Access to plagarism detector?

[NLSoldier]

Do any of you guys know if its possible for a student to get access to one of those programs or websites that will test a paper to see if its plagarized?

Basically, I got in a huge argument with a prof. today, and after I proved him completely wrong, he basically said "back down or I will run a plagarism test on your paper." As tempted as I was to call his bluff, I was a little scared because my paper is sorta plagarized to some extent. Basically I got my information from various websites and kind of made a combination of info from each site, slightly changing most of the wording. So now I'd like to be able to see what he is going to see before I tell him to go ahead and do it.

The argument was over something totoally unrelated to this paper that is essentially making my grade go from an A to a B, if he decided to check if my paper is plagarized and it comes back positive, I'm assuming I will fail the class and possibly have other consequences from the university.

Any suggestsions?

[Shajen]

So, you pwned this dude, and now he's trying to reverse pwn you?

Weak sauce.

If you didn't change everything in your paper and didn't quote your sources then you might just be screwed.

[bump]

It sounds like the professor knows that you took your paper from many sources, just copy/pasting and changing the wording around. He decided to cut you a break and not report you (its probably a pain in the ass to report a student anyway and he probably doesnt care either way) But when you started complaining about your grade he got pissed because he cut you a break by not reporting you in the first place.

You plagarized, he knows it, youre [censored]. Just back down and accept your B.

Do your own work in the future and you will have a leg to stand on.

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
Basically I got my information from various websites and kind of made a combination of info from each site, slightly changing most of the wording.

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't this called "research"? With that said, are you pushing this point just for ego reasons? I'm not sure I understood the whole grade explaination.

[pshreck]

From the way you worded your post, it seems like you definetly did plagiarize, and further, your teacher already can tell that it's likely you did. I would back off now and pray nothing happens. Maybe learn not to get in arguments with teachers when you are plagiarizing in their class?

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
So, you pwned this dude, and now he's trying to reverse pwn you?

Weak sauce.

If you didn't change everything in your paper and didn't quote your sources then you might just be screwed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I definately didnt quote sources. I think thats gonna be my biggest problem. It was a research paper and I kinda spaced out the whole quoting sources aspect.

[bump]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Basically I got my information from various websites and kind of made a combination of info from each site, slightly changing most of the wording.

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't this called "research"? With that said, are you pushing this point just for ego reasons? I'm not sure I understood the whole grade explaination.

[/ QUOTE ]


NO, this is not research! This is plagarism plain and simple. Whenever you use someone elses words OR IDEAS in your paper you are supposed to site them as a sourse in text. The OP clearly plagerized, he is just wondering if the case would be difficult to prove.

It sounds like the professor already has the proof. Don't even think about calling his bluff.

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
It sounds like the professor knows that you took your paper from many sources, just copy/pasting and changing the wording around. He decided to cut you a break and not report you (its probably a pain in the ass to report a student anyway and he probably doesnt care either way) But when you started complaining about your grade he got pissed because he cut you a break by not reporting you in the first place.

You plagarized, he knows it, youre [censored]. Just back down and accept your B.

Do your own work in the future and you will have a leg to stand on.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good call.

[pshreck]

[ QUOTE ]
It was a research paper and I kinda spaced out the whole quoting sources aspect.

[/ QUOTE ]

Im also guessing now that you didn't 'pwn' your teacher in any argument.

[bump]

I googled "Plagiarism Detector" and found many good sites on the subject.

It seems like mostly software is used but there might be online tools too (i didnt look too closely)

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
NO, this is not research! This is plagarism plain and simple. Whenever you use someone elses words OR IDEAS in your paper you are supposed to site them as a sourse in text. The OP clearly plagerized, he is just wondering if the case would be difficult to prove.

[/ QUOTE ]

This isn't clear at all. Are the ideas he used original ideas of the sources, or is this stuff general knowledge about the topic, that he compiled from sources?

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It was a research paper and I kinda spaced out the whole quoting sources aspect.

