Plagiarism on Final Examination Resulting Low Marks

LoanMusk on 19/06/2020 - 14:13
Last edited 19/06/2020 - 16:13

Hi all,

I posted the same on whirlpool but had to post here to reach more audience. Apologise if it breaks any rules but might need a solution fast. Did search the forum but could not find a suitable solution so thought of posting my question.

My friend did her final examination last week at Top Education Institute, Hobart and she got just 10% as the final mark for a Business subject. The exam was conducted online and she was given two articles as examination material.

When inquired about the low marks, the lecturer replied because she got higher similarity on Turnitin, 70%. But it was because Turnitin analysed the Examination questions as well.

The question is, can you copy content from examination material and use it on your answers. Like statements? And should the lecturer just check for the content she has written? Realistically, I don’t think its plagiarism if anyone would be referring to their examinations materials for supporting their ideas.

She already emailed and was told her that Provost and the Dean have investigated this matter and they made this decision. Is there something she could do.

Link to the original Turnitin report.
It's a WeTransfer link, and free of viruses.
https://we.tl/t-5AsTwRjIqC

Thank you!

Education & Work

Comments

  • Seraphin7 on 19/06/2020 - 18:17
    +1

    If 70% of your examination response has been copy/pasted from the examination material, you probably should be getting about 10% for a final mark.

    Are you saying that "your friend" only actually wrote about 30% of the submitted content?

  • mbck on 19/06/2020 - 21:06
    +6

    Is your friend, friends with this guy?

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/australia-n…

    • SydStrand on 20/06/2020 - 01:08
      +3

      Oh god, he filmed a video response

      • aliam on 21/06/2020 - 18:57

        I hope he gets the help and support he wants and needs. He admits he has a mental health issue in that video. Reading the stuff in the print media at the time, his case seemed doomes to failure.

  • Simoneee on 19/06/2020 - 21:42
    +1

    Lucky your friend didn't get zero for the final exam. You shouldn't copy and paste the material from the extract but reword the sentence into your own and reference the source.

  • LoanMusk on 19/06/2020 - 22:19
    +5

    Thanks for your feedback, really appreciate it :)
    Overall, I also don't think she has done a good job in answering the questions properly since they seem too short mostly just quotes but I an not an expert in Business myself so I don't have the slightest idea of that she is trying to convene :) I was just worried because the instructed told her that she failed just due to plagiarism.

    Anyway, she will be sitting for the exam again, and hoping to do a better job, so thanks again :)

    • Quantumcat on 20/06/2020 - 07:54
      +9

      Sitting the exam again is an excellent outcome. I hope she gets a tutor and studies really hard between now and then.

    • nicbaz on 20/06/2020 - 12:08
      +2

      I think she's lucky to be sitting the exam again - and lucky to not have been excluded from the unit or from the university!
      https://www.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/636924/P…

      She may need also to familiarise herself the subject material, as it appears from her answers that she has little to no understanding of the content.

      Fortunately for taxpayers those who study, one cannot simply rephrase the question/copy the case study, and hope to pass a university-level exam.

      • Zephyrus on 22/06/2020 - 11:23
        +1

        It's not UTas, it's a private higher ed place. They're normally a little more lax and a little more fly by night.

    • dengziyi on 21/06/2020 - 21:29

      If she wishes to pass, she needs to study up on how to write exams. I'm not sure how friendly she is with the lecturer/tutor, but I'd highly suggest seeing them asap. These answers describe WAY too much, eg re-explanations of Ackoff's argument. She says she disagrees with the assertion, but doesn't explain why.

      Hope these can be useful tips to her

    • syousef on 22/06/2020 - 06:14

      Small tip. One of tha parts she didn't copy she used the phrase "do the needful" twice. I think she meant "do what is needed". I've seen this turn of phrase before from individual with English as a second language, so I assume this is a literal translation of a foreign phrase? Whatever it is, phrasing it this way is not just incorrect - it is jarringly so.

      • ssquid on 22/06/2020 - 15:21

        It's a very common turn of phrase used by Indians, technically not incorrect just outdated. The same as how people in the US would look at you funny if you used the word "fortnight", at least up until a few years ago before the game of the same name was created.

