Busted!

[Old Yeller]

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

tough to switch majors with a 1.3 GPA

Speaking from experience?

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by Old Yeller

Speaking from experience?

He didn't cite the source...

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by Old Yeller

Speaking from experience?

haha not quite THAT bad but i can't imagine someone reduced to sifting through the garbage and recycling bins for answers is not on academic probation.

I wasn't too happy with my major in about my second year and wanted to switch but couldn't cause i slacked off for the first while (cause i wasn't enjoying it) and my GPA wasn't over a 3.2 or whatever it was they wanted for the transfer.

i picked up my socks, got my GPA up, graduated with my original major and am enjoying the career i'm in now.

[FlamesAddiction]

Sometimes I think profs go a little overboard. I was accused of plagarism back in university, but the department head ended up taking my side against the prof. She was downright giddy at the idea that she might have caught someone plagarizing and to have the power to kick them out of school.

I took a field botany course and part of the course requirement was to make a collection of specimens from field samples. The collection had to be displayed with "tags" that included the common and latin names, as well as coordinates of where the specimen was taken. Everyone in the course pretty much had the exact same specimens since we collected most of our specimens on field trips.

To make the labelling easier, I used the WORD template wizard so that I wouldn't have to re-type all of the headers over and over. Another classmate thought this was a good idea and asked me how to do it, but instead of showing them how, I just thought it would be easier to let them use the template I made. Needless to say, when we printed off our labels, they looked pretty close to the each other (fonts were set to default).

A few days later, both I and the other student received an email from the prof saying we plagarized each other's work and she demanded to know who copied from whom. Instead of admitting guilt, we arranged a meeting with the department head who agreed that because we didn't share intellectual property and it was really only a formatting issue, it wasn't very serious... he dropped the case. In order to somewhat appease the prof however, we had to make new labels that looked different, which took about 15 minutes.

Although after that, the prof marked use extra hard.

[Old Yeller]

FlamesAddictions story reminds me of one of my own. I think it was a minor java programming assignment and instead of naming variables relative to what they'd represent, I used Flames players.

So 'shantz' would store a certain running total, 'fleury' would store a certain process to be called, 'brathwaite' would contain a constant of something... hell I can't remember, but I do remember this was during the 7 year playoff drought and it was a sad list of variables.

Anyways, the class had at least 90 people in it and myself and another guy I barely knew got reported by a TA who said our assignments were "disturbingly alike". So we both got hauled into the Profs office while he reviewed our assignments.

It turned out we both happened to be huge Flames fans and had named our variables similarly. Our actual programs were nothing alike, but some dumb ass TA saw some of the same variable names and freaked out.

The good news is that the prof laughed it off and made that TA apologize to us for wasting our time.

The bad news is that the TA's were responsible for grading that assignment and both me and that other guy used a dumb naming convention.

[GreenLantern]

I know where you are coming from FlamesAddiction, I was told in first year that my paper was "graduate studies caliber" and "there was no way I could write at this level".. sorry if I have a strong passion for research. Anyway, there was no proof, so the prof was livid and just made sure she was an extra big jerk to me for the rest of the term. I refused to sink to her level, if trying to expose a plagarism that didn't exist or even if it did exist was her idea of a good time then that was her problem, and not mine. That seems to the be the problem when you give a little bit of power to those who either aren't used to it or just can't handle it, they can get a little out of control. I don't blame her for being suspicious, but after it was proven that I could write a good paper (in class mid term) I would expect the Prof to take the high road. I didn't even want an apology, just treat me fairly and do not be bitter, I guess that was to much to ask though. Sad really.

[Kipper is King]

My mom's a HS English teacher, and my dad was an HS administrator (principal/vice principal) before they retired.

Students who plagiarize are not doing themselves any favours. Most Internet essays are riddled with grammatical/spelling errors or other problems. Also, they generally are poorly written in general.

You are much better off just to write the assignment yourself, then to take the risk of getting caught. Most teachers/profs I have known are generally willing to give extensions for assignments or at least reduce your penalty if you have to hand in an assignment late.

Lastly- thinking that teachers and profs don't bother checking essays for plagiarism is a misconception. My mom would frequently catch students plagarizing, and so have many of the teachers I know.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

Students who plagiarize are not doing themselves any favours. Most Internet essays are riddled with grammatical/spelling errors or other problems. Also, they generally are poorly written in general.

well duh if you're gonna cheat, cheat to the middle, a B is alot less suspicious for a C student then a A would be.

