This is so frustrating, isn't it?
I used Turnitin (www.turnitin.com) for a few years, thinking I was going to catch any plagiarism. But last year when I found some phrases that were obviously not the student's, I ran it through the program and it came up clean. So I did my own google search, typing the phrases in quotation marks. I found about a dozen plagarized phrases.
When I check with the Turnitin people, they explained that the program only searches for phrases of more than eight words that are plagiarized, so when students steal a seven-word phrase, they don't get caught.
Obviously I dropped Turnitin and have been looking for better software.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jeremy Butler
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 6:14 AM
Subject: [SCREEN-L] Cheating and Student Papers
I just stumbled across a Website (www.filmpapers.com) that provides
pre-written papers to film students--for $10 per page. The site is
obviously a paper mill for cheaters, but it does provide this disclaimer:
"Question : Can I Copy From Your Papers ?
"Not a chance - Copying the ideas of other film critics gets film
students into REELS of trouble! Any words, ideas, thoughts, or concepts
- derived from OUR movie reviews and film analyses MUST be
properly-cited in your own report or term paper as originating from The
Paper Store. Film students with questions about proper referencing
should email us and/or consult with their instructor. Filmpapers.com is
here to HELP you write your own analysis faster, better, and with the
research tools you need to succeed!"
How many students are going to fork out $50 for a 5-page paper and then
cite "words, ideas, thoughts or concepts" as being written by "The Paper
Store"?
To see what sort of topics they offer, I did a keyword search on "film
noir" and came up with the following results (see below). This is just
the first page of dozens of papers. And, if you don't like their
pre-written papers, they'll write a custom one for you on any topic.
I have colleagues that use software to find cheaters and plagiarists,
but I doubt it would detect these papers because their text is not
online. You'd have to order (at $10 per page) copies of hundreds of
papers in order to check for plagiarism.
Online paper mills such as this seriously jeapordize the process of
student paper-writing. Although if the following clumsy, improperly
punctuated sentence from their Website is any indication of the quality
of the papers, we may have nothing to worry about.
"Any words, ideas, thoughts, or concepts - derived from OUR movie
reviews and film analyses MUST be properly-cited in your own report or
term paper as originating from The Paper Store."
-- film noir search --
Film Noir, McCarthyism & Paranoia
A 9 page research paper that investigates how film noir responded to
McCarthyism. The writer argues that at the basis of both McCarthyism and
film noir was...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
> [ Click here to purchase & receive this paper TODAY! ]
Film Noir/Kiss Me Deadly
A 3 page essay/research paper that discusses the mis-en-scene elements
of costume and makeup in relation to the opening sequence in a film noir
classic. In...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
> [ Click here to purchase & receive this paper TODAY! ]
The Genre of Film Noir
This 10 page report discusses film noir and presents the main
characteristics of the genre. The transformations that have occurred in
the genre over the pa...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
> [ Click here to purchase & receive this paper TODAY! ]
Film Noir
An 8 page overview of this cinema style. Though the term “film noir” is
French, the style originated in America largely following but partially
in conju...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
> [ Click here to purchase & receive this paper TODAY! ]
Film Noir Aspects of “Gilda” (1946)
A 10 page paper which examines how this Columbia Pictures’ release
characterizes the film noir genre, considering the style of filming and
the relationshi...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
> [ Click here to purchase & receive this paper TODAY! ]
Film Noir/Sunset Blvd. & The Grifters
A 5 page research paper that analyzes how both of these films fit into
the film noir genre. The writer argues that both films are excellent
examples of the...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
> [ Click here to purchase & receive this paper TODAY! ]
Spatial Strategies Of Film Noir
6 pages in length. The very nature of film noir is to incorporate
significant visual contrasts while at the same time portraying the
central character as ...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
> [ Click here to purchase & receive this paper TODAY! ]
McCarthyism and Film Noir
This 5 page report discusses the idea that it would be useful to take
the idea that film noir evolved in the midst of McCarthyism one more
metaphorical l...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
> [ Click here to purchase & receive this paper TODAY! ]
Personal Aesthetics: Beauty (aka "Beauty" in the Film Noir)
(3 pp) If we use these four diverse definitions over time, what
conclusions can we make? Desirable. Mental. Mystery. An awareness of
perfection...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
> [ Click here to purchase & receive this paper TODAY! ]
'Out of the Past': Classical Hollywood Narrative and Film Noir
A 5 page paper which discusses the 1947 film, by Tourneur, 'Out of the
Past,' as it relates to classical Hollywood and film noir. Bibliography
lists 3 so...
> [ Click here for a FREE description of this paper! ]
--
Jeremy Butler
www.ScreenSite.org
www.TVCrit.org
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