        • Cliche Guevara on 22/06/2020 - 15:59

          They would probably still look at you funny since "fortnight" and "Fortnite" are spelt (or spelled…) differently and don't have the same meaning…

  • sarahlump on 20/06/2020 - 02:53
    -6

    Use your universities formal appeals process, if that doesn't work go to the ombudsman.

    • ozbjunkie on 20/06/2020 - 12:14
      +13

      Be sure to copy the entire appeal from some internet source where another person has lodged an appeal.

      • sarahlump on 21/06/2020 - 10:36
        -2

        Students are allowed to appeal a university decision. The student may not be happy with the outcome but they are still allowed to do so.

  • BangkokBreakfast on 20/06/2020 - 08:04
    +2

    Even if you ignore the poor grammar, American spelling and vague answers, there are parts of this which are clearly plagiarised. After reading the exam I don’t think ‘your friend’ is totally innocent imo.

  • fozzie on 20/06/2020 - 08:16

    I’m afraid turnit is very reliable. 70% is way to high, sounds like the most of the exam was coping and pasting the article.

    • knk on 21/06/2020 - 15:55
      +1

      And even then, they're not going to fail you purely based on the 70% result.

      This has 100% been independently reviewed and all turnitin did was flag the issue.

      Plagiarism is taken very seriously.

  • OzCheapo on 20/06/2020 - 09:17

    It's really unusual because most examiners wouldn't spring a Turnitin in the final exams without a trial project to show how it works. So either "your friend" didn't familiarise herself with how it works or doesn't understand how to answer a question.

  • Sharp on 20/06/2020 - 09:22
    +9

    Your friend copy/pasted pretty much everything and her English is not good enough to paraphrase what she copy/pasted.

    I also see she copy/pasted someone else's typo and Turnitin caught it, which is funny :)

  • gromit on 20/06/2020 - 09:47
    +2

    Edit actually read the answers. To be honest I don't think she did cheat, but damn the answers are terrible and she should be happy with 10%, she really hasn't answered well and if that is what is achieved in 3 hours then sorry but even if they don't get her on plagurism her score isn't going to improve much.

  • funnysht on 20/06/2020 - 10:27
    +1

    Didnt she submit it before hand seeing 70% then resubmit it ?

    • ribze1 on 20/06/2020 - 22:31

      Exactly, it warns you first. Zero symphony.

      • Vancomycin 1000mg on 21/06/2020 - 02:56

        During final examination, resubmissions are not allowed. That's the case at my uni right now.

      • knk on 21/06/2020 - 15:56

        Not always.

        We had 2 units where we had to upload documents via Canvas this semester which were apparently run through turnitin afterwards. We didn't have the conventional turnitin interface where you submit and see your percentage afterwards.

        Even if you did, in these cases where you're pressed for time you might not have the time to actually resubmit.

        That said, downright obvious plagiarism lol

    • dengziyi on 21/06/2020 - 21:32

      Likely you can't resubmit, and Turnitin can take 10mins+ to mark similarity

  • psy on 20/06/2020 - 11:00
    +6

    Question 1, Answer 4
    https://books.google.com.au/books?id=1ZFO8XMJuwgC&pg=PA248&l…

    • johnwinkle on 20/06/2020 - 11:47
      +4

      Nice find didn't even attempt to paraphrase or change wording

    • aliam on 21/06/2020 - 19:23

      That shows the person just copied and pasted from that textbook in their answer. It's almost word for word, and clearly shows that the program to detect plagiarism is working in this case.

      The OP should really speak to his "friend" and suggest that this is cheating and unacceptable.

  • nignucial on 20/06/2020 - 11:09

    BTW you probably shouldn't share the exam questions online either…

    • resisting the urge on 20/06/2020 - 11:19
      +1

      But if everyone stopped sharing, how else would anyone else getgoogle them?

    • Dsquall on 21/06/2020 - 16:58

      I think you definitely should share exam questions online. The only reason institutions discourage it is so that it gives them license to be lazy and not create new question banks. When you're paying 2-20k a semester, I don't think a few tailored questions is too much to ask.

  • johnwinkle on 20/06/2020 - 11:29

    Well if she got 70% similarity for putting down the questions why wouldn't have everyone also gotten 70%? Seems like only she had this problem..

    • OzBarAnon on 21/06/2020 - 20:07

      Depending on how you've been told to answer questions, many might not restate the question within their answer. For instance, "I agree with the author's claims. (Student's answer)" compared to "I agree with the author's claim that (restatement) because (own justification)".

