In the age of Google, people really need to stop plagiarizing.

[JoeZhang]

I work at a university. The lecturers have had software for years which checks for plagiarisation.

I've long been interested in just how such a software package works. How does it determine what is and is not a plagiarized work? Precisely what is measured?

It compares the essay to a web-search, other essays that have been searched previously, news papers and magazines that are provided electronically etc etc.

If I remember correctly, it provides you with a highlighted copy with links to the original material. It's quite good as filtering out quotes and the like.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Yeah, I don't really know why anyone would directly lift the words from something else. I'm sure this will come out sounding arrogant, but honestly I feel like I'm usually a better writer than the source anyway, like I can reword it in my own way and it will sound much nicer. Especially if it is an online source.

I actually don't go to the library that often, but I am not doing traditional history research in my program. If I were I would spend more time at the library, or using Interlibrary Loan, WorldCat, etc. For the research I'm doing now I use online databases of historical photographs and government documents most often.

 

[Goliath]

Yeah, I don't really know why anyone would directly lift the words from something else.

Because they're bad writers who can't put other people's ideas in their own words.

Either that, or they're just too lazy to do the work involved.

I'm sure this will come out sounding arrogant, but honestly I feel like I'm usually a better writer than the source anyway, like I can reword it in my own way and it will sound much nicer. Especially if it is an online source.

This is how many plagiarists get caught.

I'll be reading their paper, slogging through a bunch of semi-literate garbage, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the clouds part, the sun shines down, the birds sing, and their text acquires an unprecedented clarity.

At that point, an alarm bell goes off in my head.

The last plagiarist I caught actually plagiarized a book review by a friend of mine. In my comments, I told him that if he was going to plagiarize, he should make sure that he was plagiarizing something I hadn't read.

 

[Spot's Meow]

^Yeah I guess people are just too lazy or aren't good writers. But I still don't know why you'd do it because you run the risk of getting caught. And usually the consequences of plagiarizing are pretty harsh, like failing the class. And I'm not about to fail a class I just paid tuition on. But I'm not a cheater in any other way either, so I guess I just don't understand the mindset. I would be way too paranoid about getting caught and losing all that I had worked for. Not worth it.

Plus if you are lifting sentences from other documents I would imagine your paper would end up making little sense, just being a mish mash of semi-related ideas written in different tones and styles. So it would make you even more likely to get caught. And I would just feel really ashamed of myself for putting out horrid work like that.

So I guess it boils down to people not caring. If you don't care that much to at least try, why even turn in a paper at all?

 

[ThunderAeroI]

I have a funny story about my spanish class and altavistas translator. I was running out of time to get an eassy done in spanish class, so I wrought something in english and just used the translator to convert it to spanish. I handed it in and the end result was rather funny.

The converted texted looked good enough to pass the smell test so I handed it in and when I got it back it had a note on it from the teacher to talk to her. She wanted to know how I knew so much about spanish because the translation used different verb conjections that we hadn't been taught yet and used a form of spanish dialogue that we would never cover in class.

I explained what I had done and she thought it was funny, I got a zero, but at least I didn't get into too much trouble.

 

[CorporalClegg]

What I find amazing is people find it so difficult to re-organize and paraphrase their work and cite their ideas.

Maybe I'm missing the point but, if some one is doing a paper on Antietam and they borrow a few passages from a web article, just specify where it came from.

 

[auntiehill]

Exactly. It's not difficult at all to merely quote your sources, but people are too lazy and/or stupid to be bothered, so they cheat.

 

[Triskelion]

I like electronic music but it does rather miss the point of music.

Huh? How's that?

Sorry, I should have said computerized music. Playing music is a human expression; listening to music is a shared human experience. Plugging loops into a computer is about four seconds of human expression and ten minutes of software variations on a theme. It's not alive, it's mechanical. Sort of like having a text-to-speech reader talking to a speech-to-text input, or a humidifier next to a dehumidifier. No humans necessary!

