To use the term 'sufferers' in relation to depressed people?

[Flojobunny]

Is it ethical?
I have changed the words individuals with depression, depressed people etc to sufferers of depression. Mainly so the clever plagiarism programme my uni use won't pick it up!
AIBU?

The time you've wasted on here probably could have been spent rewriting the paragraph that you plan to plagiarise. Turnitin will identify you as a plagiariser. Don't do it!

An experienced lecturer won't need turnitin to identify plagiarism because:

a) he will tell the difference in prose style from that and the surrounding passages (students never get this: they really believe that their own unadulterated prose sounds exactly like that of some of the greatest writers in the field)

b) he will have read the works that you have read and as he reads the same works every year there is a good chance he will remember them

I pick up far more cases of plagiarism on sheer style every year than I am directed to by turnitin

and there is never any need: if you want to use somebody else's work- acknowledge, acknowledge, acknowledge

I don't have a problem with the word sufferers (and I have depression myself) but think you should just leave the paragraph as it is and cite the reference, why is that a problem?

I am trying to move away from using 'suffering from' to describe my depression - but that is a very personal choice, based on where I am right now.

Perhaps Flojobunny could C&P the paragraph here and some of us can see if we can help paraphrase it?

I dont have a problem with the word "sufferer" I have in the past said that I suffer with depression.

Re the plagiarism. Turnitin is scary! We uplaoded most of our college assignments through it this year, waiting for a plagiarism score was nerve racking!
How accurate is it though? On one assignment, one of the highlighted bits was the word "and" which apparently submitted to The Uni of.somewhere in 2009 surely I'm allowed to use the word "and"? Even my college tutor was confused!

Can't you just summarise what they said and then reference it? Or just use a quote? The markers will be looking for evidence that you have read widely on the topic area, so better to reference it and then you won't be picked up as copying someone else's work.

OP, if you continue with the plagiarism, you'll be suffering from depression yourself when you're found out

Using ''sufferers'' is annoying and outdated. ''Individuals battling depression'', ''those with depression'', ''individuals who have depression''... Depression is the addition to the person, not the summary of them. But for convenience sakes, you won't be the first to use ''sufferers''.

You are, however, both unethical and foolish to plagiarize. You will be caught out, and it will screw you over.

Maybe I should have left the plaigirism comment out. I'm sure some people think I have copied and pasted 4,000 words! When it had less to do with me copying anything and more to do with my fear of turnitin!
I have rejigged it and stuck extra references in for bits I think sound like others. I think I just read their work so many times that when I come to read my own work I think it sounds just like one I've read elsewhere.
Some great tips though thankyou.
I kept suffers from depression and dropped sufferers.

Call them people rather than individuals for a start! I have a variety of mental and physical health probs, I definitely suffer with them and would not be offended if someone actually recognised this for once.

You could just say people who have/experience depression?

Ok, I have clinical depression - whatever that means, I may have it, but I'm not sure exactly what it means. I definitely suffer from it though, and would use the term 'suffers'. As manic said upthread, it's not a disability, it's an illness.

You can't plagiarise though, you'll have to find a way to express what you want to say in your words.