Paper Writing: Dirty Tricks

[Kosher Ham]

I don't know about all that.

 

I did hear about kids using a larger font for periods ( size 14 instead of 12 ) that isn't really noticable, but it lengthens the paper based on spacing.

[Stugein]

A plagiarist's college student's best friend.

[PokerPacker]

I don't know about all that.

 

I did hear about kids using a larger font for periods ( size 14 instead of 12 ) that isn't really noticable, but it lengthens the paper based on spacing.

don't forget playing with margins

[Forehead]

I think my go to was what others have said, relying on quotes to flesh out the paper.  Always cited everything, but not a whole lot of effort on my own.  Only time I got nailed was in 11th grade, when a friend basically copied my paper.  The teacher gave us both zeros and that was the end of it, no discipline or parent conferences.  That friend was an asshole

[Bang]

I once wrote a report on Jane Goodall's first book about chimps.

I actually applied myself, a rare occasion, i read that entire boring friggin' book twice, took copious notes, prepped and wrote my paper completely from my own research.

I got an F, the teacher, the accursed Mr. Landis; wrote in the margin that I wrote it after watching a television special.

 

 

I never wrote another ****ing paper. Ever.

 

so my trick is to be artistically talented so you don't have to worry about what some ****bird good for nothing biology teacher thinks of your hard work..

 

~Bang

[PokerPacker]

I once wrote a report on Jane Goodall's first book about chimps.

I actually applied myself, a rare occasion, i read that entire boring friggin' book twice, took copious notes, prepped and wrote my paper completely from my own research.

I got an F, the teacher, the accursed Mr. Landis; wrote in the margin that I wrote it after watching a television special.

 

 

I never wrote another ****ing paper. Ever.

 

so my trick is to be artistically talented so you don't have to worry about what some ****bird good for nothing biology teacher thinks of your hard work..

 

~Bang

haha, I wrote a final exam essay on Jane Goodall's book without ever reading it. Just used the table of contents to find the parts that fit my paper. Don't know what I got on the paper itself since it was a final, but I did get an A in the class.

[s0crates]

I once wrote a report on Jane Goodall's first book about chimps.

I actually applied myself, a rare occasion, i read that entire boring friggin' book twice, took copious notes, prepped and wrote my paper completely from my own research.

I got an F, the teacher, the accursed Mr. Landis; wrote in the margin that I wrote it after watching a television special.

~Bang

That is odd. How were your citations?

You should have disputed that. Your annotated book and notes would have made a good case against the accusation.

[Kosher Ham]

don't forget playing with margins

 

They notice the margins easier.

[Thekyle1591]

This is also obvious. These papers read like awkwardly worded encyclopedia entries. I don't recommend it. You have to be a "total retard" to think this is smart.

Students seem to think profs don't have internet access.

This kind of stuff really irritates me; it insults my intelligence.

Word to the wise: Your profs aren't stupid. If you cheat, then hope they're too lazy to deal with it, because they will probably know.

Luckily for me I'm a pretty good writer so the difference isn't that big from when I cheat and I actually write my work. Being in advanced classes usually helps too. Never gotten caught, not even close. So either all my teachers are incredibly lazy or I'm doing something right.

[s0crates]

Luckily for me I'm a pretty good writer so the difference isn't that big from when I cheat and I actually write my work. Being in advanced classes usually helps too. Never gotten caught, not even close. So either all my teachers are incredibly lazy or I'm doing something right.

Fair enough. My advice is just cite the stuff you are paraphrasing. Then what you are doing is called research.

There's really nothing wrong with relying on outside sources for your information, in fact it's expected. Nobody expects you to know things you don't know or have a totally original thought, we just expect you to give credit to the people you referenced. It's not hard to include a footnote, and doing so protects you.

The main difference between plagiarism and research is citations.

[Thekyle1591]

Fair enough. My advice is just cite the stuff you are paraphrasing. Then what you are doing is called research.

There's really nothing wrong with relying on outside sources for your information, in fact it's expected. Nobody expects you to know things you don't know or have a totally original thought, we just expect you to give credit to the people you referenced. It's not hard to include a footnote, and doing so protects you.

The main difference between plagiarism and research is citations.

I actually used to do that before my 8th grade history teacher failed me on a paper because I "plagiarized" the entire thing and basically screwed myself by citing the actual site I got it from. She wouldn't listen to me when I said I put the info in my own words. So now I pretty much only do it when the rubric calls for it.

[s0crates]

I actually used to do that before my 8th grade history teacher failed me on a paper because I "plagiarized" the entire thing and basically screwed myself by citing the actual site I got it from. She wouldn't listen to me when I said I put the info in my own words. So now I pretty much only do it when the rubric calls for it.

If the case is as you described it, then I think she was wrong. How can she expect an 8th grader to write a paper without doing research?

Trying to imagine she wasn't an idiot, I can only think that you must have just copied extensively from a single source, which frankly isn't really cheating if you cited it properly, it just isn't very good work.

