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[t_r_b]

The student has replied to the email. She plans to plead the "I just forgot to include the citation and quotation marks" defense. I don't buy it: this was a very short assignment and there was no need to cite any additional sources. Also, if she were to go above and beyond the call of duty and consult other sources, why would she choose the blurb on the publisher's website?

In any case, she'll get a chance to plead her case to me during her conference on Monday. I'll try to get a senior faculty member to sit in, for CYA purposes. Then I'll decide on the penalty. If I decide there are grounds for a substantive penalty, then she'll be free to appeal. Grrr.

[fosca]

I just read 10 papers; 5 were plagiarized to one degree or another.  Those that just had a sentence or two too close to the original (at least the plagiarism was of the "keep the basic structure of the paper and just change a word here or there" variety for the most part) I took off two grade levels or so; the two that were the most egregious (and did include word-for-word) got a zero.

One student has complained to me that 1. she didn't plagiarize; 2. she didn't mean to plagiarize; and 3. she'd be happy to do a rewrite for credit.  My answer:  1. Yes you did; 2. Doesn't matter; 3. No, just don't do it again on the remaining papers (this bad grade most likely won't sink her if she shapes up).

The second apparently assumed that I hadn't received her paper since she earned a zero and sent me another copy.  I replied I had received it and had she read the extensive comments for that paper (that I'm required to write and nobody reads)?  Haven't heard back; not looking forward to it.

This is my first class at a for-profit college; any bets on whether I'll get offered another class?

[geoteo]

well, a good friend who teaches at a SLAC just had this happened, but it got better. The student copied 100% of the assay from Wikipedia and when caught simply said that she actually wrote the Wikipedia article. My friend, who thinks she's pretty net savy, actually tracked down when the wikepedia article was written, and found out that it was sometime after the assignment was announced but weeks before it was due. So she could not really prove that the student wasn't the original writer!

I was just wondering how hard it is to write an article for Wikipedia, and if there is any particular procedure to be followed, so I went there to find out.  I found this sentence: If you add new material to Wikipedia, please provide references. Facts that are unreferenced are routinely removed from the encyclopedia.

If references are provided at the end of the article, the student must have used them to prepare the article.  The professor could certainly ask the student to explain what information she used from each source, and how she chose them.

[labronx]

When I was an undergraduate and had to write papers, I would go to the stacks at the library: get the books, read sections, quote people, write down the references and then go back for more.

I had to  put an effort into plagiarizing.  I had to be aware of it.

Today, I read an article in the paper, and it appears again in another paper or magazine (they own each other, after all).  And then it appears on-line - copy/pasted from blog to blog to .com's and on and on and on.

It is so easy to copy/paste today that I wonder if the word 'plagiarize' is obsolete.

I wonder if our obsession with those students who copy/paste enable others to get away with it (in the rush of too much grading).  For it seems to me that the ones who really profit from this scheme are the ones who copy the ideas, but have the time to dress it up as if it the idea was theirs.  And, in the process, we only catch the lazy ones and reward those who have no new ideas and only know how to dress things up.

But I know no other way.

[sad_goat]

Just flunked my first student for plagiarism. Got a paper somewhere online (I found it in about ten minutes).

Feels good.

[andreapsy]

I was just wondering how hard it is to write an article for Wikipedia, and if there is any particular procedure to be followed, so I went there to find out.  I found this sentence: If you add new material to Wikipedia, please provide references. Facts that are unreferenced are routinely removed from the encyclopedia.

If references are provided at the end of the article, the student must have used them to prepare the article.  The professor could certainly ask the student to explain what information she used from each source, and how she chose them.

Unfortunately Wikipedia is not that sophisticated in policing itself. First you can edit anonymously. Second you don't have to provide references for the edits to appear. It is required that you do (as in it is a policy) but the system is not set up to prevent the posting of information without references. what happens is that eventually (sometimes never) one of the volunteers will flag the post as having no references and the post will show up with a warning saying "please help improve this article by providing references". So technically, I can go and make up anything about anything without references and it will take a while before someone catches it and deletes it - and if it is an obscured topic, this may never happen.

That's why I tell my students Wikipedia is NOT an accepted source of information. They are not allowed to cite wikipedia for ANYTHING.

[mcdlt]

I have just emailed a student who plagiarized about 50% of a four-part project in which hu was to discuss what and how hu learned from our course -- my way of making them demonstrate participation.

argh.  I've already done one plagiarism hearing this term, and I just don't have the energy for another.  I'm not allowed to give a zero for the assignment without making a formal allegation.  So, I'm giving zeros for each plagiarized part, which means that the student will fail participation.

[commcycle]

The second copied 75% of his essay from Wikipedia. 

well, a good friend who teaches at a SLAC just had this happened, but it got better. The student copied 100% of the assay from Wikipedia and when caught simply said that she actually wrote the Wikipedia article. My friend, who thinks she's pretty net savy, actually tracked down when the wikepedia article was written, and found out that it was sometime after the assignment was announced but weeks before it was due. So she could not really prove that the student wasn't the original writer!

Why can't you just consult the history log for the article in question? If the student can't identify hu's username, and that is the ONLY contributor in the article (unlikely), then it seems it would be easy to identify that claim as bogus.

[geoteo]

Unfortunately Wikipedia is not that sophisticated in policing itself. First you can edit anonymously. Second you don't have to provide references for the edits to appear. It is required that you do (as in it is a policy) but the system is not set up to prevent the posting of information without references. what happens is that eventually (sometimes never) one of the volunteers will flag the post as having no references and the post will show up with a warning saying "please help improve this article by providing references". So technically, I can go and make up anything about anything without references and it will take a while before someone catches it and deletes it - and if it is an obscured topic, this may never happen.