All I'm saying is, when I was in high school, 10% of the school was in band - and it was hard. Marching, sweating, practicing, orchestra, formal events, competitions, glory, heartache. Today, there is no band. It's just "too hard". That's why pop music sounds like vapid, over-repeated riffs set to high tech samples. There used to be actual musicianship in music, bands like Yes, Rush, Frank Zappa. I wonder if future culture isn't just going to be sampled from dead talent. Ok, maybe exagerrated for effect, but - frankly I think we already consume far too much mediocrity in our cultures.

Today I did an English corner here in Shanghai:

"Bob Dylan?"
Nothing.
"Beatles?"
Nothing.
"Nirvana?"
Nothing.
"Dizzy Gillespie?"
Nothing.
"Carpenters?"
Nothing.
"Yesterday Once More?"
The whole class burst into an enthusiastic "I know that one!"

Very. Sad.

 

[Michael]

I like electronic music but it does rather miss the point of music.

Huh? How's that?

Sorry, I should have said computerized music. Playing music is a human expression; listening to music is a shared human experience. Plugging loops into a computer is about four seconds of human expression and ten minutes of software variations on a theme. It's not alive, it's mechanical. Sort of like having a text-to-speech reader talking to a speech-to-text input, or a humidifier next to a dehumidifier. No humans necessary!

I don't think I can agree with you on this. The moment the musician chooses a sample (regardless of how long it is) and creates something new with it, is the moment he expresses himself with the music. It doesn't matter if he ever played any instrument. Knowing how to play an instrument is not knowing how to create music (in the same vain, knowing how to draw doesn't make you an artist). It's all about intention. Well, music may sound mechanical, but that doesn't take away from it the fact that it expresses something.

 

[Yassim]

I have a funny story about my spanish class and altavistas translator. I was running out of time to get an eassy done in spanish class, so I wrought something in english and just used the translator to convert it to spanish....

A student at my school did the same thing. He got caught because he handed it in for a French assignment. The fluent Spanish apparently alerted the French teacher that something was amiss.

I once taught a student who was caught plagiarizing. I explained that he got caught because the teacher Googled part of the essay... he was caught again later in the year, plagiarizing, the same way.

I think part of the problem is the cost-benefit analysis so many students do. Plagiarizing is so easy, and so quick, that even a 50-50 chance makes it seem worthwhile.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

I have a funny story about my spanish class and altavistas translator. I was running out of time to get an eassy done in spanish class, so I wrought something in english and just used the translator to convert it to spanish....

A student at my school did the same thing. He got caught because he handed it in for a French assignment. The fluent Spanish apparently alerted the French teacher that something was amiss.

I once taught a student who was caught plagiarizing. I explained that he got caught because the teacher Googled part of the essay... he was caught again later in the year, plagiarizing, the same way.

I think part of the problem is the cost-benefit analysis so many students do. Plagiarizing is so easy, and so quick, that even a 50-50 chance makes it seem worthwhile.

so he handed in a spanish paper in his frensh class... What he could take the time to actually select the right language to convert it too, and didn't realize it was the wrong language. Spanish and French dont even Look the same.

 

[wew]

I've actually made a language error in college Italian. I forgot the word for the number nine and somehow ended up responding to the rest of my essay question in Spanish. My professor said I got an "A" for the Italian that I had properly translated and "A" for the Spanish, but since the test was supposed to be in Italian, I got a "C".

I caught one plagiarist 3 times in one semester, and then caught the individual again the next semester.

Usually once I see vocabulary changes and perfect grammar, I know something has been copied or someone else has done the work.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

One of the problems with the rampant plagerism at the college level is that high schools just don't teach kids how to write anymore. I graduated from college years ago, but even then I remember most of the students griping and moaning about having to write essays and begging for multiple-choice tests instead. I, on the other hand, always sought out writing-intensive classes because I had been lucky enough to attend a good high school that spend a lot of time on writing, so I tended to score higher simply because I knew basic grammar and how to structure an essay.

 

[Lindley]

One time in 7th grade I ran out of time to do an essay properly, so I spliced together pieces of an essay almost entirely from a few other sources. I gave full attribution, but it was blatantly obvious that my paper was a bunch of quotes with little more than connecting phrases thrown in by me.

