Anybody grading papers today?

[NJBikeGal]

depends...if by "grading papers" you mean discovering that one of my upper level students PURCHASED her final paper from an online source and I now have to figure out whether to take her up on charges of Academic Fraud or just fail her paper...then yep...grading away!

Don't they realize??? If it was that easy to go online and purchase the paper, don't you think it's going to be just that easy for me to google the first line of your paper and come up with the one you bought? I've now made a habit of choosing sentences from every paper I get to punch into google - just to be sure...very sad.

[Bad JuJu]

Don't they realize??? If it was that easy to go online and purchase the paper, don't you think it's going to be just that easy for me to google the first line of your paper and come up with the one you bought?

That's just it--they don't realize! Or they get in a time crunch and just don't care. And I even TELL my students that I have access to plagiarism detection software (my school subscribes to Turnitin.com), and they STILL think they won't get caught.

On the up side, I'm maybe halfway through my Victorian Lit classes' papers, and haven't found any infractions yet--a few awful essays, but none plagiarized or bought.

[Tri Girl]

Wow- that's just stupid! In this day and age (makes me sound like I'm 90), you'd think they'd realize that you can spot a bought or plagiarized paper so easily. They're putting their academic career in jeapordy because of what? Laziness? Time crunch? How sad.

[Bad JuJu]

Wow- that's just stupid! In this day and age (makes me sound like I'm 90), you'd think they'd realize that you can spot a bought or plagiarized paper so easily.

Right--and that's another thing. You've been reading a student's mediocre writing all semester and suddenly she comes up with this piece of beautifully polished prose with a well argued claim and a sophisticated vocabulary? What do they think we are--stupid?

[teawoman]

Dear.God.Yes.

Grading exams for the last of my classes. Hope to be done today. Oy.

Freshmen are *stupid* about plagiarism. I had a paper that had several paragraphs lifted from a website. I asked the student to define the terms that were plagiarized. The student coudn't. Then s/he said, "I don't know what source I used." I said, "Google these three words. That's how I found it."

[kat_h]

I remember being a first year and not having a clue how to footnote. I completely overdid them. I was so terrified of academic misconduct that I had at least one footnote on every sentence. I also didn't ever use ibid in the footnotes so my pages were half footnotes. That was actually deliberate because the 19 year old version of me didn't know how else to create a 12 page paper. I remember a prof writing on my bibliography page that the "content was impressive but the format was unacceptable." The next year I discovered style guides and sorted out the format. The year after that I actually learned how to think for myself and research a good paper, although I still find writing them difficult.

I can't understand undergrads not citing their sources. At the very least it's padding for the paper. Now that there are programs like Endnote and RefWorks there's no excuse for bad formatting. If a student is copying and pasting a webpage it's just as easy to copy and paste the URL. Then the prof will just thing the student is a clueless kid who doesn't understand how to write a paper. That is far better than the kid is a liar and a cheater.

[teawoman]

I was so terrified of academic misconduct that I had at least one footnote on every sentence.

Hee Hee! I have students like that. Better than erring the other way.

I should add that a goodly number of students I teach at least show signs of caring about how they cite stuff by emailing me and asking questions about them. I don't get too crazed if the stuff is at least in the Works Cited, but when it's not.... Sometimes the words they steal are left in the font they cut and pasted from a website, so there are two different fonts in the paper..

[kat_h]

Sometimes the words they steal are left in the font they cut and pasted from a website, so there are two different fonts in the paper..

Okay, that's just funny.

[wannaduacentury]

Nope, I'm on the other end. I'm procrastinating writing my last paper for the semester!

Hope you get some papers of a higher caliber soon:-)

Same here, I've got 2 left as well, one for each class. I've done well on all the others, can't see why I can't finish strong although I'm ready for summer break. Jenn

[wannaduacentury]

I remember being a first year and not having a clue how to footnote. I completely overdid them. I was so terrified of academic misconduct that I had at least one footnote on every sentence. I also didn't ever use ibid in the footnotes so my pages were half footnotes. That was actually deliberate because the 19 year old version of me didn't know how else to create a 12 page paper. I remember a prof writing on my bibliography page that the "content was impressive but the format was unacceptable." The next year I discovered style guides and sorted out the format. The year after that I actually learned how to think for myself and research a good paper, although I still find writing them difficult.

I can't understand undergrads not citing their sources. At the very least it's padding for the paper. Now that there are programs like Endnote and RefWorks there's no excuse for bad formatting. If a student is copying and pasting a webpage it's just as easy to copy and paste the URL. Then the prof will just thing the student is a clueless kid who doesn't understand how to write a paper. That is far better than the kid is a liar and a cheater.

You're right. I can deal better w/ bad formatting b/c of not much practice or instruction vs. a plagarized paper. I work for a college in the library and go to school there too. The honor code is quite strict and I've even heard other profs nail their students saying they won't get turned in this time. Some just don't get it. It's not that hard to cite a paper. If I can do it they can too. They should ask for help. btw I'm working on the Chicago method again after a long absence. I use both MLA and Chicago on a regular basis. Jennifer

[NJBikeGal]

I guess I should follow up on this, eh?

Anywho...I confronted the student, who immediately admitted to having purchased the paper. Then proceeded to break down into tears about how ashamed she felt and how she was grateful that I caught her. I failed her paper, which means she got a D in the class. As a major in my dept, it essentially means she failed the class (won't get credit for it), but I didn't go further than that. She was TERRIFIED. I'm hoping that my explanation of how simple it was for me to catch her and what could have happened if I had pushed the issue of academic dishonesty will be enough to keep her on the straight and narrow in the future. Oh, and I made her rewrite the paper for no credit...just to prove to her that she could do it without resorting to something so STUPID! There ends the saga!