That's why I tell my students Wikipedia is NOT an accepted source of information. They are not allowed to cite wikipedia for ANYTHING.[/b]
[/i]
I think we're saying similar things here.  I'm certainly not saying that Wikipedia can be relied upon--I'm saying that references are supposed to be part of the articles, and that the student can be questioned about any references given in an article she claims to have written.  Since she probably DIDN'T write it, she won't be able to respond to the questions, which will confirm the professor's suspicions.

[t_r_b]

As I mentioned in another thread, it turns out my plagiarist is majoring in English and secondary education. She wants to teach high school writing.

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. The conference is on Monday. My chair will attend: CYA for me, gratuitous spectacle (he is looking forward to the wailing and gnashing of teeth) for him.

[jammer]

I fail them for the course if I catch any plagiarism at all.  However, to make sure when they screw up that it's not my fault, there's a long section with penalty in bold and all caps in the syllabus, the penalty is in all paper directions and I say it many times out loud in class, including (as someone mentioned above) "How stupid would that be to fail the course for plagiarizing in a little assignment like this," and "If you have citation questions, don't guess.  Ask me.  It's much better to have one day's worth of late penalties and ask me if your citation is o.k. than it is to guess and fail the course."

Come to think of it - all of my syllabi are set up so nothing is my fault. 

[atleisure]

I'm a grad student, and I'm still trying to sort out for myself what I think of plagiarism.  How important is it?  Is it worth a flunking grade for the class, or just the assignment?  Should it always be reported?  My school boots students from the university for at least a semester if they get caught twice.  Is it worth that?  This is essentially a victimless crime. (I don't think copy-paste in a freshman term paper is a big threat to anyone's income through violation of copyright.) 

I've been reporting it (five individuals in two classes, so far).  Two of the students ended up leaving the university - one because it was a second offense, and the other because they lost their athletic scholarship.  This isn't the kind of impact I wanted to have on students. 

What's your take on it?

[jammer]

I'm a grad student, and I'm still trying to sort out for myself what I think of plagiarism.  How important is it?  Is it worth a flunking grade for the class, or just the assignment?  Should it always be reported?  My school boots students from the university for at least a semester if they get caught twice.  Is it worth that?  This is essentially a victimless crime. (I don't think copy-paste in a freshman term paper is a big threat to anyone's income through violation of copyright.) 

I've been reporting it (five individuals in two classes, so far).  Two of the students ended up leaving the university - one because it was a second offense, and the other because they lost their athletic scholarship.  This isn't the kind of impact I wanted to have on students. 

What's your take on it?

I want my students to learn, even in this world of Enron and AIG and credit default swaps, of selling wars and Senate seats, that honesty still matters in some places.  I want them to learn that you should do your own work even if it's harder and takes longer.  And I want them to learn that it's still possible to get the grade you deserve based on what you've learned.

I am only one person, but that's the impact I want to have on students.

 
 

[tee_bee]

The second copied 75% of his essay from Wikipedia. 

well, a good friend who teaches at a SLAC just had this happened, but it got better. The student copied 100% of the assay from Wikipedia and when caught simply said that she actually wrote the Wikipedia article. My friend, who thinks she's pretty net savy, actually tracked down when the wikepedia article was written, and found out that it was sometime after the assignment was announced but weeks before it was due. So she could not really prove that the student wasn't the original writer!

The student probably couldn't prove he/she WAS the original writer either.

Technically, if you have something "published" and you use it somewhere else, aren't you supposed to cite yourself?

I'd still bust the student for having a paper identical to an internet source, unless they could prove they were the wiki author.

Exactly. This student fails. The burden of proof is on the student to prove authorship. The student can't prove it, I guarantee. Wikipedia keeps track of who posts what when, either by user name or IP address. If the IP address isn't anything that the student's ISP can prove as legit, then the student is SOL. But that's beside the point--the student made an affirmative claim, so should back up that claim.

[erictho]

I'm a grad student, and I'm still trying to sort out for myself what I think of plagiarism.  How important is it?  Is it worth a flunking grade for the class, or just the assignment?  Should it always be reported?  My school boots students from the university for at least a semester if they get caught twice.  Is it worth that?  This is essentially a victimless crime. (I don't think copy-paste in a freshman term paper is a big threat to anyone's income through violation of copyright.) 

I've been reporting it (five individuals in two classes, so far).  Two of the students ended up leaving the university - one because it was a second offense, and the other because they lost their athletic scholarship.  This isn't the kind of impact I wanted to have on students. 

What's your take on it?

It's not a victimless crime. Students who buy papers and receive an A, or students who cut and paste huge chunks from other sources and receive an A are cheating not only themselves, but also every other student in that class, from those students who worked hard and honestly and earned an A, to those students who did the best they could, honestly, and earned a C. Students who graduate from Uni X without having learned the necessary skills (such as how to write) reflect badly not only on themselves, but also on every other student from Uni X who has earned his or her degree honestly.

I will do everything within my power to prevent plagiarism and cheating in my classes. If I am unsuccessful and a student plagiarizes, I will do everything within my power to nail that student for their academic dishonesty and intellectual theft. If it costs the student his or her scholarship, too bad. Losing the scholarship is the price the student pays for the student's choice to cheat.

And yes. That is the impact I want to have on dishonest students.