September 23, 2003
Uncanny!
Moments after I posted the message about plagiarism (below), I discovered a plagiarized response paper from my film course. I wrote in the margins: "Well-written!" because the student was articulate >and< cited dialogue from the film verbatim. But that verbatim citation was waving a red flag at me: did she remember what that character said word-for-word? So I decided to look up a catchphrase on google and lo-and-behold: busted.
Other signs that led me to check on the paper: sophisticated style in a paper that is only three paragraphs long. It felt "excerpted" from something else (and it was). Also: plot summary written in an overly excited manner. Almost as if a reviewer were writing, trying to get me interested in attending the film (which they actually were). Uncanny!
A classic example of plagiarism: a student once began a paper in my World Lit class: "Forget everything you ever knew about Salmon Rushdie!" Would you really say that to your teacher?! I instantly recognized bookreviewese and lo-and-behold: hit #1 at Amazon.com.
I sometimes wish plagiarists would plagiarize a book on how to plagiarize. Then they might know better. Not.
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Hearing about the frequency of plagiarism always shocks me. I can't believe there are students who actually think that they can so easily fool their professors. That's incredibly sad, but what's even worse is that students feel the need to plagiarize in the first place.
Still, I look forward to eyeing up the suspects next week!