The Waiting Room

This could take a while...

Monday, February 13, 2006


Posted by Seeking Solace |

I found my first case of plagiarism this semester.

After all the explaining of what constitutes plagiarism, after all the examples in class regarding how to properly document sources and avoid plagiarism and after all the threats of what would happen if I caught someone plagiarizing, did this student really think that I would not catch it? Did she think that I would not notice the one perfectly written paragraph taken from her textbook buried in a sea of unintelligible gibberish?

I am insulted!


blithering moron said...

heh, she took it straight from the textbook? that's pretty lazy.

Shelly said...

Hi, I've "seen" your blog around, and this post resonated for me because last semester was my first semester to take on papers written outside of class, and I found four cases of plagiarism, and I was personally insulted about it, too. One student plagiarized word for word from not only one of those silly Essays-For-You types of sites, but an actual student's published article that was googlable.

Bella Sultane said...

My favorite is when students steal from easy-to-google sites like Wikipedia. Oh, and when confronted, claim that they simply 'forgot to provide citations.' Gah.

Dr. Brazen Hussy said...

Oh yes, they really do think they won't get caught.

Once, I gave back a paper that I had annotated every single paragraph with the website where it had come from (I guess she thought by mixing up several websites she wouldn't get caught) and then written a big fat F on the last page. Possibly the most satisfying F I've ever given. She did not challenge it.

shrinkykitten said...

Ugh, I'm so sorry. I hate dealing with this crap so much. But then, I am starting to hate everything about teaching that isn't actual classroom teaching. All this classroom management, behavior management, emotional management, plagiarism management, stuff just chaps my hide. Why can't they just behave?

The Continental Op said...

Imagine dealing with student plagiarists in a law school. They actually try to argue that their copying without attribution isn't plagiarism.

Seeking Solace said...

The Continental Op, Shelly Malone and Bella Sultane: Welcome to the Waiting Room! Thanks for stopping by. I will stop by your sites soon!

Blithering: Yeah, she could have been a little more creative. See Brazen’s comment!

Shelly Malone: I had a student who did the exact same things a few semesters ago! She claimed that she did not know it was a pay for paper site!

Bella Sultane: Or they say "I didn't know I was supposed to cite that!"

Dr. Brazen: Mixing websites...that’s bold.

Shrinky: Or use their skills for good instead of evil! I am tired of my students too!

CO: I went to law school and really can’t image it. Those students are going to have a tough time explaining that to the character and fitness committee for the state bar!