plagiarising (2 Viewers)

[Bobness]

i'm asking this to clarify a position i took against a friend.

is it ok to 'plagiarise' exemplar essays in the standards packages and .. those annual blue books with top-band essays ... for exams (not only in english i guess but modern history, extension history etc)?

i thought it was clearly forbidden but she said

a) there's no need for a bibliography in exams (duh) so its ok if one just 'copies'

b) its not easy work either; you "gotta spend like 2 days memorising those essays kekeke" so it doesn't make it any worse than those who write their own essays (in presumably 2 days)

c) where would you get definitions for short answers in e.g. geography and modern history? copying textbook-definitions! are you 'plagiarising' then? NOO! so what's the difference between that and an entire essay


hmm that's about it. i believe it would be ok to 'borrow' some of the structure, terminology and maybe thematic ideas from the top-range responses but to copy it out (well not word for word but basically the majority of the sentences which one can remember) would constitute plagiarism?

it would be nice for those who post who know the definitive answer and not speculation. i would like cold hard facts to support my 'case'

cheers

 

[Captain Gh3y]

No, because there's some chance (no way of knowing how high) that a HSC marker will be sad enough to have gone through them and learned their content, and that same marker will decide to take some kinda moral high ground against you.

So it's like, taking a gamble, I guess.

 

[Forbidden.]

All you have to do is reference your work ...

 

[Gavvvvvin]

One of my English Essays was plagarised word for word from a study guide.

 

[Bobness]

wtf?? THREE people who say its 'ok' to copy out entire sections of exemplar responses.

I FREAKING KNOW ITS UNETHICAL/IMMORAL so why are people doing it?

and zomg you DON'T reference in exams. so what's stopping people from just plagiarising past top answers in the standards package (like the people who have just said its ok)? BOS do something

 

[UnIqUe_PrInCeSs]

I plagiarise all the time, except I try changing a few wrods here and there.



imagine if the hsc markers found out :=O

 

[timobr0]

yeah i always wanted to know if markers check past answers etc and even other sources to see if someone has plagiarised, i would think it would take too long + too many 0's would be awarded....

 

[black_kat_meow]

Oh my God, you people disgust me. You're just worried about being caught out and receiving zero marks. Do you not realise that when you cheat you are affecting EVERYONE ELSE???!!! You may think, "Oh, it's OK, I won't get caught, I'll get better marks-what's the harm?" while others have worked their arses off as they want to go well and a plagarised essay may get marked higher than theirs, when if you had written your own, they might have received the higher mark. It is UNFAIR- how do you not see that??!! No one has any f***ing morals these days, jeez.

 

[Bobness]

Oh my God, you people disgust me. You're just worried about being caught out and receiving zero marks. Do you not realise that when you cheat you are affecting EVERYONE ELSE???!!! You may think, "Oh, it's OK, I won't get caught, I'll get better marks-what's the harm?" while others have worked their arses off as they want to go well and a plagarised essay may get marked higher than theirs, when if you had written your own, they might have received the higher mark. It is UNFAIR- how do you not see that??!! No one has any f***ing morals these days, jeez.

agreed

i always thought you were a bit of a retard unique_princess. sorry =/

ZOMG I WANT TO RANT AND RANT AND WRITE A LETTER TO BOS/SMH HECKLER/TEH OWNER OF THE INTERNETZ because there's so many cheats here.

i bet people actually do just rip off essays they find in the resources section of BoS, taking the easy way out.

PLEASE please just write your own essays for pete's sake. by pete i mean your own sense of bloody fairness. please?

well i guess its your choice if its legal and all and hsc markers aren't gonna read all the standards package for every year but seriously

think about uni. you can't do it there. i wish i was a mod so people could actually take heed possibly

 

[A l]

Plagiarism and malpractice is dealt with as a serious issue by the Board of Studies. Remember that not long ago, students had been caught plagiarising and cheating in English Extension 2 by letting their tutor(s) write their major work for them.

While in school assessment tasks, it is up to the school to catch those who are committing to plagiarism and cheating, in external exams, most markers are (or should be) aware of the responses accessible to the public in the Student Answers Book and the Standards Packages. Learnt responses don't often work in getting high marks anyway.

Every year, HSC markers have voiced their concern over many students reproducing memorised 'textbook' responses which do not answer the question. The result of reproducing a response "similar" (who would be dumb enough to risk making it identical?) to those accessible high range responses is little credit which means a lower mark, though not necessarily a zero.

In fact some of these learned responses have been published by the Board of Studies before. I remember once I encountered a response published by the Board of Studies in English which was strikingly similar in style to one in an Excel textbook. Whilst the wording was twisted around a bit to give some originality, this response was placed in the "Mid-range" response group (around band 3-4 type response).

Furthermore, examiners are creating more and more questions that cannot be answered adequately by a memorised 'textbook' response, in the HSC exams. Instead, of assessing one syllabus dot point in which some students can easily reproduce a memorised response in their notes or 'textbook' notes which answer the dot points, they assess several syllabus dot points for every question. The reason for this is because:
- examiners can cover more syllabus content to be assessed
- students will have difficulty scoring top bands if they reproduce a memorised response
- only students who understand the course content in depth will have access to higher bands

So basically, if you use those textbook responses as the basis your own response, you will still get some marks, just not very high or pleasing marks.

