I Hate Plagiarizing

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This is the second time I have caught a student plagiarist. Grrrr.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 11 • Views: 8,786 • Replies: 101

[+5] - George - 06/24/2010When I was an English teacher, I once got a paper that included the phrase: "See illustration facing page".
[+4] - Shapeless - 06/24/2010There is absolutely no exaggeration in the following anecdote. This past semester I received a 12-page research paper from a student which began with the following introduction: "I found a...
[+3] - djjd62 - 06/24/2010[quote="OmSigDAVID"] What about "[i][b]multi-culturalism[/b][/i]" ? Maybe he comes from a culture where thay approve of plagiarism. [/quote] Hollywood?

@plainoldme,

plainoldme wrote:

This is the second time I have caught a student plagiarist. Grrrr.

Will u take a liberal point of vu,
qua the plagiarism ?

David

0 Replies

@plainoldme,

How did you discover it and what are your options?
In my experience we have a written code of conduct that is expected to be followed unconditionally. Discovery of any of the infractions like plagiarism left me with limited types of responses.

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@farmerman,

Frankly, discovering plagiarism is easy. All one has to do is type a sentence into google.

Furthermore, this student has been in this country for less than a year. The sudden "improvement" in his syntax was . . . shall we say . . . an alarm ringing.

What makes matters tough for me is this is a highly intelligent person.

The last student to plagiarize gave evidence of serious problems. She registers for classes then fails to show up. Whether her life story is true or not (English teachers learn intimate details!), I can not say. I, for one, do not trust that kid.

This one is a little different. He is one of two brothers who take the class together. They seem very nice, although this one, the older brother, is a tad manipulative. (I should say he stands 6' 4" and has movie star looks. The manipulativeness comes with the territory of the physically blessed.)

What happens is totally up the individual professor. Generally, the student receives an "F" for that assignment, which is what I did in both cases.

I also included with the student paper a copy of the source and a copy of the college's policy on plagiarism.

My hope is that this boy will take it as a wake up call. He has done nothing of the sort in my class before. As his other class is calculus, there is no opportunity for plagiarism there.

2 Replies

@plainoldme,

So, you obviously had some pre cursor reasons to suspect his writing.? I mean you dont pipe every students work into a search engine to compare to others work do you ? Was this creative writing or was the assignment asking the student to be persuasive with an argument?

Thats too bad especially of the kid had possibilities and intelligence.

1 Reply

If he has been in this country for less than a year, then he has multiple hurdles to jump. Not only does he have to do research using an unfamiliar language, he has to re-process it and present it again in writing using the same unfamiliar language.

Teachers who have foreign students in high level classes should offer options. Perhaps he could have presented his research orally or worked in a group situation. Also, I bet if he could have written the paper in his own language, it would have been better.

4 Replies

I have to deal with student plagiarism on the middle and high school level at a small private school. I'm the newspaper adviser. You're right, it's usually pretty easy to spot...a sudden improvement in writing, a difference in writing style, a phrase here and there that doesn't sound age appropriate... There are lots of tip-offs.

Our students are well aware of the rules against plagiarism, thanks to the diligence of their English and History teachers. Like you, POM, I give them an "F" on the assignment and hand them back a copy of the original work along with their plagiarized copy (applicable sections highlighted), a boilerplate statement of school policy, and a stern warning. I also give a copy of this paperwork to the Head of School, and it goes into their file. They are given 24 hours to resubmit an acceptable assignment. (This is necessary because the newspapers still have space to fill!) I am free to use my own judgment when it comes to notifying the parents. (I often do.) A second instance of plagiarism is grounds for exclusion from the Newspaper elective class in the future.

You're right, it's always discouraging. Sometimes it's downright infuriating!

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@plainoldme,

What about "multi-culturalism" ?

Maybe he comes from a culture where thay approve of plagiarism.

2 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

What about "multi-culturalism" ?

Maybe he comes from a culture where thay approve of plagiarism.

Hollywood?

1 Reply

@djjd62,

djjd62 wrote:

OmSigDAVID wrote:

What about "multi-culturalism" ?

