Student Fights University Over Plagiarism-Detector

(Maly) writes "CBC is reporting that MCGill University has lost a fight to have students first turn papers over to an anti-cheating website before handing them in to professors. The student refused to hand in three assignments to the service, received a zero on those assignments, then fought the ruling. The story doesn't have many specifics, such as the venue of the fight (court or some internal university tribunal), but it is an interesting case. As a recent graduate of the social sciences, I find that practice appalling. The student is right to refuse, as he gets no compensation from the service for making money off his original work (assuming it was original!!). Although I don't like the idea, and I'm glad I never went through it, I suppose its analogue would be mandatory drug tests in sports."

SCO

[roguerez]

Has SCO used this to run Linux through it yet?

If Only.........

[RenegadeTempest]

we could force people to use this service before posting on /., maybe we wouldn't have to wade through so many duplicate posts.

Quoted

[t_allardyce]

What if you put quotes around the whole paper - then maybe the computer will be tricked into thinking its a "quote" and the prof wont notice (if the " is in a smaller type) ;)

As for the trial, maybe im missing something but why doesnt the university submit the papers themselves or just have their own internal system?

Re:SCO

[RealProgrammer]

Yes. They found that Linux is 100% plagiarized from material found at www.kernel.org.

PLAGIARISM DETECTED

[Kinniken]

Firsts0rz :-D

This sentence has been detected as being plagiarised from:

Anonymous Coward [slashdot.org]

Grade: F-

Recursive problem

[onceler]

Whenever the topic of plagiarism detection comes up, there's always plenty of students who argue that it's offensive to treat them as guilty until proven innocent.

Trouble is, it's hard to tell which students are saying that because that's what they really think, and which students are just copying a response they read on the internet...

Re:Well how can they safeguard against this?

[Diamon]

It is a matter of being treated like a criminal first.

Yeah, how dare they.

While we're at it I think it is an invasion of my rights to be treated like a criminal by having to pass through a metal detector in order to enter a federal court house. Also we need to do away with police laser/radar guns because the police have already decided to treat me as a criminal by checking my speed. Oh and background checks for handguns, wtf? I'm no criminal I should be allowed to by a gun no questions asked and no waiting period. Anti-theft devices in stores, same thing. Security cameras, ditto. Also I particularly dont care for my neighbors having locks on their doors, they trying to say I'm a thief and am going to steal their stuff as soon as their backs are turned?

We can no longer endure these indignancies. Don't they know we should all be treated as infallible saints until we can be proven otherwise.

Oh and the whole being arrested and then having to defned yourself in court is a sham to. They should have to prove my guilt before even being allowed to arrest me. How dare they!

Re:Damn stright!

[arose]

Well, a rule of thumb is that if you have 3 or more consecutive words identical to the source

That is nice.

Re:Hrmm

[jandrese]

Wouldn't that merely tip the teacher off that you're up to something? Besides, why not just do your own work and try to learn something?

Re:Hrmm

[TrentC]

Because we all know that software to recognize patterns in text is perfect. That's why no one ever gets spam anymore!

While funny, the problem with your argument is that spam gets through filters because the spammers don't seem to care one whit about formatting, presentation or a professional appearance, they just want the damn email in your inbox.

When a college student submits an essay titled:

"The Hist0ry of Pan-Afr]1can Con|flict In Resp0nse to the Amer*ican Slave Trade peterson butterfly tango"

that student has bigger problems then trying to foil an automated plagiarism checker.

Jay (=

Re:Hrmm

[orthogonal]

I could, in principle. I've lost the script that used the google API to do this

Oh suuure, you lost it.

And it's just a coincidence that I found a word-for-reserved-word very similar script -- by searching Google. (It's on the site "Napkin Scribblings of Don Knuth, as submitted by janitors, waiters, and graduate students". )

Looks like you "forgot" to cite "your" work. This will go on your permanent record, young man.

Re:As a professor....

[Hatta]

You mean /. ran the same story more than once? Shocking. Maybe they need some sort of duplication detector.

Re:Hrmm

[tgibbs]

So then, an environment in which everyone is assumed to be a cheater until proven otherwise by automated software is an environment that fosters trust, growth, and learning?

It goes further than that. Shockingly, many schools are actually known to lock up exams before tests. Even supplies and audiovisual equipment are frequently kept under lock and key. Access to grade records over the internet requires a password. Clearly, they are assuming that everybody is a cheater and thief until proven otherwise....

Re:Damn stright!

[lordgert]

Or imagine the student who submits his paper to the site, it gets identified as plagiarism by their real-time system, and it offers the student a better paper from their database flagged clean for just $19.99!

Re:Hrmm

[McAddress]

And, frankly, it's damn easy to fake knowing the material in a small class discussion environment. You can sound pretty damn insightful even if you don't know the material for shit.

sounds exactly like slashdot!

Re:Copyright infringement

[An Onerous Coward]

You're saying that, at no point in your college education, were you told that attending the school required you to follow the rules in the student handbook? You were. Repeatedly. I'm sure you were also given rudimentary instruction on what constituted plagarism, and the punishments that would be meted out if you did so.

The contract exists, even if you never signed a piece of paper saying that you agreed to follow the rules. You agreed to the terms by attending classes, and if it is discovered that you violated the rules, they have every right to impose academic penalties. All you have to do to avoid those penalties is leave the school and never come back.

According to your farfetched interpretation of contract law, if I run a business, I cannot remove a person from my place of business unless I had them sign a contract before coming in.

Most likely you're just being a whiny little troll, but for just one moment try to think of the poor young Slashdotters who are entering college right now. If they swallow your crap advice, they're going to do something very stupid that may destroy their academic future.

Please, think of the Slashlings.