# Plagiarism - rat out fellow student or keep quiet **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 22, 2015, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444 "2015-10-22T10:48:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/21 "2015-10-22T15:16:15Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Snitches get stitches. Oh yeah? Well, plagiarists get major fists. Seriously, “snitches get stitches” is along the lines of “finders keepers, losers weepers” in terms of an idiotic criminal’s code designed to screw over good people. It’s no way to run a society. Its only redeeming feature is the fact that it rhymes. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/22 "2015-10-22T15:17:45Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > (bolding mine)…That’s just so wrong. > > Snitches get stitches. > > Students ought not be encouraged to rat out their classmates for these kinds of trivialities. It is not trivial… It’s a matter of integrity. Encouraging honor and discouraging lying is a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/23 "2015-10-22T15:17:59Z")
I think I’d contact the fellow student first and urge them to withdraw the paper and submit a new one. Remind her that you’re honor bound to report ethical violations. Let her do the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/24 "2015-10-22T15:23:36Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You didn’t answer my second question, incidentally. > > Should he refrain from telling everyone if he knows another student’s final essay is plagiarized? Yes. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > If these message board post assignments are like the ones I’ve seen elsewhere, they are required for course points and may even be graded. So this student is harming others by artificially inflating the grading curve and inflating her own grade point average. If she doesn’t get caught, then yes, she’ll have gotten away with it and received a grade she didn’t earn. As to the inflation of the grading curve, I’m not sure how this figures in the lives of the other students when it comes time for final grades. So what if a certain student is not in the top 10% but the top 20% as a result? An “A-” remains an “A-” no matter where it falls on the distribution curve for that class. Who actually looks at that stuff in that level of detail anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/25 "2015-10-22T15:24:10Z")
> [@Sahirrnee](#): > > He’s 20, she’s probably around 40. If the 20 year old does not want to snitch, then be a mentor: Contact the fellow student and tell them that it was obviously copied from wiki. A 40 year old student returning to school might need both help and reminders. I dealt with this when teaching students returning to school - the temptation of online materials when they were late on an assignment was huge, and they also did not realize just how easy it is to catch them. The younger student pointing that out might help an older student before they get into real trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/26 "2015-10-22T15:24:37Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > It stops being trivial if actual harm will be caused to someone else or themselves. And none of this, “But she is cheating herself of an education!”, BS. Her education, her decision, her consequences (sooner or later). In a class that grades on a curve she’s stealing someone else’s grade. I’d turn her in - IMO it’s actual harm right now. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/27 "2015-10-22T15:30:50Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > As to the inflation of the grading curve, I’m not sure how this figures in the lives of the other students when it comes time for final grades. So what if a certain student is not in the top 10% but the top 20% as a result? An “A-” remains an “A-” no matter where it falls on the distribution curve for that class. I’m guessing you don’t understand what a grading curve is? > [@](#): > > Who actually looks at that stuff in that level of detail anyway? Employers and graduate programs. This student bumping herself up to an A is likely enough to affect the program’s final class rankings. That could mean another student fails to finish in the percentile required for a job or a degree program or whatever. Hell, it may be the difference in a student qualifying for a particular major next semester. Sure, the chances are small, but why should we give the cheater the benefit of the doubt? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/28 "2015-10-22T15:33:07Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > Does the honor code specifically outline what it thinks it means to be honest and have integrity? If it’s just a pledge to to be responsible for one’s own and others, then it leaves it up to the student to determine what that means and to what lengths they should go to enforce it. > > In my mind, this is a situation where clearly the honesty and integrity of the other student is in question, but at the same time, the idea of tattling is a violation of my own concept of integrity. Now, certainly, I think plagiarism is a worse violation than tattling, but I also put a greater value on my own integrity than on others’. And it’s not a question of whether I would report the student anonymously or not; if anything, I think it’s of less integrity to snitch but not be willing to put my own name on it. So, the question to me is, if the honor code explicitly dictates that I should report it, then I would, because I’d pledged to uphold it, and I would do it by linking the source in the thread. If it’s not explicitly stated, then my own concept of not tattling would likely be the course I’d follow. > > Further, in this case, though the student may or may not be reported by another student or caught by the professor, if someone is going to cheat on something as simple as a forum discussion and in such a lazy way as essentially copying the first Google result, then that person is definitely going to get caught down the line. There’s simple tools out there that many high schools and universities use that compare papers to online resources and determine if they’re plagiarized. I don’t see how you can be responsible for the integrity of yourself and others but hold yourself on a different integrity standard. If it’s worse for me to plagiarize than to tattle, it is worse for me to not report a plagiarizer than to tattle. Furthermore, said agreement appears to be a specific requirement to tattle. How else am I supposed to be responsible for others’ lack of integrity? (I use tattle here as you use it. I wouldn’t see reporting plagiarism as tattling at all. Not in an academic setting. Tattling is about unimportant things without much punishment. And it’s usually a form of brown nosing. There’s a reason it’s connected with both idle chat and gossip. It’s unimportant talk that makes you look good.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/29 "2015-10-22T15:45:17Z")
