Plagiarism and you (and me)

Candle · 09-18-2005

This thread is about plagiarism! With school starting up and many of this site's members being of school age, I think its good for everyone to have a friendly reminder of why not to plagiarize. I will give you a short story of my experience, and why it is important to have a lot of integrity, especially these days.

It was my sophmore year in highschool, and just having finished my quarter-long drivers ed course, I was placed in a .25 credit filler course called "Study Skills". It was taught by an over-zealous para who thought no one knew how to highlight things or get plenty of sleep. The class was an easy A and everyone knew that. My friends and I would goof off every class, throwing shoes around and asking dumb questions. Eventually "Ms. X" required us to research colleges and life decisions, then compile it into an essay or poster. Most chose to do a poster, and not caring, I went into MS Word and printed three columns with a total of about 20 words. I gave it to her the next day, and "Ms. X" made fun of it in front of the class, making not only insults to my work, but also personal insults. She had said earlier that the longest essay she ever recieved was 3 pages. Rather than not do the assignment, I decided to really anger her by doing WAY more than she wanted. I went home and typed a 5 page report on colleges and cost of living, just to piss her off with my 1337 writing skillz. I handed it in and the class ended two days later.

The next week I was called out of class and she confronted me in the hallway and asked me if there was anything I wanted to tell her about my essay. I said, "I tried really hard because you didn't like my first one". She said, "Well, I think you cheated". I never, ever, ever cheat. Not even on homework. I value personal integrity above anything else, so I was naturally angered. She lied (as I later discovered) and said she googled some of the phrases in my report and they came up on various websites. She demanded a copy of my report to send to http://turnitin.com, which indexes reports and cross-references them for cheating. I gave her every essay I have written on a floppy disk and put it in her office with a "nice" note the next day. A week later I found her and asked about it, and without even an apology, she said, "Everything was fine". I've never spoken to her again, and when I see her in the halls, she avoids my line of sight. It feels good to pwn a teach, especially one that thinks she knows the limit of one's intellect.

Sorry for the longish story, but I think it was kinda entertaining, and hopefully will stop at least a couple people from plagiarizing. If I can salvage my hdd from my old computer, I'll post the essay and you can bask in its awesomeness. Please share your reactions or other stories of plagiarism or of teachers that get pwnt.

Erg · 09-18-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Candle

This thread is about plagiarism! With school starting up and many of this site's members being of school age, I think its good for everyone to have a friendly reminder of why not to plagiarize. I will give you a short story of my experience, and why it is important to have a lot of integrity, especially these days.

It was my sophmore year in highschool, and just having finished my quarter-long drivers ed course, I was placed in a .25 credit filler course called "Study Skills". It was taught by an over-zealous para who thought no one knew how to highlight things or get plenty of sleep. The class was an easy A and everyone knew that. My friends and I would goof off every class, throwing shoes around and asking dumb questions. Eventually "Ms. X" required us to research colleges and life decisions, then compile it into an essay or poster. Most chose to do a poster, and not caring, I went into MS Word and printed three columns with a total of about 20 words. I gave it to her the next day, and "Ms. X" made fun of it in front of the class, making not only insults to my work, but also personal insults. She had said earlier that the longest essay she ever recieved was 3 pages. Rather than not do the assignment, I decided to really anger her by doing WAY more than she wanted. I went home and typed a 5 page report on colleges and cost of living, just to piss her off with my 1337 writing skillz. I handed it in and the class ended two days later.

The next week I was called out of class and she confronted me in the hallway and asked me if there was anything I wanted to tell her about my essay. I said, "I tried really hard because you didn't like my first one". She said, "Well, I think you cheated". I never, ever, ever cheat. Not even on homework. I value personal integrity above anything else, so I was naturally angered. She lied (as I later discovered) and said she googled some of the phrases in my report and they came up on various websites. She demanded a copy of my report to send to http://turnitin.com, which indexes reports and cross-references them for cheating. I gave her every essay I have written on a floppy disk and put it in her office with a "nice" note the next day. A week later I found her and asked about it, and without even an apology, she said, "Everything was fine". I've never spoken to her again, and when I see her in the halls, she avoids my line of sight. It feels good to pwn a teach, especially one that thinks she knows the limit of one's intellect.

Sorry for the longish story, but I think it was kinda entertaining, and hopefully will stop at least a couple people from plagiarizing. If I can salvage my hdd from my old computer, I'll post the essay and you can bask in its awesomeness. Please share your reactions or other stories of plagiarism or of teachers that get pwnt.

wow, talk about a hella big blunder, on the teacher's part

FazeD · 09-18-2005

You PWNT that *****! good job

Big Red 11 · 09-18-2005

Should have left a note the next day "1 P\/\/|\|702 J00!!!!"

Angus · 09-18-2005

Some lady that I had for 5th grade always accused me of plagerism, but i never cheat either. Oh well.

Savage · 09-18-2005

That's awesome Candle! For the people who don't know what plagiarism is, it's where you take someone else's work and claim it as your own. (kinda of like ripping a sig)

Adema · 09-18-2005

As a writer and a journalist I get so mad when people try to copy off of me. I've never had a teacher accuse me of plagarism. ha ha actually one time I had a teacher accuse another student of turning one of my papers for their own. Good old..."Mr. X". But yeah, screw that teacher, screw her to hell.

People don't be lazy, do your own work.

HELLuva n00b · 09-25-2005

last year plagiarism played a big part in my school. i was taking world history and it was easily the toughest class iv ever taken. we had 2 write 2 main reports for the whole year, the first 1 being a 10 page single spaced size 12 report. didnt take kindaly to the class. he read over them and gave us a 50 min lecture on plagiarism, NOT FUN.
later on in the year we had another project to do and most kids i guess were just fed up with writing. im sure a good portion of our class plagiarized and many were caught. then he got to one kid and he went online and printed an ENTIRE essay and handed in it and said it was his own. wow that was hilarious to see how the teacher reacted. im pretty sure he failed the class and is now repeating the grade again. so yea i definately would not recommend plagiarising.

Sidewinder · 09-25-2005

Ive been accused of plagiarism twice. I only flipped out once, because the one teacher was cool. The time I flipped went something like this-
Teacher- "I was reading your report.. Are you sure that it is your own writing?"
Me- "Why are you accusing me? What the hell have I done to deserve being accused of this?"
Teacher- "It just seems a little... advanced... for your age"
Me- "WTF?!?? DID YOU EVER THINK THAT MAYBE I AM ADVANCED?? NO. YOU DIDN'T. NOW SHUT UP"
Teacher- *speechless*

I don't plagiarise. I cheat on homework all the time, but that's cuz all of the homework in my school is B.S. Plagiarism is not the way to go, but its fun to flip on teachers when they accuse you.

Cheesy · 09-25-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sidewinder

Me- "WTF?!?? DID YOU EVER THINK THAT MAYBE I AM ADVANCED?? NO. YOU DIDN'T. NOW SHUT UP"

Since when does talking to an adult, the way you 'claim' to, is 'okay'? Hell, let's turn this topic into Plagerism and "Why talking to your teachers, or any adult that has put through their fair share of bull-**** and torment due to crappy lives, is wrong."

Sidewinder, if it so behooved you. Leave my country. I don't want you here.