism by increasing student knowledge rather than by increasing the perceived probabilities of detection and punishment.