This work is part of an ongoing project looking at some implications to the changes in the Stage 6 Biology syllabus in the NSW secondary school system.  Although the initiative was part of an educational research project to investigate students' understanding of biology on entry to university, the model can be modified to work in a diagnostic process or as part of course assessment.

The advent of the Internet and the use of online course management software has made plagiarism in written assignments easier for students. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many of our students (particularly first and second years) were plagiarising one another's written work, in part or full, especially if the task they are writing up is from a group activity. In addition some students reported cutting and pasting large chunks of (unacknowledged) text from the Internet to include within their reports.