The Frau is an instructor at a Community College. The plagiarism stories she tells me
She had this student who could barely communicate in the written English language. When I read one of her submitted assignments, I truly thought the student had written the assignment in a foreign language and put it through a computer translator. But no, this was how she wrote.
Later in the class, the students had to turn in a term paper. This student turned in a paper that I would have written in my doctorate program.
It took The Frau about 30 minutes to find the website where this student bought the paper.
. I told The Frau, "I guess this student will be expelled?"
Oh no, just some stupid academic probation. IN COLLEGE!!! BUYING A PAPER!! and she is not expelled??? This is not some accidental "forgetting" to cite a source. This was deliberate academic dishonesty.
Then The Frau told me about this other website. You can log into this website; enter the name of your school; enter the name/number of the class; enter the name of your instructor; and then download every single assignment for that class.
I was shocked! It never would have occurred to even attempt to find a website where you can download the assignments.
She tells me that plagiarism is rampant in the college system.
Pretty pathetic.
What is really troubling is the stupidity of the students. With the advent of the Internets Tubes, it is much easier to plagiarize....it is also much easier to catch plagiarizing. Especially when the students are lazy and stupid.
But all they get is some sort of probation. grrrrrr
