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AIBU?

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Original poster

To report this girl to her university?

235 replies

no1understands · 03/11/2011 13:36

I am a private tutor, working with A level and degree students. This academic year, I have had enquiry after enquiry from university students asking me to do their coursework for them. I always say no, I'll help, point you in the right direction, do an assignment outline but I will not do the assignment for them. They show no interest! I feel like saying 'so, you are telling me you aren't prepared to put in ANY effort whatsoever to get your degree?' One girl said she has got someone to do her coursework for 2 years but now he can't do it, she's looking for someone else. She told me what uni it was and I've had others from there asking the same thing. I feel like ringing the university and telling them what's happening. I need more students to make my business viable. I feel like just doing the coursework for a wad of cash but when it comes down to it, I can't because I'm so angry with them! I feel like I should do something!

OP posts:
AnonWasAWoman · 03/11/2011 13:59

Please report her. It's not fair on the others and it'll be a godsend to her tutors who probably have their suspicions but will find it hard to act without concrete proof.

AMumInScotland · 03/11/2011 13:59

If it was me, I would inform the university - they do take this stuff seriously. My DS has just started a course and they've been told very clearly what the rules are and what the penalties are, and have to sign a sheet with each assignment to state that it is their own work.

This girl is making a mockery of the system - the uni probably won't be able to take action on the basis of what you tell them, but they'll know to keep an eye on her (if you give the name) or the whole course group, and be more vigilant than usual.

2BoysTooLoud · 03/11/2011 14:00

I was at university in the 1980s and only 10% of my degree was course work - a dissertation. The rest was exams - 9 of the buggers in my final year - each 3 hours long.
[Nearly had nervous break down but definitely my own work].

AnonWasAWoman · 03/11/2011 14:02

Even 10% could make a hefty difference if a bad student substitutes in a good essay.

Original poster
no1understands · 03/11/2011 14:03

Chipping, I know it's a drop in the ocean, and it's well known that students attempt to plagiarise their work. That's why I was wondering if it was worth it. I don't want to drop this girl in it, if she has given me the name of a friend or something (her email address is anonymous). If i do it anonymously, I'm telling them something they already know!

OP posts:
MintAero · 03/11/2011 14:04

Do they not have to do final exams at the end of the course? They would be well and truly stuffed then surely?
I would not bother dobbing her in. You do not know for sure that she has got others to do her coursework.

SansaLannister · 03/11/2011 14:04

Oh, yes, 2Boys, I remember those dreadful 3-hour written exams. My hand would be cramping by the end of them. The worst would be if you had more than one exam in a day. Ouch!

Of course, back then, if someone were to plagairise, he actually had to use real books and periodicals! No internet.

I've seen so many kids today who are so sloppy when it comes to pinching material. They're so arrogant they believe academics won't catch them at it, either. Duh.

The savvy ones will locate a good writer to create the material from the get go. Every writer has a particular style, any change in such style sticks out like a red flag.

SansaLannister · 03/11/2011 14:05

Let's face it, the thick ones will usually be found out by hook or by crook and the clever ones will study enough to get through.

2BoysTooLoud · 03/11/2011 14:06

True Anon and even in the 80s cheating happened!
A friend of mine on the same course manage to 'lift' most of her material off another [old] dissertation. I didn't shop her but I judged. Our dissertations were used to help make a decision if someone borderline between say a 2:2 and a 2:1.

KatieMiddIeton · 03/11/2011 14:07

Report it. I've just struggled through a postgraduate degree and it is all my own mediocre work. I would be furious if other people were passing and they hadn't done the work Angry

I also think a few people getting kicked off the course or failed will make a difference. It will be a big deterrent.

Original poster
no1understands · 03/11/2011 14:08

2boys ( I have the same by the way, and they are too loud!!!) Exactly! My degree was all exam, and it annoys me that she will have the same qualifications as me, when she knows nowhere near as much. And it does in the long term devalue degrees and lead to business people devaluing our education system which I, in turn have to work in and listen to people denigrating constantly!

OP posts:
2BoysTooLoud · 03/11/2011 14:08

Oh yes Sansa- I had sore bumps on my fingers through writing so much. God it was stressful!

