College paper exchange?

[HokieBird]

Re: College paper exchange?

It is without a doubt plagerism like many other people have said. My school had extremely stict rules about things like this and if they suspected you of plagerising anything you were put on trial and potentially kicked out of school. They also know about all the sites like this and keep a database of previous student's work in some cases.

I don't care if you ripped off someone else's paper to get a degree, but I wouldn't say anything online about it. Most schools take it very seriously and I remember a few years ago UVA took back some deplomas because they found out some past students cheated while they were in school.

[black98V6]

Re: College paper exchange?

I spent some time working for a decent sized university and I would like to throw something in the ring on this. But first I truly believe that everyone is in college voluntarily and if you are going to a school you must follow it's rules. Also I believe that turning in someone else's work as your own is wrong and if you didn't want to do the work then don't go to school.

Now, the flip side of things. There are many profs out there especially in the general education classes that really just don't care. Especially on the Liberal arts side. I mean think about it you got an english or history prof that has been teaching the same stuff for 20 years, they are tenured. They work maybe 20 hours a week for 50k or so a year. They have read thousands of papers and really just want to ride out their time and retire in the next few years. They know that most of the people in their class are only there because it was some requirement to give the students who aren't majoring in that field a more "rounded" education. What does it really matter if a student in electrical engineering doesn't want to sit down and write about the significance of Madam Bovarie, or the Scarlett Letter or some crap like that?

In reality the student shouldn't be in there in the first place but the are and deal with it the best they can. Also don't think that most "scholarly" papers out there which are published are any sort of original idea. So many people out there are published because they take a 100 year old idea and put a spin on it which matches what the journals are looking for right now.

But the catch is you gotta publish to get a raise (aka publish or perish) so you submit these papers that have no real meaning or significance to build up your CV. This is all done to get your name and that of your univeristy in a publication that nobody reads or really cares about most of the time. Ten years down the road someone will write a paper to the contrary and it won't matter. This doesn't even begin to discuss the politics involved in some of the larger publications (such as the harvard business review). This is what stopped me from pursuing my PHD, after seeing how the "academic" world really works I said no thank you.

Finally if you don't think people don't rip off the ideas of others and use them as their own in the real world you are sadly mistaken, example, microsoft and Apple ripping off Xerox's idea and calling it their own. Is it right? Nope, but happens every day.

*edit* and yes my punctuation sucks, one of the reasons I hate to write papers :D

[josh98bird]

Re: College paper exchange?

haha, my buddy used one of those site... all the teacher had to do was google one sentence of his paper and find it online. lets just say he's lucky he wasnt kicked out of college

[SpeedingFirebird]

Re: College paper exchange?

But the catch is you gotta publish to get a raise (aka publish or perish) so you submit these papers that have no real meaning or significance to build up your CV. This is all done to get your name and that of your univeristy in a publication that nobody reads or really cares about most of the time. Ten years down the road someone will write a paper to the contrary and it won't matter. This doesn't even begin to discuss the politics involved in some of the larger publications (such as the harvard business review). This is what stopped me from pursuing my PHD, after seeing how the "academic" world really works I said no thank you.

I am a PhD student, and I am published. In a peer reveiwed magazine, journal or conference, typically the cream rises to the top. Yes, there are some politics, but it's not half as bad as you make it sound. Certainly not bad enough to deter anyone from a PhD. In my area (Computer Science) the research is typically very good and well received (aka it does matter and people do care). Perhaps it is different in other fields?

microsoft and Apple ripping off Xerox's idea and calling it their own.

I thought Apple bought the rights off Xerox cheaply. Then MS came and stole it.

[youngsc]

Re: College paper exchange?

I thought Apple bought the rights off Xerox cheaply. Then MS came and stole it.

Ding Ding, yep Apple bought the rights from Xerox because Xerox couldn't see the potential. IBM then went to Microsoft for an operating system and they in turn "borrowed" the apple operating system, with a few modifications. Snooze you lose, apple should have done better protecting something they felt was so valuable. In the tech industry if it doesn't have a patent or copyright it will be copied and they will find a way to get out of the impending lawsuit.

