OK, I'm taking an internet class, and my professor broadcasted an ***-chewing to the entire class, because of rampant plaigarism(sp).

He went on to say he had soft ware that could yadda, yadda, yada...
And if you cut & paste I can tell, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Now, I've written fifty-leven college papers in my day; and yes- when I've found internet articles and there's a quote I want to use from there, I cut & paste it into my paper. But, I have always, always given credit for the article and the arthor in accordance with the APA format (Purdue University Writing Lab).

I mean, if I'm going to say what they said, or do a direct quote, why should I type all that Sheid, when it's already typed? Especially when I'm giving the arthor credit for it, siting article, arthor, pages, etc... I site references and authors if I use their thoughts and I paraphrase...

I'm sure he was talking about those that don't do that and present the words as if they are their own; but admitedly, this letter has me worried because of his statement about cutting and pasting.

Is there any truth to this BS about "anti-plaigarism software that can tell when you've cut & pasted text into your paper", or is this another myth the professors try to propagate?

 

The software and the databases are out there but I wouldnt be worried at all that he was referring to you. Just make sure you throw some independant thought into your paper as well and that you're not just summarizing what others have said (even if you site).

http://www.turnitin.com/static/home.html

UC

 

As long as you cite you aren't plagarising...cut and paste away....they cant tell if you copied or typed providing the formatting is the same

 

Kool; he had me worried...

I don't wanna fail a class over some BS. I'm already pissed that I can't seem to score over a "B" with this guy... 85 is the highest, so far...

He's farking with my Magna *** Laude status... I don't want to drop all the way down to *** Laude...

 

plagiarism

 

Thanks... I knew I should have asked Kobi!

 

We used this site at the college I went to before this, http://www.mydropbox.com/ , when you submit the paper it actually takes your submission and compares it to all kinds of papers and articles on the web and in databases. I turned in an essay (not in a research paper that involved looking up sources) and it highlighted a few phrases that it found matches to.

Just saying, the software *IS* out there.

 

we had to submit papers to turnitin.com. if there were a certain percentage of "matched" words it flagged the teacher when they pulled it up. they highlight everything in question, what quote is setting it off, and where it could have come from. if we didnt submit it to the site along with a hard copy in class it was an automatic 50% deduction... it pisses me off, but its out there. and it aint getting any easier to let goofs slip, or cheat for that matter.

 

Plagiarism is any use of another's thoughts without appropriate citation; it doesn't matter if you typed it yourself or cut-n-pasted it off the web. Plagiarism is often a matter of degrees: using a verbatim quotation, but without indicating it's a direct quote, even if you cite the source, is plagiarism. Even worse is using someone else's ideas, directly quoted or not, without citing your source.

It's getting VERY easy to spot this. Turnitin.com is one tool, but even Google allows one to catch many cases of plagiarism. I'm a college prof, and I know it's never been easier to plagiarize (intentionally or not). It's also never been easier to catch...

Cite your sources and paraphrase unless you indicate you've used a verbatim quote. If you do those things, it will be hard to plagiarize.

Good luck, Bighersh. Hope you graduate with honors!

 

Already did once... (Magna *** Laude & Phi Theta Kappa; 3.83 GPA) Trying to do it again...

Thanks though!

Yeah, it's not my intent to ever plagiarize anything. Whenever I quote or paraphrase, I site as well... I'd rather give credit even when some would assume it's not necessary, than to take a chance at getting kicked out of school over something so silly.

I just don't understand how anyone "plagiarized" their work, when the last two assignments have been Q&A, and not essay type questions, or research papers...