Plagiarism Experts and Academics, Weigh in here

[AzzarTheGod]

The word plagiarism came up in another thread, and this has been bothering me for a decade now.

I thought maybe we'd have some college guys here weigh in and give me final closure. This is missing details and just a summary, but the framework is all you should need to weigh in yay or nay.


In a seminar 400+ class, I once cited someones work indirectly over 2,500 times on the final project. I used someones Graduate thesis as a "research tool" to help me bulk up my sources, by citing his sources that he found, while ALSO citing the Graduate thesis itself as a source indirectly. (definitely extremely poor academic hygiene to even turn something like this in, disrespectful to the Professor, and worthy of a D letter grade, I don't disagree there so lets get that out of the way)

Here's where I think I should have contacted the Dean/Educational law attorney: the Professor claimed that it was straight up plagiarism.

I argued that since I made no effort to conceal the Graduate thesis that was used to do the heavy lifting for locating my primary and secondary sources, that this was NOT legalistic plagiarism, but rather a very poor research effort on my part and a disgusting attempt at a shortcut, and I'd understand if he thought it warranted an F.

He argued that this was DEFINITELY plagiarism because I attempted to turn this in this work as a Research Paper and I didn't find my own primary and secondary sources, rather I used someone elses research to do the research for me. I said but I didn't copy anything directly and his sources are as good as finding sources through JSTOR and other methods? If you have an issue with the research method I used....then...".

He said "This is a research paper". "You turned in a research paper, without doing your own research". I said "I did do research, just with a gross shortcut. Its all cited, and I worked the Graduate papers information you spoke of into my own conclusions and ideas. Not one single conclusion was taken from the Graduate thesis in question. I only used the Graduate thesis to extract factual statements that were already researched and cited, and then I recited them again"

I continued to argue that, while it was possibly disrespectful to academia and to him personally, it was not plagiarism by the legal definition and therefore not by University policy. He didn't want to argue and said I was lucky hes being cool about it.

In retrospect, I am not sure I should have let it go as I think I had a real case for filing for a different result and winning this argument academically and legally.

Any experts here think what I did constitutes plagiarism?

Could make a very boring movie out of this case heh. Like Scent of a Woman, except make it about plagiarism at Yale. Great potential.

[Lurikeen]

Yes it's plagiarism in the sense that you, yourself, describe. You write, "..by citing his sources that he found, while ALSO citing the Graduate thesis itself as a source indirectly." If you are are providing an indirect citation you must at least provide in a footnote that the idea you're expressing is not your own, but the writer's being cited. If your indirect citations comprise the bulk of your paper, then it is apparent the paper is not yours, but that of the author being cited.

Btw, I have done graduate level work, and am still doing so. I am half way through my master's degree, so this is pretty fresh in my mind. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

EDIT: Here is the APA standard for indirect citations which may be helpful.

If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses.

Johnson argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102).
Note: When citing material in parentheses, set off the citation with a comma, as above. Also, try to locate the original material and cite the original source.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/

[Psionide]

You used it over 2500+ times? That seems like a lot and that the bulk of your paper was in fact not your own and just by handing it in like that you tried to pass it off as your work. I guess you can argue that you cited it even indirectly since a lot of people say as long as you cite its not plagiarism but that is kind of excessive. Plus, a lot of schools are using turnitin.com and they will go strictly by that if it passes or not.

[Fame]

drop out and get a hands on job if you're brown pal, goin no where

[James_Joyce]

I really don't think it counts as plagiarism, as in, a fraud of trying to pass off someone else's work as your own. It does probably count as shitty enough work to receive a failing grade tho.

[Kyff]

Originally Posted by Lurikeen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you use a source that was cited in another source, name the original source in your signal phrase. List the secondary source in your reference list and include the secondary source in the parentheses.

Johnson argued that...(as cited in Smith, 2003, p. 102).
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/03/

I always used to look up the original source, compare if it said what it was supposed to say and cite directly. In my opinion there is no harm in being pointed that way by anothers work as long as you understand and digest the orginal source.

[Swish]

As a history graduate I can only say my sources were researched properly and thoroughly using multiple books, journal articles and where relevant...newspapers. I think it depends largely on what the subject is you're studying but I would have been in hot water for quoting from wikipedia or referencing a source on wikipedia.

Professors/Lecturers aren't stupid either, they know an original put together piece of work from something they will have likely read on the subject already so its obviously very core and important that what you're giving to them came from your mind but with sources and references to back up what you've done.

Blindly referencing someone else's work that much really isn't showing the effort required and if everyone could get away with it...what is anyone really learning? So yeah, quite the academic faux pas [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[maskedmelon]

As long as you made clear which ideas were your own and which were not, then it was not plagiarism. Absolutely shitty work though, deserving of a nice red 'F' if it comprised most of your paper.

Certainly a creative approach ^^ Though, I'd think you could have spent the same amount of time by cutting the amount of regurgitated information in half and then filling the rest of the paper with your own creations and a thick word soup. Probably could have garnered a solid 'C-' for that approach.

[sOurDieSel]

Originally Posted by Lurikeen [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you are are providing an indirect citation you must at least provide in a footnote that the idea you're expressing is not your own, but the writer's being cited.

Tell that to Nic Pizzolatto and HBO according to them you can't plagiarize philosophical ideas even if its word for word.