Personally, I would never tattle. I mean, seriously? Tattling? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/30 "2015-10-22T15:46:31Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m guessing you don’t understand what a grading curve is? I guess I don’t appreciate the importance of it. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Employers and graduate programs. This student bumping herself up to an A is likely enough to affect the program’s final class rankings. That could mean another student fails to finish in the percentile required for a job or a degree program or whatever. Hell, it may be the difference in a student qualifying for a particular major next semester. > > Sure, the chances are small, but why should we give the cheater the benefit of the doubt? This is so deep in the margins of possible but unlikely outcomes that I simply don’t care enough to worry about it. Unfair things happen in life all the time. I simply can’t bring myself to snitch in a case like this OP. It seems petty to me. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/31 "2015-10-22T15:50:44Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I guess I don’t appreciate the importance of it. > > This is so deep in the margins of possible but unlikely outcomes that I simply don’t care enough to worry about it. Unfair things happen in life all the time. I simply can’t bring myself to snitch in a case like this OP. It seems petty to me. It’s fine to think that personally you’d not uphold the honor code. I get that. But “snitches get stitches” is some serious bullshit: people who uphold the honor code are not despicable for it. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/32 "2015-10-22T15:50:48Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I guess I don’t appreciate the importance of it. In a course graded on a curve, the students’ grades are assigned based on their performance relative to each other. So one student inflating her own grade is harming others. > [@](#): > > This is so deep in the margins of possible but unlikely outcomes that I simply don’t care enough to worry about it. Unfair things happen in life all the time. I simply can’t bring myself to snitch in a case like this OP. It seems petty to me. “I don’t care enough to worry about it” is a pretty far cry from “snitches get stitches.” Ultimately, what you’re saying is that academic dishonesty is unimportant. And that’s kind of fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/33 "2015-10-22T15:53:23Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I guess I don’t appreciate the importance of it. It can be as simple as 10% of the students can get A’s. If the plagiarizer takes one of those slots, someone else doesn’t get it. In an academic environment I don’t see the divide as between the students and the teachers. The idea that _snitches get stitches_ is Neanderthal - let it die away. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/34 "2015-10-22T15:54:49Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Students ought not be encouraged to rat out their classmates for these kinds of trivialities. I agree. This kind of stupid rule simply encourages students to ignore the other rules too. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/35 "2015-10-22T15:57:13Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > It’s fine to think that personally you’d not uphold the honor code. I get that. But “snitches get stitches” is some serious bullshit: people who uphold the honor code are not despicable for it. I was being somewhat flippant. I simply don’t hold people who snitch about trivial things in high regard. I personally would not do it in this circumstance. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > “I don’t care enough to worry about it” is a pretty far cry from “snitches get stitches.” Ultimately, what you’re saying is that academic dishonesty is unimportant. And that’s kind of fucked up. I’m not saying that at all. Academic dishonesty should be discouraged through various means but not with me having to pledge to snitch on my fellow students. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/36 "2015-10-22T16:08:30Z")
So you are backing off your original position? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/37 "2015-10-22T16:13:11Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > So you are backing off your original position? Which position is that…? My “Snitches get stitches” comment? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/38 "2015-10-22T16:16:36Z")
Basically, yes. At first you seemed to be saying that \*nobody \*should ever even think about reporting fellow students for plagiarism. Now you seem to be saying, “whatever, just don’t make \*me \*do it.” ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/39 "2015-10-22T16:20:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Reply to the post in question, but cite it correctly. > > IME plagiarizing from Wiki is not the mark of the expert. Thus it tends to be self-limiting. > > Regards, > Shodan Oooh, I’m changing my answer. This idea fills my inner smartass with glee. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444/40 "2015-10-22T16:27:44Z")
I’m still saying that; A pledge of honour should not include an obligation for students to rat each other out. I do not and would not encourage my son or daughter to snitch under the OP’s circumstances. I would not have a high opinion of a classmate who cheats, nor would I have a high opinion of a classmate who tattled on the cheater. Now, if your personal moral code prohibits you from turning a blind eye, go ahead and confront the cheater directly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plagiarism-rat-out-fellow-student-or-keep-quiet/735444.md?page=3)