[Thekyle1591]

If the case is as you described it, then I think she was wrong. How can she expect an 8th grader to write a paper without doing research?

It wasn't that we couldn't do research, it was that she thought I copied it and then apparently didn't check the actual wiki article. Facepalm. But yeah, she wasn't the best teacher in the world.

For the record I didn't extensively copy, just used a small portion and rephrased it a bit in my own words.

[s0crates]

It wasn't that we couldn't do research, it was that she thought I copied it and then apparently didn't check the actual wiki article. Facepalm. But yeah, she wasn't the best teacher in the world.

I started to add to the above post in an edit, but it sounds like you relied on only one source, and it wasn't a good source.

If you cited that single source, you really didn't plagiarize, your work just sucked. She is right that you should have cross referenced different sources, but she is wrong in calling it plagiarism. It seems to me anyway.

[No_Pressure]

I used this dirty trick where I actually sat down, read books, wrote down and kept track of important concepts, notes, quotes, etc. then later- get this...I would formulate my own theories and relate them to the information I had collected.

 

If you're paying for an education and you write a transcript of someone's speech and turn it in as your own work and ideas then you should get your money back.

[s0crates]

Thanks for that post No_Pressire. You give me hope.

[Darth Tater]

don't forget playing with margins

By college, especially graduate work, my problem was more about getting all the information needed in a small enough paper/presentation.

[Darth Tater]

I once wrote a report on Jane Goodall's first book about chimps.

I actually applied myself, a rare occasion, i read that entire boring friggin' book twice, took copious notes, prepped and wrote my paper completely from my own research.

I got an F, the teacher, the accursed Mr. Landis; wrote in the margin that I wrote it after watching a television special.

 

 

I never wrote another ****ing paper. Ever.

 

so my trick is to be artistically talented so you don't have to worry about what some ****bird good for nothing biology teacher thinks of your hard work..

 

~Bang

Sounds similar to an experience I had in HONORS English at the HS level.  Wrote a paper that I thought was just a B-type thesis for a kid in honors class and had the teacher give me an F for plagiarism because it was too good for a HS student to be able to write...IT WAS A ****ING HONORS CLASS AND I DIDN'T THINK THE THESIS WAS THE BEST A KID IN AN HONORS CLASS COULD WRITE!!!

[Captain James]

Crazy stuff folks. Yeah I think that increasing the size of periods is the oldest trick in the book. Margins too.

PS: some people could not resist exclaiming their distaste for cheaters. As stated in the OP, most would agree that it's ALL dirty. This is simply a reflection of known tricks.

[s0crates]

Sounds similar to an experience I had in HONORS English at the HS level. Wrote a paper that I thought was just a B-type thesis for a kid in honors class and had the teacher give me an F for plagiarism because it was too good for a HS student to be able to write...IT WAS A ****ING HONORS CLASS AND I DIDN'T THINK THE THESIS WAS THE BEST A KID IN AN HONORS CLASS COULD WRITE!!!

So you wrote a paper for somebody else? Sounds like the kid got caught.

The teacher probably compared the paper to the kid's other work. Maybe it wasn't that the paper was too good for the class, but it was just too good for that kid.

Edit: Seems like I misunderstood your post, my apologies. Not sure what to make of this case.

[PokerPacker]

So you wrote a paper for somebody else? Sounds like the kid got caught.

The teacher probably compared the paper to the kid's other work. Maybe it wasn't that the paper was too good for the class, but it was just too good for that kid.

I think he wrote the paper for himself, but just ambiguously worded it to sound like it was written for some other kid.

[Forehead]

By college, especially graduate work, my problem was more about getting all the information needed in a small enough paper/presentation.

 

Yeah, I mean, I generally did my own research and wrote my own thoughts, I'd just add a few extra quotes when I needed to beef something up.  By grad school, the topics were broad enough and the online magazine/journal co-op was so extensive that I found myself having to cut stuff out because we had a max page limit.  It's all progression and maturity.  We all start out like Kyle

[s0crates]

I think he wrote the paper for himself, but just ambiguously worded it to sound like it was written for some other kid.

Oh I see that now, my mistake.

That is odd. I wonder what the teacher's reasoning was. "This paper is too good" doesn't seem like conclusive evidence. Maybe there was more to it?

If I was falsely accused of cheating (especially on such flimsy evidence), I would dispute it, first with the grader, then with administration if necessary.

[The Sisko]

Ghost writers are awfully affordable these days. Now I'd never do such a thing, but a student with nefarious intent could easily find a writer for hire to do a lot of the work for him/her. They'd still have to do their own data collection and research for citations to back up their premises but after that, it's pretty much gravy.

[dfitzo53]

don't forget playing with margins

 

As s0crates more or less mentioned above, this tactic assumes that your professor or teacher is operating on a quarter of a brain.  It's obvious to anyone who reads numerous papers (and professors/TAs and teachers have read many, many more than students have for the most part) when the margins have been fudged.

 

On the point of large periods, how much difference does that really make?  I can see you squeezing another line or two at most out of the paper every couple pages, but at that point you just write another sentence.