Plagiarism and research

[Phil]

Plagiarism and research. To steal information from 1 publication is research, to steal it from several is research.

If at 1st you don't succeed destroy all evidence that you tried.

If you love something set it free if it doesn't come back hunt it down and kill it.

Any others?

[Jersey]

Hmm, I just went through four years of undergraduate college work and am just starting two years of graduate work. In each of my classes in each semester, I was required to do research papers. Plagiarism, these days, is looked at as the number one way to throw a student out of college. The basic premise of plagiarism itself is that you are taking credit for and using the work of others without permission or proper citations. In the end, you're passing off the hard work of others as your own.

Believe me when I say, college professors look for plagiarism. They've seen it all. These days, some students looking to scrape by find essay papers online, copy it, and pass it off as their own work. Unfortunately for them, they often fail to read the paper they just stole thoroughly, so when the Professor reads it, they notice discrepencies and the student is busted. Or they do a simple Google search for it, and often find it easily. It's a shame, there are actually websites out there that publish papers online and actually offer them up for plagiarists.

When I went through college, the format we used most often for our papers was called MLA format. In this style of writing, we had to give credit to our research through the form of citations. We could use researched material in our own words, but it needed to be seriously altered. Otherwise, quote and cite, quote and cite. You would literally cite a piece of information probably every four lines, with a quote every paragraph.

If credit is given where credit is due, I don't feel that research is stealing. The information (and your own, unique interpretation of it) has to come from somewhere. Using other information without giving credit, quoting, or citing where its due, is stealing.

That's my interpretation anyway.

[Classicblast]

If you quote me exactly without saying so it's plagiarism. If you word it "Jeff Classicblast said that games played in hotter temperatures are difficult in the later innings," then you have not taken credit for the thought so you're off the hook.

In a way my job is to research games make a report that can be plagiarized to make reporters look as if they know what they're talking about. They owe their research to some anonymous guys who watch the players and write the report for them.

A few words moved around and its their story. I'm almost through with that segment of my career.

[Phil]

I think in Classic's case its different because the paper pays you to do the research for the reporter to write on. That might count as research. I'm not sure what the definition is. I'd like Mahnarch to weigh in on this. Its a good question.

[Blastgirl]

Sept 20, 2010 13:22:00 GMT -5 Phil said:

I think in Classic's case its different because the paper pays you to do the research for the reporter to write on. That might count as research. I'm not sure what the definition is. I'd like Mahnarch to weigh in on this. Its a good question.

I think as long as you rephrase it enough to make it look like your own idea you avoided Plagiarism. The secret seems to be not to copy it directly.

[Kimm]

I can tell the difference in students reports because the creative and articulate kids dont need to copy or plagiarize. When a student who barely knows who George Washington is has a nice detailed report about a key historic event and I look around a while I will find out it came right from World Book or Time life stories.

[Jersey]

Sept 22, 2010 2:40:07 GMT -5 Blastgirl said:

Sept 20, 2010 13:22:00 GMT -5 Phil said:

I think in Classic's case its different because the paper pays you to do the research for the reporter to write on. That might count as research. I'm not sure what the definition is. I'd like Mahnarch to weigh in on this. Its a good question.

I think as long as you rephrase it enough to make it look like your own idea you avoided Plagiarism. The secret seems to be not to copy it directly.

Even now, they will nail you for that. It's called paraphrasing, and while a college student might have gotten away with it ten years ago, they don't any more. A writer has to use other information as the baseline to formulate his own opinion. Changing around and even distorting someone elses words is still using someone elses words. It sucks, and is a slippery slope for sure because of how careful and meticulous a writer has to be.

[Kimm]

If you dont get caught its simplified get the assignment done fast. ;D