UWP Lecturers Something to cackle about...

[Gray Scott]

Hello everyone,

I come bearing a story I suspect will amuse.  

At around 5 a.m. on May 6, a student preparing to submit a plagiarized paper through Turnitin.com cleverly decided to see if there were any ways to avoid detection. He found this video tip on Metacafe, but was having trouble following its advice, possibly because one needs to use the pause button liberally to read the title cards before they vanish. (Yes, it works. Sort of. There are better ways, but they take more work.)

Then the aspiring miscreant found a neat little discussion thread about that advice, and a bunch of people debating how well that tip works. He decided to ask all those cheat-savvy, articulate posters how to beat the Turnitin.com system. 

Seems reasonable.

However: The forum in question was a discussion board at the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

The responses are scathing. And often funny. (One is vicious enough that the moderator gets involved, telling an unruly prof to behave and editing out part of the offending post.)

Click the "thread" link above, if you're interested in this diversion. Scroll down to the post by Williamvin (the student in question). He posts three times, and never quite seems to get that he has just waded into a pool of sharks. My favorite post by him appears after the first round of sniping, and reads as follows:
  Whats the matter? I dont think i did anything wrong.

  I just asked what should i ask..

  Dont think you all are smart.

  Just walk away from here if you are not answering my question.
This missive triggers the second round of sniping.

Regards,

Gray Scott
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