Still got a decent grade on it as I recall.....

 

[Holdfast]

My old department only uses it with post-grads because they know they'd catch virtually all of the undergrads and it would be too much of a headache to deal with...

Yeah, I can believe this.

Do undergraduates even have to do anything approaching synthesis or creativity anyway? It seems to me that most of what they have to do is factual regurgitation with some minor paraphrasing as academic window-dressing, at least in the disciplines I'm directly familiar with. As such, it seems harsh to ding them for this in the most efficient manner (copy-pasting). If they don't memorise the facts, they'll fail their final exams anyway where there's no computer, so there's no real harm done by passing them on their coursework.

Post-grads actually should be doing something original, though, definitely.

 

[Trippy]

I make my students (high school English) write their drafts for their essays in class. Then I go over them with the student one on one to assist in whatever they are learning (thesis building, incorporating quotes, etc). Then they can go off and type up their good copies. They must hand in their good copies, outlines, and their drafts that have been corrected (or seen and signed) by me. Failure to do so nabs them a zero. Plagarism issue solved!



Hopefully, they've learned the writing process from me and will continue it on into post-secondary education.

 

[Gepard]

Do undergraduates even have to do anything approaching synthesis or creativity anyway? It seems to me that most of what they have to do is factual regurgitation with some minor paraphrasing as academic window-dressing, at least in the disciplines I'm directly familiar with. As such, it seems harsh to ding them for this in the most efficient manner (copy-pasting). If they don't memorise the facts, they'll fail their final exams anyway where there's no computer, so there's no real harm done by passing them on their coursework.

Though I can't recall the specifics, the university I attended threatened some pretty harsh punishments for plagiarism, even for undergrads. Up to and including suspension, IIRC, depending on severity. One professor in my major had to deal with a couple of plagiarists in his classes not too long ago and it sounded like a lot of trouble for him. But they did take that kind of thing pretty seriously.

And there was an entire category of "synthesis courses" to be taken in the third or fourth year, so we had to do a fair amount of that kind of thing.

 

[TheBrew]

My old department only uses it with post-grads because they know they'd catch virtually all of the undergrads and it would be too much of a headache to deal with...

Yeah, I can believe this.

Do undergraduates even have to do anything approaching synthesis or creativity anyway? It seems to me that most of what they have to do is factual regurgitation with some minor paraphrasing as academic window-dressing, at least in the disciplines I'm directly familiar with. As such, it seems harsh to ding them for this in the most efficient manner (copy-pasting). If they don't memorise the facts, they'll fail their final exams anyway where there's no computer, so there's no real harm done by passing them on their coursework.

Post-grads actually should be doing something original, though, definitely.

Well, I am not sure if that is the same that I (as an undergrad) do. When writing a paper, I generally actually 'mentally' write it out and then research for the evidence for my argument. I tend to regurgitate the facts because there isn't many ways for me to rewrite "Marbury v. Madison proved this because [facts about the case]" Since I write papers about politics and history, the argument is original, but much of the meat is just spitting back out researched material to support my argument.

I am not sure if that is original or not. Of course, I do find papers trivially easy for the most part and I wish I could do them instead of taking tests. Oddly enough, in my last year as a political science undergrad, I've been assigned exactly ONE paper over 5 courses, though to be fair two of those courses were math-based poli-sci courses.

 

[Arrqh]

I've actually been in the opposite situation... when I was in high school I was falsely accused of plagiarism. My english teacher couldn't prove it (obviously) so she couldn't fail me and instead just knocked what was probably an A essay to a B-. At the time, I was pretty annoyed. In retrospect, I am very angry as a matter of principle.

 

[Garrovick]

My Sister, the College Professor, sent me most of all my papers for courses that weren't math and science related. Of course I was in the Service, took 14 years and over 180 credits to finish a degree in Structural Engineering. That too was my Sister's doing. She sorted every thing out, sent them to a friend at Purdue University and zap, there it was.

I never plagiarised though.