      That being said, OP's friend totally plagiarised (70% is waaay too high for just context restatements), and seemingly doesn't even have a good grasp of English, let alone understand the course material.

  • node modules on 20/06/2020 - 11:51
    +1

    Plagiarism is wrong. However, I'm surprised that they would care about it. I used to work at a major university and we would repeatedly give students empty threats that this is the last time the Faculty will tolerate this kind of practice.

    • ozbjunkie on 20/06/2020 - 12:17
      +5

      I dont work with universities, but many of my friends went on to tutor and lecture. They say that the amount of paperwork required to fail someone, and the amount of pushback from university leadership when the person you want to fail is an OS student, mean the new effective fail grade is 50% or 51%.

      The universities want money so much, that they are prepared to give this obvious cheater a chance to resit, rather than failing her.

      Hey, at least they aren't giving her 51% for this obvious trash.

      • grimo82 on 20/06/2020 - 13:21
        +7

        added this above but also relevant:

        not far off!

        im studying post grad though one of the big business schools and had to ask the lecturer to stop issuing group assignments as im sick of rewriting everyone's work as it makes zero sense (99% Chinese international student).

        When asked what the the expectation around grammar, use of English, straight up copying texts to 'making any sense at all' was…. to his credit he said they know its an issue but the uni chooses to believe it isnt and wont fail anyone because they cant read it - they will just try and find 'inferred meaning' in what they can understand! WTF? … absolute craziness @ $60K a hit and just devalues it for everyone.

        • ozbjunkie on 20/06/2020 - 17:22
          +6

          Agree wholeheartedly.

          A disturbing trend is that if you appear to be a native English speaker, but you submit an assignment with 3 or more sentences which are essentially word-salad, unreadable, or lacking sufficient structure to be considered a complete sentence, you will barely pass.

          However, if you are obviously a non-native English speaker, and submit an assignment where every single sentence is essentially a meaningless combination of words, you can achieve a credit or distinction.

          This two tiered marking system reflects our two tiered payment system, and cheapens the experience for everyone.

          Couldn't agree more.

          • monkeyfood on 20/06/2020 - 20:59
            +1

            @ozbjunkie: can relate from personal experience

          • OzBarAnon on 21/06/2020 - 20:18

            @ozbjunkie: Totally agree. English is actually my second language (though my first one has seen so little use that I'm at probably at beginner level with it now) and at one point I had a group report to do with 2 international students, neither of whom had good English writing skills. Before this, we had individual reports to write (the group one would basically be a continuation of these and coalescing of ideas). We decided to share our individual reports so we could draw bits and pieces from them, and when I read theirs, both were near incomprehensible. I was actually shocked that they had managed >70% marks on them.

            • ozbjunkie on 22/06/2020 - 09:06

              @OzBarAnon: Except for your use of whom, your English is exemplary (gosh I hope I'm right on that, I'm just using the he/him rule).

              I used to bristle at group assignments until I realised that the explanation "they prepare you for the nature of collaborative work in your chosen vocation" was all too true - be prepared to carry weak, incompetent or plain lazy members of your team, while they benefit unfairly from your extra efforts".

              It's the two sides coin of competence, either you do more work and remain more secure in your job, or you coast easily from role to role knowing you are expendable at best.

        • dengziyi on 21/06/2020 - 21:44
          +2

          I'm also doing postgrad. I really dislike the idea of dismissing international students. International postgrad students are some of the hardest working students I've ever met and this sort of situation doesn't go away when you get into the workplace. Instead you should view your English mastery as a skill you bring to the group and delegate work accordingly. As a native speaker, I did most/all of the editing, but in exchange, had to do less research. I still learned the same material due to the editing.

          They can do excellent work, so instead of viewing it as a hindrance, maybe consider working with it?

  • OzHunterNSW on 20/06/2020 - 12:12

    NO…. that is plagiarism as the lecturer has pointed out. Otherwise it is simply cut and paste course.

    Tell your friend to study and apply themselves next time rather than seeking the short cut way through life.

