# Writing teachers-- para-plagiarism question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-teachers-para-plagiarism-question/334192>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 5, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-teachers-para-plagiarism-question/334192 "2005-12-05T16:38:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-teachers-para-plagiarism-question/334192/41 "2005-12-08T03:24:26Z")

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> [@Quartz](#):
>
> IMO you’re just not doing a proper job.

If that’s the case, nobody is. You’re speaking from ignorance.

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**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-teachers-para-plagiarism-question/334192/42 "2005-12-08T22:22:40Z")

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And, coincidentally, this exact issue came up today. One of my co-TAs got a paper which ‘para-plagiarized’ (like the term) from Wikipedia. The student used some synonyms, but one paragraph out of a two page essay was the exact same meaning and structure as a Wikipedia article.

His solution was to mark her down fairly severely and put the fear of God into her by noting in his comments that she should not comment from Wikipedia (indicating that he knew exactly what she had done and what site).

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**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-teachers-para-plagiarism-question/334192/43 "2005-12-09T00:06:05Z")

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> [@capybara](#):
>
> The students will have a paragraph of sentences, all correctly footnoted, but all from the same source (same book, same page, like 6 sentences in a row). The sentences are very (overly) fluid and smooth, except for certain words which _almost_ make sense in context but not quite. The effect is that the student is copying verbatim or putting together a pastiche of fragments, and then changing key words with a paper thesaurus or MSWords thesaurus, but to words that the student doesn’t entirely understand.  
> So “paraphrasing” in the very most generous use of the word, and citing the sources, but still not really their own writing or entirely intellectually honest.

If they’re footnoting and not quoting, they are claiming to have written those sentences using _information_ from the source. Using the actual sentence from the source but changing a few words puts them over that line into plagiarism. They cited the work, but still did not give sufficient credit to the author.

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