Catching a plagiarizer
By The Horse
@TheHorse (220266)
Walnut Creek, California
May 28, 2018 11:08am CST
I know this subject has been discussed a lot, both on MyLot and on "the site that will not be named," where plagiarizers were really common.
I had to deal with it again this past semester (I'm currently computing final grades). A woman wrote a paper, rife with the kinds of errors that are common to American college students.
Then, in the second to last paragraph of the paper, the writing became professional, as if written by a psychologist for a website.
All I had to do was go to Google, enter a portion of one sentence, and find that the offending paragraph came from a website about Anxiety Disorders.
I told her, in my comments on the paper, that plagiarism was unacceptable, but I did not kick her out of the class. I wanted to see if my leniency would teach her honesty.
What do you do when you suspect plagiarism, on MyLot, or elsewhere? Is your method similar to mine?
26 people like this
20 responses
@andriaperry (117146)
• Anniston, Alabama
28 May 18
I have not seen any lately, you did the right thing letting her know she cannot out smart you.
3 people like this
@Starmaiden (9311)
• Canada
28 May 18
I have seen discussions that were ultimately plagiarized. These I report to the Admin. 
3 people like this
@Daelii (5619)
• United States
28 May 18
I find it pathetic when people do that. I do think if someone submits plagiarized material for a paper, they should automatically fail the class. There is no reason in the world to do that.
its one thing if they forgot to properly cite it and had identified it as an improper quote. Then sure, fix it and add the proper citation.
To use another words as your own in a paper? wrong!
1 person likes this
@Daelii (5619)
• United States
28 May 18
@TheHorse Thats bad! I felt awful once turning in a rough draft that I skipped a proper citation. When writing it, I had put notes like (1, pg ##) or (2, pg ##) at the ends of lines that I used facts. The number related to the book. In the end, I would go through and fix the numbers to authors to do it properly. On one, I forgot! luckily it was a rough draft. The professor just did ?? over it.
@GardenGerty (160949)
• United States
29 May 18
When I find plagiarists here I report them. In class perhaps one chance is okay.
1 person likes this
@vandana7 (100617)
• India
12 Jun 18
Honestly, I am extremely conscious of my limited command over your language. So when a person writes, I am only looking for communication, kind of is the message getting across to me. If I understand it, I feel good. If there are new words, great. If there are new usages, even greater. I am so lost in it, that I do not notice the difference in language, not that I would have known which is professional and which is not. So I have never caught a plagiarist.
@LadyDuck (472087)
• Switzerland
29 May 18
When I see a plagiarist on myLot, I report the post and I send a PM to Alex. I cannot stand plagiarists, I had some of my Squidoo articles plagiarized and I had to justify myself to explain that I was the one who wrote the articles first. No pity for plagiarists.
@divyamanojkumar (257)
• Kochi, India
28 May 18
I am new to Mylot and I am not sure about such things are happening here or not.if it is happening,it should be controlled.
1 person likes this
@allen0187 (58582)
• Philippines
29 May 18
I report it immediately to authorities.
Plagiarism has no place in our culture.
@cintol (11261)
• United States
29 May 18
On another site a few years back one of my articles was plagiarized and I reported it, then made a comment on the page saying how awfully familiar this story seemed to be to me, seems I have read it before or maybe WRITTEN it. It was deleted the next day.
@JudyEv (342112)
• Rockingham, Australia
29 May 18
On Bubblews I just dobbed them in. But I think you did the right thing. Hopefully she will learn her lesson.
@kobesbuddy (78871)
• East Tawas, Michigan
28 May 18
Unfortunately, this is pretty common. Especially when an individual puts off doing an assignment, that requires a lot of research work. The last few days before it's due, they quickly type up some information they've compiled and hand it in, as their own personal writing. Little do they realize, plagiarism is a serious crime!
@thedevilinme (4152)
• Northampton, England
28 May 18
thats a bit cynical. Worse than celbs pretending they are bi polar to get publicity..