[/ QUOTE ]

Im also guessing now that you didn't 'pwn' your teacher in any argument.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol. I promise you I pwned him right in the face. Seriously.

Basically, my grade got lowered because of him not receiveing 2 assignments that were turned in via email. At the time I hadnt been saving emails in a sent folder, so it was pretty much my word vs his on whether I sent them in on time or not. Then today I found out that I got a %10 deduction on the paper due to not sending an electronic copy of it. I told him I was never asked to send one and his response was "I emailed you" So I brought him over to my computer, opened up my email account, and showed him that I never recieved said email.

At this point I was like "So now I'm not only getting deducted for emails that you dont recieve from me, but also for emails that I dont receive from you? That is bullshit, double standard blah blah blah"

He was thoroughly pwned and at that point resorted to the plagarism comment.

edit-added note: it was probably a good thing i never got that email because I think the reason he wanted and electronic copy is because it would be far easier to test for plagarism. He is way too lazy to scan my paper or hand type it in.

[rlr]

[ QUOTE ]
...and showed him that I never recieved said email...

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it not possible that you deleted the email? If someone showed me their in-box and said, "See!!! I never got your email" However it is very likely they didn't receive it showing me their in-box isn't proof of that. If I was your professor I'd be highly suspicious of your claims especially if I already suspected you of plagiarism.

[meep_42]

My girlfriend was a TA/Office Assistant in the department she's getting her master's from at a college in the city. Last semester she had someone do exactly what you did -- the plagiarism detector didn't catch it, but she knew the style and material weren't the authors. She simple googled some of the phrases and came up with about 4 websites that made up 90% of this girl's paper.

It's not hard in the information age.

-d

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
...and showed him that I never recieved said email...

[/ QUOTE ]

Is it not possible that you deleted the email? If someone showed me their in-box and said, "See!!! I never got your email" However it is very likely they didn't receive it showing me their in-box isn't proof of that. If I was your professor I'd be highly suspicious of your claims especially if I already suspected you of plagiarism.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess I could have deleted it, but the point was that our mail server has a lot of glitches. Many people have had problems with the emailing of assignments all semester, but he apperently caught a few people (not me) lying about email problems and now assumes that everyone is lying.

Also, why would I delete it if all it was was a request for me to send in my paper electronically? Him telling me he emialed me the request and me showing him my inbox were basically simultaneuos (we were in the computer lab) so its like like I would have had time to quick go delete it.

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
My girlfriend was a TA/Office Assistant in the department she's getting her master's from at a college in the city. Last semester she had someone do exactly what you did -- the plagiarism detector didn't catch it, but she knew the style and material weren't the authors. She simple googled some of the phrases and came up with about 4 websites that made up 90% of this girl's paper.

It's not hard in the information age.

-d

[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting, I did some googling of some of the parts that most likely had the least changed and none of the hits I got were from the sources I actually used.

[JTrout]

Man, I'm glad I grew up in the stone-age! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[ChoicestHops]

I wish I remembered the website, but I went to the detector my teachers were using. I got a free trial where you can use it a few times before you buy it. It takes about a night, but it found everything.

edit: It's at <font color="blue"> turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com) </font>

I don't know if they still have a free trial, but give it a try and by tomorrow morning you should have results. It gives percentages on how likely certain parts of your paper are plagarised, and also gives multiple links from where you could have gotten the information.

[Sponger15SB]

So he wanted the electronic copy to make it easier to check for plagerism, or to just check for plagerism? Lots of teachers I'm sure we've all had usually just make you turn the paper into the checking company and they run it for him.

It sounds like he thinks you are cheating and that is why you made up this "bullshit" story. Not that he is trying to screw you by checking for plagerism and then busting your ass when you really aren't.

[shadow29]

I had a username and password for the one that most schools use. Forget what it's called now.

I googled around until I found some school that left instructions for teachers to signup. It was some high school in MA or somewhere up in the NE.

Just google, it is definetly out there.