  • ozhub on 20/06/2020 - 12:17
    +15

    I am a senior lecturer who reviews turnitin reports for each assessment in the subjects I teach. I had a look at the turnitin report. There is definitely plagiarism throughout - one of the worst I've seen in a decade. Obviously the questions are not problematic similarities as it is obvious to the marker where these questions originated. If this paper was marked without the turnitin report, the marker would not be able to distinguish between the student's original work and work written by others and used by the student. Therefore the student is presenting other people's work as her own, and seeking to gain credit from it. It also advantages the student over other students who are writing from their own understanding, rather than reproducing what experts have written. Even if this student had appropriately differentiated her own work from directly quoted work, I could only mark the words that were original as we give marks for the student's understanding, not their editing skills, and we cannot give marks for content written by others. This student would not have received many marks as so little of their work was originating with them. The student was lucky not to have been given a 0 for such severe plagiarism. The fact the student appeals what I think was a very generous result for essentially cheating shows that she really doesn't understand how to be academically honest in using other sources, or what is expected in writing tasks.
    The best way you can help your friend is urge her to seek academic tutoring in how to appropriately use other sources in academic writing. I suspect that if she does it again in another assessments, the penalties will get harsher with each new serious academic misconduct discovered (e.g. fail the assessment, fail the course, or eject from the degree).

  • peterpeterpumpkin on 20/06/2020 - 12:29
    +12

    I read a comment by someone that "used to mark university examinations". He'd "probably mark that exam somewhere between 10-20% at best, ignoring the obvious plagiarism". He would say "Your friend doesn't answer the questions being asked so her assessment reflects that".

    He "suspects the lecturer deferred to turnitin's report of plagiarism as an easy way to avoid confrontation with the student. It's difficult telling students that their ability is poor."

    In conclusion, that's the end of my essay.

    • ozbjunkie on 22/06/2020 - 09:07

      10% effort,

      100% truth.

  • Loopenip on 20/06/2020 - 15:23

    To play Devil's advocate - I just want to point out some obvious issues with turn-it-in that this brings up, Questions and the cover sheet add to your %, and then it highlights words such as "it is", "to" and "the" so I'm not sure what it's trying to say is plagiarized in these cases?

    However regarding her issues answering the questions, if you're copy-pasting you have to "" quote them properly. Consequently, if you're just paraphrasing you actually have to paraphrase not just copy-pasta. (At least to my understanding).
    Regardless of these minor things I mention, I think the answers in general need a bit of work… They seem to miss the mark a bit.

    • Jules855 on 20/06/2020 - 15:29
      +3

      Those issues you mention are the same for every single student, and those marking the assessments are well aware it is the case. It has nothing to do with why this student received 10%.

  • [Deactivated] on 20/06/2020 - 19:58

    I'm sure if all those years studying really paid off.

    can you copy content from examination material and use it on your answers. Like statements

    Only if it was written by you, in a way that does not indicate course materials then sure, but copying it by thought line be line is no different then cutting and pasting.

    But hay who am I to judge, university's make money, but they won't be for long.

    • bmerigan on 20/06/2020 - 22:27

      There's not many people that can memorise that much text to be able to write it out perfectly. Not just the concept, not even the key words in each sentence, this is perfectly matched copy/paste text.

      • [Deactivated] on 20/06/2020 - 23:34

        So what are you suggesting that there should be a threshold on what constitutes copy and paste or just no copy and paste at all.

        So let's summerise

        Question one: describe a algorithm that explains a system we use every day.

        Question two: in regards to question one, in what way would such a algorithm benefit when deploying (example work safely procedures) through a step by step system.

        Question three in-regards to question one, how could you improve a algorithm with more details from question two?

        Question four: What types of algorithms can you break down (similarly to what does not evaluate to question two) in finner detail.

  • bmerigan on 20/06/2020 - 22:25
    +3

    She copy/pasted 70% of the text she submitted. That's not leaving much space for proving that she actually understands the question.
    Also keep in mind it's the same standard for everyone, if the other students can do it so can she.

    A 10% final mark for the subject suggests that no matter what exam result she received she would not have passed the subject.

  • jace88 on 20/06/2020 - 23:31
    +1

    I found this incredibly painful to read. Without even looking at the readings, it's clear that they've looked for key words or terms, and then googled them, and used that to answer the question, and sometimes with very non sensical results. It's what I'd imagine the results would look like if Siri was siting the exam!

    I'd suggest your friend really needs to assess whether they have any depth in understanding of the course/subject matter.