[stevethepirate]

Re: College paper exchange?

black98v6- i dont really understand what you said about liberal arts teachers not caring?
i go to a liberal arts school, and every single one of my teachers has made a point to say that if we cheat in ANY way, we will automatically be failed, and that they will urge the dean to expel us...
doesnt sound like they dont care to me!

[black98V6]

Re: College paper exchange?

black98v6- i dont really understand what you said about liberal arts teachers not caring?
i go to a liberal arts school, and every single one of my teachers has made a point to say that if we cheat in ANY way, we will automatically be failed, and that they will urge the dean to expel us...
doesnt sound like they dont care to me!

yeah I proably phrased that wrong to point out liberal arts, it's just that the first couple of specific instances that came to my mind were in history, english, psych... To pick out one academic discipline is wrong, I apologize. Yes it is taken very seriously publicly, expecially in front of students, its tough to explain. There are alot that just don't care in the end and live in their own little academic world where they have no grasp on reality or what it's like to work in the real world. I will say that my experince is limited to one univeristy and I can accept that maybe I dealt with the exception not the rule.

[black98V6]

Re: College paper exchange?

I am a PhD student, and I am published. In a peer reveiwed magazine, journal or conference, typically the cream rises to the top. Yes, there are some politics, but it's not half as bad as you make it sound. Certainly not bad enough to deter anyone from a PhD. In my area (Computer Science) the research is typically very good and well received (aka it does matter and people do care). Perhaps it is different in other fields?

well man if you are PhD student in Computer Science I salute you dude! You are waaay smarter than me. For the publishing thing this was in a Business school where I had the most direct contact with the world of getting published yadda yadda yadda... Perhaps if I had just been a student and never saw the innner workings of the power struggles, abuse of power and such I would have a different point of viiew. Also, as I stated in my above post perhaps the experience at my school was the exception not the rule.

[SpeedingFirebird]

Re: College paper exchange?

well man if you are PhD student in Computer Science I salute you dude! You are waaay smarter than me. For the publishing thing this was in a Business school where I had the most direct contact with the world of getting published yadda yadda yadda... Perhaps if I had just been a student and never saw the innner workings of the power struggles, abuse of power and such I would have a different point of viiew. Also, as I stated in my above post perhaps the experience at my school was the exception not the rule.

My experience is limited to Computer Science/Systems where it is a science. We need experiments, lab reports, the whole 9. If something is out of place, you will get called on it.

For other publications, business for example, it is perhaps less rigorous. I assume people there may publish ideas, theories or rhetoric without scientific fact?

[Meatyshells]

Re: College paper exchange?

i tried it, it's actually pretty cool. from what i read, the guy that made the site is an x professor from the university of phoenix. All the papers i skimmed through looked pretty well written. Ill be using it for research and ideas later for sure.

[Savorybacon]

Re: College paper exchange?

Man I wouldn't mess around with anything like that, it's not that hard to just pull an "all nighter" and do the work...but then again I love to write.

[Xian]

Re: College paper exchange?

The only reason the owner of that site isn't in jail is because he can say that the crime is in what people DO with the papers on his site. If you use them to guide you towards other resources that you then use, together with the papers on the site, to guide you in developing your own unique presentation, then it's just another research source, though as others have pointed out, there are lots of free resources you could use instead.

But if you take large chunks of those papers, or worse yet, just put your name on them, you are cheating and taking serious chances on ruining your future. Sure you might get away with it, but others have rightly pointed out that savvy profs are checking using various tools that will detect many cases. But even if you get away with it, keep in mind that when you cheat, you are really just cheating yourself.

If you make a habit of copying others' work, you won't learn how to think for yourself and express your thoughts in a coherent fashion. Then one day you will find yourself working for me, and when I find out that in spite of your degree you're really dumber than a doorknob, you'll be out on your a**.

In the real world, it's those of us who didn't take shortcuts with our education - who actually learned the skills we were being taught - who truly excel at what we do and get promoted, and make the big bucks.

Of course it also just boils down to personal integrity. What kind of person do you want to be?