Maybe he comes from a culture where thay approve of plagiarism.

Hollywood?

<snort>

0 Replies

When I was an English teacher, I once got a paper that included the
phrase: "See illustration facing page".

2 Replies

Quote:

Hollywood?

guffaw

0 Replies

There is absolutely no exaggeration in the following anecdote. This past semester I received a 12-page research paper from a student which began with the following introduction: "I found a wonderful source of information on ________ website. It was presented so perfectly, I didn't want to change anything!" (This was punctuated with an emoticon to convey her enthusiasm.) What followed was 11 pages of printed-out websites. Not cut and pasted, mind you, but printed-out as is, web browser windows and images intact. Strictly speaking that's not plagiarism, I guess, since the source was acknowledged. But... wow. After recovering from shock I wrote at the end, "That's like being assigned a paper on physics and submitting a book by Einstein with a note saying 'Um, what he said'."

3 Replies

@Shapeless,

Shapeless wrote:

There is absolutely no exaggeration in the following anecdote. This past semester I received a 12-page research paper from a student which began with the following introduction: "I found a wonderful source of information on ________ website. It was presented so perfectly, I didn't want to change anything!" (This was punctuated with an emoticon to convey her enthusiasm.) What followed was 11 pages of printed-out websites. Not cut and pasted, mind you, but printed-out as is, web browser windows and images intact. Strictly speaking that's not plagiarism, I guess, since the source was acknowledged. But... wow. After recovering from shock I wrote at the end, "That's like being assigned a paper on physics and submitting a book by Einstein with a note saying 'Um, what he said'."

I think u needed to clarify the assignment.

David

2 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

I can assure you that the terms of the assignment effectively ruled out the student's approach as even remotely conceivable.

I was almost tempted to give her a bonus point for sheer chutzpah... almost.

0 Replies

@OmSigDAVID,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

I think u needed to clarify the assignment.
[/quote]

did I miss the part where Shapeless gave you a copy of the assignment, so that you could make that kind of comment?

1 Reply

@Shapeless,

Years ago, I wrote a paper exposing the folly of gun control.
I wanted to assemble many relevant concepts n show interrelationships.
It was ez to cite n quote a lot of USSC cases bearing upon the point.
It was ez to quote n attribute a lot of books n law review articles bearing upon the issue,
but there were also a lot of concepts and quotes,
well turned frases of whose origins I was unaware.
I did not wish to write a lot of "source unknown."

I did not want to be accused of plagiarism qua the unsourced material.

My chosen solution was to circulate the paper with no attribution of authorship.

Eventually, I was pressed to put an author 's name on it.

I put "Publius"

David

0 Replies

@ehBeth,

OmSigDAVID wrote:

I think u needed to clarify the assignment.

ehBeth wrote:

did I miss the part where Shapeless gave you
a copy of the assignment, so that you could make that kind of comment?

I was judging from the result. Maybe the student was half asleep and misunderstood.

I did not mean to imply that Shapeless was inept.

David

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

0 Replies

@PUNKEY,

PUNKEY wrote:

If he has been in this country for less than a year, then he has multiple hurdles to jump. Not only does he have to do research using an unfamiliar language, he has to re-process it and present it again in writing using the same unfamiliar language.

Teachers who have foreign students in high level classes should offer options. Perhaps he could have presented his research orally or worked in a group situation. Also, I bet if he could have written the paper in his own language, it would have been better.

Waahh, waahh... surely when he signed up for the course he was told the rules of the college/class. No excuse for this in my book. It's cheating and theft. You break the rules, you suffer the consequences.

He had other options. He could have spoken to the instructor and asked for special treatment prior to cheating and lying and stealing.

If it was too tough a course, change to an easier one. Can't speak the language well enough, take more ESL classes first.

If he got a job where he said he could do what was required, but then couldn't, do you think his employer should make special arrangements for him or let him get a friend to do it for him? Ridiculous. He'd be fired for incompetency and lying about his abilities.

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I Hate Plagiarizing

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