Catching students who cheat has always been part of your job as a teacher. The wrinkle these days is that electronic cheating is wide-spread in addition to all the other forms of cheating you and I are accustomed to. Here are five ways to catch your students when they cheat.

1. Use a PDS (Plagiarism Detection Service) like Turnitin.com to catch plagiarism.

The service is used by thousands of schools and universities worldwide. Basically Turnitin.com compares your students' papers with those in their enormous databases. Similarities are highlighted so that you can review the findings easily. For a look at a rationale for NOT using a PDS read The Politics of Plagiarism Detection Services

2. Forbid the use of cellphones and iPods in exam rooms.

Students are extremely savvy when it comes to devising ways to use common electronic equipment to cheat. Be alert to these techniques. Sending text messages via cell phone is more common than you realize. Watch for earphones which can be extremely tiny and are used to play back notes.

3. Lock down your grade program and database.

Hardly a day goes by without some chilling story about hackers breaking into a school's academic database and changing grades. Keep your computer secure by using secure passwords. Set your screen saver to activate in password protected mode after 2 minutes of inactivity.

4. Look for crib notes anywhere and everywhere.

Students can write notes on the most ordinary things like gum wrappers and bottle labels and bring them safely into the exam room UNLESS you are watching carefully or ban them completely. So, be a grinch and pick up wrappers and miscellaneous bits of paper wherever you see them. You can fit many pages of information on a small piece of paper using very small fonts. And it's edible too.

5. Be vigilant. Trust but verify.

A cautious "Trust but verify!" approach to dealing with cheating will pay off. Use the same approach in your classroom. Be aware of the possibilities for cheating which are all around you.