 

[Forbidden.]

Lol how do you plaigarise quotes in an essay ?

You cant be flagged for plaigarising in quotes, but the examiner may be suspicious if your explanations have been seen somewhere ...

Provided your English teacher doesnt mark the exams, you can copy his/her words ...

 

[Bobness]

A I when did you do your hsc?

i would actually say the examiners aren't really making the questions any harder because they've yet to ask for say 2 stimulus texts to be used for aos, or specifying an episode of frontline in module c of advanced.

the only thing i could think of in recent times is the three poems they asked for in module b of advanced for yeats/harwood last year.

i don't like specifying but if it stops plagiarism then maybe BoS should start flexing their muscles in that dept.

 

[kami]

i'm asking this to clarify a position i took against a friend.

is it ok to 'plagiarise' exemplar essays in the standards packages and .. those annual blue books with top-band essays ... for exams (not only in english i guess but modern history, extension history etc)?

i thought it was clearly forbidden but she said

a) there's no need for a bibliography in exams (duh) so its ok if one just 'copies'

b) its not easy work either; you "gotta spend like 2 days memorising those essays kekeke" so it doesn't make it any worse than those who write their own essays (in presumably 2 days)

c) where would you get definitions for short answers in e.g. geography and modern history? copying textbook-definitions! are you 'plagiarising' then? NOO! so what's the difference between that and an entire essay

It's never ok to plagiarise - its akin to taking someone's possessions and putting them in your house and saying they belong to while you are in front of an audience. As far as distinguishing between the taking of facts for history essays and the noting of opinions for english ones, well it is completely different. One is a fact that has public licence, and the other is an opinion/theory personally created by a person - regardless of how generic it may be. Which is why they have serious penalties in place for plagiarism because it is theft and a crime, no matter how you look at it and if the Board catches you they will make sure you suffer for it.

 

[trezo]

i don't think you could get away with copying whole essays from study guides and text books.. probably because a lot of the HSC markers are those who write these books, i know there are a few teachers from my school who write those books, so they're obviously goin to recognise their own work... and the unlimited power of the HSC marker should not be underestimated.

 

[Bobness]

I agree with Kami.

bobness, it's never "ok" to plagiarise.

lol wtf is with your serious, condescending tone ghey? i was asking this because i was arguing against my friend plagiarising. read the posts will you.

and the studying process you described in 'rewording notes' blah blah blah is a pretty inefficient method IMHO. its better just to personally engage with the text and derive your views and points from this rather than the generic nature of study guides, class notes.

good luck with trials all.

 

[Imanuel Redding]

I don't have an oppinion on the ethics of it, just the sheer stupidity. The exemplar answers only have 'high-range' responces. Ipse est, high band 5 low band 6, dont you want an high band 6? Use it as a guide but improve on it and personalise it so you can maximise your marks.

 

[passion89]

I don't have an oppinion on the ethics of it, just the sheer stupidity.

Extreme stupidity. Not to mention totally unfair to the rest of us who actually sat down and worked our asses off for it.

Just this week, there have been a lot of issues in my english class with plagiarism.
4 or so girls all decided to copy entire essays from some exemplar essay booklets that we got at the beginning of the module. At the moment they're (the teachers) deciding what to do with them, but apparently, it's likely they will just give them a grade average instead of a zero. I think this is extremely unfair...what if some people recieved much lower than the average (yet did their own work)? Bahhhhh no fair!

In short...plagiarism = bad

 

[Sarah168]

It's somewhat pathetic that an entire discussion can be formed around this topic. Call me a loser with a halo or whatever but it's just plain stupid to rattle off someone else's work as your own to get credit.

My uni's Academic Honesty BS might have gone to my head but personally, there is no question about it all. Copying/plagiarising/whatever is wrong and you shouldn't do it let alone form a habit of it.

As a tutor, I've seen kids do it and kids try to do it and get away with it (and in an exam situation, you might actually get away with it) and it's usually the same type of student who's lazy, cbf and has a poor attitude to their studies.]

It's insulting to your teacher/marker/tutor to plagiarise because you're making a presumption that you'll get away it i.e insulting their intelligence.

I'll get off my soapbox now but as a final answer to the original Q, it's NOT ok to plagiarise. Exemplar reponses are to show the standard you should work toward to get the mark you want. It's not a freebie essay.

 

[hannahxxx]

yes, yes that is plagiarism by the technical definition

 

[frankyd]

hmm that's about it. i believe it would be ok to 'borrow' some of the structure, terminology and maybe thematic ideas from the top-range responses but to copy it out (well not word for word but basically the majority of the sentences which one can remember) would constitute plagiarism?

For english subjects its almost certain that high range samples have been at least read once.. if not more because teachers are constantly showing students.. by markers.
besides.. everyone else has read these answers and taken things from them (ie. terminolgy and what not) . You want your response to stand out.. not sound lie regurgitated past papers!

but definately using some terminology from a range (and a good range) of sample/past essays is beneficial.,.. infact recommended.. but not to the point where entire passages, paragraphs or responses are completely copied.

If you copy someone elses work and you need to remould the essay to a left-field style question then you're screwed anyway... so it will more than likely backfire in so many ways