We haven't even hit Spring Break yet (which starts March 5th, by the way, so you'll know why I'm not blogging!) and I've just given my first 0 for a plagiarized paper. I'm printing out the material from the website this little plagiarist used as I type, so I'm not sure yet just how much he copied and pasted.
Fun fact? I hadn't even run the essay through Safe Assign--didn't have to: he used the word "droll." None of my students know what droll means, I guarantee you. I mean, I finally had to look it up when I was in high school because I had been thinking it meant dreary or boring for years.
Now, to be fair, it was also obvious because the kid started his first body paragraph with the phrase, "To summarize," but still. And this is the type of plagiarism that requires a complete re-write of the paper, not for me to off-his-head: He did actually include the sources in his Works Cited, but not in his paper (in-text citations). This all adds up to plagiarism, but this is the type I use to teach, not to fail. Does that make sense?
I'll let you know if he cries when I tell him I noticed. Some of them do, you know.
Oh the joys of teaching. In a few years he'll try to rent a car by taping his name over someone else's power bill and try to pass it off as his own. (This has happens, no really I'm not kidding)
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