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With all of the internet essay places, and the ease of cutting and pasting stuff, how big of a problem is plagiarism in colleges? Is it going on all the time, or is it just a few kids?

By GFI on Friday, November 16, 2001 - 08:20 pm: Edit

It seems to be a growing problem. It used to be pretty minimal - frats might keep copies of papers in their files, or students might hire someone to write a paper. Now, a student in Iowa can buy a paper written by one at Columbia or UCLA. Some schools are trying to use software to compare papers to catch duplicate text.

By Michigander on Monday, November 26, 2001 - 01:26 pm: Edit

For profs with small classes who get to know their students, spotting plagiarized papers probably wouldn't be too tough. If the paper seemed way out of line with stuff written in class and/or class participation, the prof would probably suspect something fishy. In big classes, though, where the tests are mostly multiple choice and sections are led by teaching assistants, I imagine sneaking a bunch of copied text through wouldn't be all that difficult.

By Roger (Roger) on Friday, December 28, 2001 - 10:21 am: Edit

Here's an article, Campus Plagiarism Rate Rising from the University of Arizona. It notes that plagiarism reports almost doubled year-to-year.

The article also hightlights differences in how plagiarism is viewed and the resulting punishment. Plagiarism for a journalism student is considered very serious, the article notes. (Apparently, plagiarism would be less serious for an engineering student taking an English requirement???)

By George Meany on Monday, December 31, 2001 - 03:58 pm: Edit

Here's a good definitions perspective: Cut-and-Paste Plagiarism:
Preventing, Detecting and Tracking Online Plagiarism.

By Dave Berry on Wednesday, January 23, 2002 - 05:43 pm: Edit

Even former Presidential advisors aren't above "borrowing" from other writers. Here are a couple of articles from the The Daily Standard about the Doris Kerns Goodwin flap. I notice that in another source, the word "copycatting" was used to refer to these issues, not "plagiarism." I guess when you're a former White House advisor, you copycat rather than plagiarize.

By Dadster on Thursday, January 24, 2002 - 09:03 pm: Edit

Some major authors of recent popular history tomes have been found to be doing a bit of borrowing, too. If I can find a link to the story, I'll post it.

By R Storm (Anonrs) on Saturday, February 16, 2002 - 04:10 pm: Edit

Did you all hear about that hs in Kansas? Teacher caught a bunch of students who had plagiarized from the internet (I think it was a group project). Teacher printed off the internet resources and the students' work and high-lighted the word-for-word multiple and lengthy passages (no citation) and gave both to the hs principal. Students were given zeroes for the project, which was 50% of their semester grade; I think maybe they were suspended, too but I don't actually remember. Parents were outraged and took it to the school board (said their children "had not been properly instructed and did not know they could not copy word-for-word"). The school board totally OVERTURNED the ruling and ordered the teacher to re-grade the project (and the principal to re-instate the students). The teacher has quit in protest and many other teachers at the hs are thinking of also quitting because of the school board's stance and complete lack of support for the teacher(s), particularly in this instance. Apparently, the issue has completely divided the town. I saw this story on the national evening news this past week; perhaps someone has seen an article on the internet and can post a link?

Also, re Ambrose. Several colleges and/or profs, public and private, in WA state have decided to remove him from their history course reading lists because of the plagiarism. Some still feel that he's an important and valuable resource and will keep his books on.

By Dadster on Saturday, February 16, 2002 - 04:35 pm: Edit

Wow, just when you thought that YOUR school board was the dumbest around, another one comes along to prove they are even worse! Probably one of the kids was the star quarterback or came from a politically connected family!

By R Storm (Anonrs) on Monday, February 18, 2002 - 06:24 pm: Edit

Here's a link to info re the plagiarism at Piper High School in Kansas.

http://fyi.cnn.com/2002/fyi/teachers.ednews/02/07/plagiarism.dispute.ap/

Apparently the District Attorney is now involved.

http://www.msnbc.com/local/ksnt/m149209.asp

By Dadster on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 01:11 pm: Edit

Wow! What an incredible mess. School boards are notoriously political, and often forget little details like Sunshine laws that force them to have open meetings. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I will not be surprised in the least if it turns out either a kid with an influential parent or a star athlete was one of those originally awarded a failing grade, as suggested in my earlier post.

By Dadster on Thursday, February 21, 2002 - 10:14 am: Edit

Some schools are now subscribing to a new service from http://www.turnitin.com/ to spot plagiarism. Looks like it's about $100 per year for a prof teaching up to 6 classes.

By Dave Berry on Friday, February 22, 2002 - 09:59 am: Edit

That's nice to hear, Dadster. Have you been following all the reports about the rash of "scholars" and "professors" being flushed out for their own pilferings? I wonder how much turnitin.com charges provosts to monitor their faculties?

By Dadster on Sunday, February 24, 2002 - 03:44 pm: Edit

LOL, good point, Dave. I can see it now... "Er, Professor Ambrose, could you step into my office for a moment? Our monitoring service has checked your latest book, and..."

By Dave Berry on Monday, February 25, 2002 - 10:56 am: Edit

Looks like historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's buns are in the oven again. Now reports are saying that she's admitting that much more of her book about the Kennedys was lifted than she previously admitted.

This is simply one more example of "Don't do as I do; do as I say." Oh, the hypocrisy! No, wait. Oh, the humanity! There. I've coined an original phrase to capture the moment!

By Dadster on Wednesday, February 27, 2002 - 07:34 pm: Edit

>>Doris Kearns Goodwin's buns are in the oven<<

Now there's an image that kind of sticks in your mind...

By Dadster on Tuesday, March 05, 2002 - 09:27 pm: Edit

NPR had more coverage of the Kansas plagiarism story. Sounds like a huge mess, with family pitted against family. One senior was interviewed, and felt that the value of her diploma had been reduced by the scandal. Someone taking a standardized test in another city wore a Piper HS sweatshirt - the proctor said something like, "Oh, you're from Piper... be sure you don't cheat!"

I hope they give the boot to the school board that ordered the failures be reversed. I feel sorry for the teacher that quit in protest.

By ThePrincipal on Friday, March 08, 2002 - 07:38 pm: Edit

Unfortunately, the world of school boards is often highly political. Elected school board members want to get re-elected, while appointed ones often owe favors to those who got them appointed. School board members don't usually get paid a lot, but the benefits often are pretty good - great health insurance, and paid trips to school board conventions in good places.