Penthesileia · 03/11/2011 14:09

I am a lecturer.

First response, yes, report it. Let them decide how to address this problem.

Second, more crafty response. Agree to do it, get paid for this, then INSTANTLY upload the work (word for word) in the form of a 'blog or similar (so if it's an essay on DH Lawrence, for instance, start a blog musing about it ,etc.), though don't tell her this. Let her submit the work. THEN draw attention to what she's been doing.

We use Turnitin plagiarism software. If the university she attends uses anything similar, it will find the blog and she'll be caught out.

2BoysTooLoud · 03/11/2011 14:10

Oh I know nooneunderstands - sick making..

Malificence · 03/11/2011 14:11

God yes, report it.
My DD is killing herself doing her dissertation, while holding down a part time job and also tutoring at Uni and volunteering in a high school one day per week to help with her PGCE application.

AnonWasAWoman · 03/11/2011 14:13

Good idea penthe.

Though I live in fear of the day my supervisor calls me in to tell me they've discovered I'm stealing all my ideas from some crazy lady on a site called Mumsnet who's been chatting about them for years ....

It is really horrible for other students who have worked hard and I would love to see someone actually make a stand from your side of things OP - it would make a good cautionary tale, too: 'don't go searching for people to write your essay, they may turn you in!'

Ghoulwithadragontattoo · 03/11/2011 14:13

Why don't you agree to do it for a massive fee and then do such a piss poor job she fails? Doubt she'd realise it was rubbish before handing it in ;)

SansaLannister · 03/11/2011 14:14

I'm left-handed and once had a terrific callous on my wedding finger after exam time, 2Boys.

I spent a year studying abroad, came back and continued to study that language as well as two others.

After submitting a draft essay, the lecturer called me in. She knew my style, and it had changed. As she said, 'This sounds like a bad English translation.'

Go figure, I'd even been dreaming in three different languages!

But academics do recognise one's own style and line of thinking. As this person will need to switch providers, it will likely be recognised on this basis alone.

Minus273 · 03/11/2011 14:15

Absolutely report her. I know people are saying she'll drop out but personally I think she won't cope with work the way her grades suggest. Also why should she get the job over someone who has actually worked for it.

Academic achievement should not be based on who you can afford to do your work for you.

ihatecbeebies · 03/11/2011 14:15

Your post has made me so angry, I work bloody hard in Uni and I can't believe people actually do f-all and just pay someone to do it, no doubt getting a good mark for it. It is plagiarism and universities do not tolerate it...report her...Angry

Penthesileia · 03/11/2011 14:16

Anon: so long as you don't regurgitate word-for-word what gets written here, you are not plagiarising. You are simply using MN like a discussion as a platform for developing or clarifying your own ideas, etc. It's like a massive tutorial. I wouldn't expect my students to footnote or reference our seminars (though, bless them, they often do, in a desperate attempt to stay on the right side of our plagiarism rules Smile).

SansaLannister · 03/11/2011 14:17

'Academic achievement should not be based on who you can afford to do your work for you.'

It shouldn't be based on nepotism or cronyism, either, but not uncommonly, it is.

proudfoot · 03/11/2011 14:18

Definitely report her.

Minus273 · 03/11/2011 14:18

Two wrongs don't make a right.

dontrunwithscissors · 03/11/2011 14:18

The problem is that this isn't plagiarism in the 'normal'' sense. I could more than likely spot a plagiarised essay where they had copied from a book and not acknowledged their source. Providing you can find the source, it's easy to prove this. Even if a lecturer suspects an essay has been ghost-written, the chances of being able to prove it are incredibly low. (And, as I said, software is not designed/able to pick up something like this.) There are procedures in place that you have to follow in cases like this. You have to provide proof. (There's a range of punishments at my University, depending upon the severity of the plagiarism.) Even if you do ring the University and tell them what's happening, it's likely that they couldn't do anything about it as they wouldn't have evidence to use against the student. In this case, the only way this would work is if you did the work for her and then blew the whistle on her.

Finally - I have to defend Universities and students. I work d@mned hard on my teaching and the majority of my students also work hard. They are committed and enthusiastic and I'm pretty sure that very little, if any of there work is plaigarised. (See above - it's pretty much impossible.)