Irony, Thy Name is Student

[LingualMonkey]

Caught a student plagiarising last weekend. Said student copied seven pages off the Internet and passed it off as her own.

Best part?

The paper was on ethics.

[Miss Fatale]

I've gotten those.

Also, papers on time management that are two weeks late....

[Victoria J]

So tempting to fail them not for plagarism but for "complete failure to grasp the subject matter" or similar.

What do you actually do when you catch someone plagarising ?

Victoria J

[Fulton]

At the college I taught at the first offense was a 0 on the paper and a permanent note in your file. Second offense is an automatic failure for the course and possibly for the year as well. Third offense and you're kicked out of your program. You can come back after a year.

Most colleges and universities have something like that. High schools generally just give 0s.

[Magpie]

Most colleges and universities have something like that. High schools generally just give 0s.

Unfortunately a lot of times it doesn't get enforced, because the students know that it's severe so they appeal (even if they don't have a leg to stand on, such as when they photocopied someone else's work), and the profs don't want to have to deal with that.

I may have let some people get away with an academic offence last term, but it was a minor one (I had given them the data, they forgot to cite it. When I got it back because they were upset about losing the mark they showed me a citation which was not only in completely the wrong place, but could have been written after the fact. I let it slide, because I hated these people and was worried that I would be too hard on them due to the animosity.)

[SouthernSugar]

*facepalm*

I vote for presenting people like that with a dictionary entry on irony.

[Fulton]

Unfortunately a lot of times it doesn't get enforced, because the students know that it's severe so they appeal (even if they don't have a leg to stand on, such as when they photocopied someone else's work), and the profs don't want to have to deal with that.

I may have let some people get away with an academic offence last term, but it was a minor one (I had given them the data, they forgot to cite it. When I got it back because they were upset about losing the mark they showed me a citation which was not only in completely the wrong place, but could have been written after the fact. I let it slide, because I hated these people and was worried that I would be too hard on them due to the animosity.)

Too true. One of my office mates had a problem with a student who was caught for plagiarism twice in one semester. He'd previously been thrown out of the same course the year before about after being caught plagiarizing three times. He should be banned from the university for life, but when my colleague last updated me on the appeal, it looked like the student might win his way back into the class and a pass mark of 50%.

The problem is a lot of teachers (myself included) are willing to give their students one free pass. We give them 0's, but don't report the plagiarism. As far as I know, the students I caught have been caught by two or three of their other instructors and been let off with warnings.

I conduct a three hour seminar at the beginning of the semester for my research skills class. I only have 28 students in that class. I nailed two of them for plagiarism and let another off with a warning that same semester. I've caught the same student plagiarizing twice and cheating on a test in the same semester. Did she seriously think that I wouldn't be watching her like a hawk after the first two offenses?

[LingualMonkey]

Our policy is the same as the one listed above--0 the first time it happens, insta-fail on the second, buh-bye on the third.

And in this case, I did fill out the paperwork.

[Magpie]

Our policy is the same as the one listed above--0 the first time it happens, insta-fail on the second, buh-bye on the third.

And in this case, I did fill out the paperwork.

Thank you! Hopefully they don't try to drag out the appeals process.

[Miss Fatale]

Oohh, got a new one the other day -- the paper on the topic revision (you know, how important it is to read through and edit your work) riddled with typos and spelling errors.

They keep me on my toes.

[Imogene]

Half of our class got 'caught' for plagiarism on a paper one semester, because the professor gave us absurdly vague instructions. "Find three job listings on the internet for jobs you would want to apply for, then discuss them." The professor tried to fail half the class, including one student who had a works cited page, but the professor just hadn't printed it out. Those of us who were fingered for plagiarism had copied those job listings and put them in our papers. All of us were talked to by the head of the department, we explained the assignment, and got the plagiarism marks expunged.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Unfortunately a lot of times it doesn't get enforced, because the students know that it's severe so they appeal (even if they don't have a leg to stand on, such as when they photocopied someone else's work), and the profs don't want to have to deal with that.

I may have let some people get away with an academic offence last term, but it was a minor one (I had given them the data, they forgot to cite it. When I got it back because they were upset about losing the mark they showed me a citation which was not only in completely the wrong place, but could have been written after the fact. I let it slide, because I hated these people and was worried that I would be too hard on them due to the animosity.)

You know there is something wrong with post secondary education when the students have more power than the professors, especially students of wealthy/notable people who will bitch at administrators/cut off donations if their little johnny doesn't get his way. What kind of a life lesson does this teach? You can buy your way out of any problem? Sadly, that's probably true in a lot cases and that makes me a bit sick to my stomach.

[Mnemjian]

Half of our class got 'caught' for plagiarism on a paper one semester, because the professor gave us absurdly vague instructions...

Did the teacher want you to rewrite the job listings in your own words?? Sounds like a real crazy...

A lot of my classes now make you read an article about plagiarism that has examples and stuff before doing any work. This way you can't say you didn't know you weren't supposed to Ctrl+C that whole Wikipedia entry

[Magpie]

You know there is something wrong with post secondary education when the students have more power than the professors, especially students of wealthy/notable people who will bitch at administrators/cut off donations if their little johnny doesn't get his way. What kind of a life lesson does this teach? You can buy your way out of any problem? Sadly, that's probably true in a lot cases and that makes me a bit sick to my stomach.

I've never known any case where the student got away with it because someone was pulling strings. (Of course, those tend to be the ones you don't find out about). It's just that the prof doesn't want to have to deal with three months of the student going to appeals, because even if the student hands in a photocopy of someone else's handwritten work, they think that they can just go to appeals and get their pass. My mother had someone bring in the poor man's version of a lawer - friend of theirs who was studying law - to an appeal for an academic offense when he was clearly in the wrong.

The issue isn't that you can buy your way out of a problem, it's that there's umpteen loopholes (the chiropractor is a doctor, therefore I have a doctor's note saying I had bronchitis), and even if there isn't a loophole, the student will take it as far as they can. It's just too much work and too much stress for the professors. It's training them to be SC's.

[Imogene]

Did the teacher want you to rewrite the job listings in your own words?? Sounds like a real crazy...

If he did, he expected us to be mind readers, cause he never said that aloud...
This is the teacher who had us building a Flash version of Space Invaders, and came to class entirely unprepared, to the point he got stuck trying to get the Actionscript to work in the middle of class...
Suddenly, "Juwl, why isn't this working?"
"Well, is it possible to do... *this*?"
"Yes..."
"Try that."
That's right, I FIXED his problem!

On another paper he had us do, he was grading the papers, and we were all doing quiet work for other classes, and he suddenly blurts out "Ten points for Gryffindor!" And I go, "Oh, sh*t, he's talking about my paper, isn't he?" and sink down in my chair as I feel his eyes on me. Sure enough, he returns our papers, and on the top of mine is "Ten points for Gryffindor" Yeah, my paper? The Hero's Journey as it pertained to Final Fantasy 9.