[Cerebral]

Originally Posted by Dion

I like the idea of where you make the student re do the assignment. Hopefully they learn their lesson from this.

Also, do you ask why they did it?

Btw, what subject do you teach?

I teach Social Studies so plagiarism is obviously a huge concern. I always ask why the student plagiarized as it actually makes a huge difference to me. While the end result is still a 0, the rationale behind the act of plagiarism can often tell you a lot about the kid.

Many kids plagiarize simply because they're bloody lazy but I've already encountered a few students who simply feel a lot of pressure from home to succeed and they turn to plagiarism as a means of getting better marks. While that certainly doesn't justify the action, I can at least sympathize with the student in that situation. Likewise, my very limited experience has already shown me that students plagiarizing for that particular reason tend to really come around once they admit they're feeling the pressure from home.

[Burninator]

My mom is a teacher, but doesn't bust many for plagiarizing as she teaches the third grade. But occasionally she'll have to talk to the parents when they are helping their children too much with their assignments (it's obvious).

But my friends mom was a nursing professor, and she was reading a masters thesis from a student of hers. She thought it sounded very similar, so she rooted through previous thesis's from students and found the exact same one word for word. This student in her masters program completely plagiarized her thesis! Needless to say, she failed and was kicked out of the school.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

My mom's a HS English teacher, and my dad was an HS administrator (principal/vice principal) before they retired.

I missed the end of that episode. Last I remember, Krabapple, Skinner and Bart were holed up in the school. I guess the town relented, and your parents moved up to HS level?

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Cerebral

I teach Social Studies so plagiarism is obviously a huge concern. I always ask why the student plagiarized as it actually makes a huge difference to me. While the end result is still a 0, the rationale behind the act of plagiarism can often tell you a lot about the kid.

Many kids plagiarize simply because they're bloody lazy but I've already encountered a few students who simply feel a lot of pressure from home to succeed and they turn to plagiarism as a means of getting better marks. While that certainly doesn't justify the action, I can at least sympathize with the student in that situation. Likewise, my very limited experience has already shown me that students plagiarizing for that particular reason tend to really come around once they admit they're feeling the pressure from home.

Good on you for trying to ascertain why. And if it's pressure from home, you at least can help steer them in the right direction as to how to deal with that pressure

[CalgaryPride]

plagiarism is disgusting.

I'd rather out right fail a class than ever attempt such a thing.

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by CalgaryPride

plagiarism is disgusting.

I'd rather out right fail a class than ever attempt such a thing.

I disagree entirely. This is a results based world. You'd rather have a stain on your conscience then a stain on your diploma? I admire your honesty, but question your reality.

This doesn't apply to cheating in a way that could get you kicked out of school. Failing a class is much better then getting booted out of school.

[Clarkey]

I think cheating demonstrates resourcefulness in some cases.

Legalistic types hate the idea of it, but I think there are some cases where it is quite clever.

[4X4]

What if the student was the one that wrote the Wiki article? Would they have to cite themselves as the source?

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by 4X4

What if the student was the one that wrote the Wiki article? Would they have to cite themselves as the source?

You raise an interesting point--though wiki may be a bad example, because wikipedia articles don't have authors in a conventional sense. But as a matter of fact, it is possible to plagiarize work that you did yourself--for instance, by using a paper that you wrote for one class to satisfy the requirements of another.

Let's say you receive an assignment next week. You decide that the article you wrote for The New Yorker would be a good substitute for a paper. Is that plagiarism--well, technically yes. And if you use that article as a source, you still must cite it properly, even though it's your own work.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

You raise an interesting point--though wiki may be a bad example, because wikipedia articles don't have authors in a conventional sense. But as a matter of fact, it is possible to plagiarize work that you did yourself--for instance, by using a paper that you wrote for one class to satisfy the requirements of another.

Let's say you receive an assignment next week. You decide that the article you wrote for The New Yorker would be a good substitute for a paper. Is that plagiarism--well, technically yes. And if you use that article as a source, you still must cite it properly, even though it's your own work.

Indeed. Check the back of any decently researched book and you will likely find the author citing his/her own journal submissions. Often entire chapters appeared first in a peer reviewed journal and in order for the book to be published, that chapter must be properly sourced from the original journal.

[corporatejay]

the academic code of conduct of most universities prohibits you from earning "double credit". While you can use the same ideas/research, you can't use one paper for two classes.

[Dr GonZo]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Oh, she can't read yet.

She does think books are tasty, though!

4 months old, and she's still unable to read? And you're feeding her books?

That's it, I'm calling social services.