HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H01042 4/14/01 "SUSPECTED PLAGIARISM:SOURCES SOUGHT ======================================================================= Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 15:18:29 -0400 From: Shannon Rogers Subject: Possible Plagiarism--help with sources (revision) Hello all, Make this the "proof-read" version! I hit the send key too soon! I hate to raise the ugly spectre of plagiarism, but I'm in the midst of grading 178 essays on _Tess_, which I assign in my Western Civilizations survey. Some of them are really good and have applied what they've learning in a history class to the text, just as I wanted them to and I'm pleased as punch. Some, however, have written things that are really really good--too good almost to hope for (although I've got a lot of Sophomores and Juniors who have put off taking a freshman level course for as long as they dare) and fall into the grey area of literary studies. If I could presume upon the collective wisdom of the list to tell me if any of these passages sound familiar, I'd be most grateful. I've already combed the web and Cliff's Notes, but these seem to be inspired by real scholarly work that does not appear in any bibliography in the back of paper. Many thanks in advance, Shannon 1) This essay deals with society's impositions on Tess--roles she is expected to take on by those around her. "Hardy creates a character that is counted as a member of each of the three major social classes by the different perceptions of her that the characters hold. However, Tess refuses to play the part, remaining true to herself and breaking out of social roles even as those around her, led to believe that an aberration from their false ideas is a shameful or repulsive thing, condemn her." "It is poignant that the only nobility in the family previously had been the horse, Prince, whose death was unfortunately caused by Tess, leading to the need for her to seek out her richer relations." "Angel is somewhat surprised to hear Tess, although not formally educated, speak on fairly consequential subjects and pick up his ideas and language rather quickly. In reality Angel Clare is the stereotype, just as Alec d'Urberville was for his own class. Although he breaks out of his father's religious beliefs, the innate moral values of these beliefs are still present in his life. . . Angel tries to put forth a new set of expectations for what his wife should be, according to his new life as a farmer, but he is once again building a mold for the person that he believes Tess is or ought to be. As much as he loves her, he at times refuses to see her for who she is, instead seeing her as what he wants her to be." "It is Tess who overcame the impositions placed on her. Over the course of the book she was viewed as a noble by the poor, poor by the noble and later by the middle-class, shamed by the 'holy' and later by the converted sinner, simple by the educated, educated by the simple, helplessly rural by the more urbane, mother by the children, maiden by the maids, and so forth--each different distinction, both in what she was viewed as and who was doing the viewing, yielding different expectations of her." 2) This is from a student I've caught plagiarizing from the web in the past and have given a second chance. I'm now suspicious of anything that's above a certain level. "Tess, the heroine of the tragic novel by conventional standards is a fallen woman turned a murderess; but for her creator she is a pure woman as indicated by the subtitle given by him. Hardy in his own way differs from the moral ethics of his contemporary society as well as the future ones too. Hardy was using his novel as a vehicle for social comment; he narrates the story of his tragic heroine to the reader and persuades the reader to make their judgement on her. But he also tells us that Tess in only one of the hapless victims of fate; the greater power, like a screenplay writer has already preordained the life of each one of us and there is no escape from it. But he also tells us how Tess broke away from the script set by the super power." The paper goes on to discuss the _King Lear_ quote and the closing Aeschylus reference. I have a few more, but don't want to wear out my welcome all at once. Thank you all so much!!!! ========== Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 18:31:52 -0400 From: jgould@andover.edu (John Gould) Subject: Re: Possible Plagiarism--help with sources (revision) Dear Shannon (and others in the same boat), By now we teachers are all getting wiser about the net. There are many, many essays out there in cyberspace, some published, some offered for sale. Plagiarizing from the former is easy and free, but public search engines (Google, e.g., see below) can often search out a clause or sentence almost as easily and freely as the plagiarist did. However, those that are sold by essay-writing services are not accessible by such an engine because they aren't actually posted on the web (unless -- as happened to a colleague of mine -- the sentence searched for appears in the essay's SYNOPSIS, which does appear on the web!) I teach at Andover, where, with lots of web-literate kids and every dorm room wired, we are having to get a lot sharper about web-based plagiarism. One of my colleagues, Paul Kalkstein, has prepared a "Primer on Plagiarism" for our faculty on our intranet. (That is why I can't give you the URL for yourself.) We are finding Paul's primer very helpful, and I wonder if other schools would be interested in creating a similar faculty resource. (If anyone is interested, contact me off-list, and I'll be glad to put you in touch with him.) Here are a couple of his relevant paragraphs: "Plagiarism from Internet sources comes in three kinds: 1.use of material available free and openly on the World Wide Web; 2.material available to subscribers of pay services; 3.papers bought through the Web and emailed to the buyer... "A site called plagiarism.org exists to help preserve academic standards in schools and specifically to fight plagiarism that occurs over the Internet. The militant arm of this organization, turnitin.com., is useful against bought papers and especially against the second kind of plagiarism, material obtained through subscriptions to web services.... "However, at present you yourself can track down most plagiarism rather simply. For the first, and most common, form of plagiarism, you can easily use a search engine to find a source. Copy a series of distinctive words, a seemingly-unique phrase, into the search box and look through the results. Here is the best search engine at present: Google ." Shannon, if you've combed the web entirely, that still doesn't exclude the possiblities of methods 2 and 3. I hope this helps, although personally I have to confess a bit of despair when I consider the odds... All best, John Gould ========== From: "Jon H." Subject: Re: Possible Plagiarism--help with sources Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 06:53:34 -0700 I have the title of "Editor" at http://www.quoteland.com and have gotten pretty good at noticing and tracking down plagiarism. I couldn't find any matches to the phrases I spot checked in what you have here. There is one phrase that is similar to one that appears on a discussion board, but I don't think it was "stolen" from there. It is: "...uses the the novel format as a vehicle for social comment." Found at: http://killdevilhill.com/hardychat/messages2/55.html ========== http://www.jane-austen-essays.com/austen_links.html I know this is some weeks in the past but I have just found this fairly dreadful web site offering essays on Jane Austen but also with links to many other sites offering similar services on a whole range of topics including Hardy. For example, this site offers nine summary pages of essays on Hardy. http://www.papers123.com/black.htm It doesn't seem possible to access the essay without paying lots of money  about $30 a page. Surely easier (and cheaper) to write the essay yourself in the first place? Rob Abbott Rob@hobacus.fsnet.co.uk ========== From: "schweik" Subject: Re: Plagiarism Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 17:53:14 GMT s: Ron's posting made me think of a similar site that I've included in the TTHA "Links." There the quality of at least some of the papers is suggested by the description of one on *The Return of the Native* that reads: "Based on a community called Egdon Heath, the story delves in the subconscious of the townspeople as they are given to exist day to day in their silent torment." The "Links" page is C 57, whose address is http://www.fredonia.edu/hardysoc/linksthree/termpapers.htm I'll add Ron's site's address to that page as a service to teachers who may be looking for places where plagiarized Hardy papers may be found. Bob ==========