So True.
I already failed one so far trying to pass off a Wikipedia article as their own work, right down to the illustrations and references. Do they really think I'm so old that I don't know how to use Google?
In all fairness, I've had some outstanding papers this semester; some that make me weep like Bunyan's Pilgrim at the gates of the Celestial City after hours of slogging through the Slough of Despond that is papers that begin "Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475..." I've even had a couple of students who I didn't think much of rise above themselves and hand in some very decent work.
I'm lucky because my students usually plaguarize directly from the very first page of Google results. There are other easy clues, of course. When I assigned an "Ocean Poem" one bright star in my class turned in a poem that caught my skeptical attention in the first two lines:
ReplyDeleteStanding on the autumn shore,
the summer days of my life behind me...
That was a heck of a lot of Weltschmertz for an eleven-year-old!
When I studied for my Art History tests/finals (or did papers) I took uppers...it was the era or uppers and I did very well, all the work was original, we had no computers, we had ¨extended¨ intelligence (oh how I wish I could remember all the wonders of Art History that were part of the lost forever, day after, burn out)...your way is better...and lookie, lookie I get to take Art History again because I´m smart enough to recognize Counterlight when I squint...if only the negative spaces didn´t drive me crazy when I type.
ReplyDeleteHappy everything,
Len
Been there, done that (dealing w/ students and their plagiarism). Not fun.
ReplyDelete