    • [Deactivated] on 21/06/2020 - 00:02

      The irony there is, most who graduate never really utilise the defined meanings in course subjects, it's just a necessary framework however that does not always mean the same thing in engendering or computer science when on the job.

      • BartholemewH on 21/06/2020 - 00:56
        +2

        I agree (former engendering student and now qualified engenderer).

      • jace88 on 21/06/2020 - 08:37
        +1

        True, but regardless of that, the responses in the exam still don't make sense.

        I remember when I finished my post grad studies, the speech at the ceremony basically said it's not about what you learnt, but what it says about you.

  • T1OOO on 21/06/2020 - 01:35
    +1

    Everything is plagiarism….. the dictionary locked in all the words and saw to that.

  • T1OOO on 21/06/2020 - 01:44
    +1

    Yeah ok read the paragraph regarding data redundancy. Yeah so redundancies arnt back ups which you restore persay - not in today’s world atleast. It means if data base 1 goes down the the application has access to database 2 and can continue working. Back ups would take a long time to restore and there would be outages atleast untill the old data missing is restored. In business continuity you have operational redundancies but also back ups provide full business continuity is the change of a major insident.

    I honestly feel like she way just market terriablely coz her answers were terriable.

    • jace88 on 21/06/2020 - 08:38
      +4

      I read that and thought there's better (and more coherent) responses in the average hard drive shucking for a NAS thread on OzBargain.

  • utsc on 21/06/2020 - 12:10
    +2

    Successful functioning market place requires the following:
    1) Willing Buyer
    2) Willing Seller

    Therefore the one of comments above should be modified as follows:
    1) Buyer - Congratulations on buying your university degree.
    2) Seller - Congratulations on Selling your university degree and devaluing Australian Qualifications.

    I used to work as a part time lecturer and the program director was extremely unhappy if an international student fails a unit and the unit coordinator was required write a report for each student that fails the unit. I was paid fixed amount per unit and I don't get any extra compensation for writing individualized reports explaining why each student failed the unit. Therefore if 50 students failed then writing 50 reports is definitely not fun. In summary unit coordinators are encouraged to pass the student and save time and also make the program director happy.

    International students at Murdoch University are being investigated for cheating and some have such poor English they are taking interpreters to class, prompting academics to question whether the university needs to review entry standards in its drive to lift enrollments.

    https://thewest.com.au/news/education/international-students…

    The bottom line is that the University is primarily responsible and also the Australian Government for turning a blind eye and issuing visa without requiring proof of English competency. Approximately 5 years ago Australian government required proof of English competency to issue partner visa's but apparently proof of English competency is not required even for postgraduate studies such as MBA's

    USA and Canada will not issue student visa's without proof of adequate English competency.

    • grimo82 on 21/06/2020 - 20:11

      My course has two Chinese speaking 'lecturer assistants'!!!! It's a joke.

      • ssquid on 21/06/2020 - 21:26

        That doesn't necessarily sound bad? 20 years ago when I was doing comp. sci the lecturer's time was always monopolized by foreign students needing things repeatedly explained because of their poor english.

  • SupeNintendoChalmers on 21/06/2020 - 15:15

    used Turnitin for all my subjects to do my Masters. The highest similarity I got was 18%, and this was for a maths subject.

    Your "friend" dead set cheated.

    • Yuri Lowell on 21/06/2020 - 22:04

      Open book isn't cheating. She just needed to paraphrase better.

  • reshre8 on 21/06/2020 - 15:30

    “Your friend” has about 38% plagerism without the 33% from the question. My uni straight away fails you and reports you to the academic board for anaything over 25. “Your friend” is very lucky.

  • TerryJustTerry on 21/06/2020 - 16:02
    +1

    Hey, so I just finished my exams from my uni and I think I can see where she went wrong.

    Firstly, you can not under any circumstances copy-paste from the resources provided without quoting them and referencing them correctly (some exams will allow you to not do a reference list because of time constraints but I seriously doubt any would allow you to not cite currently in the text).

    Secondly, Paraphrasing paraphrasing paraphrasing, that is what they want you to do, you read the sources then put it in your own words and then cite which one you got it from with an in-text citation. If you do not cite it correctly and do not use quotation marks it is just straight-up plagiarism, sorry but that is what that is.

    Thirdly, all the tutors and lecturers are taught how to use turnitin, it is not a plagiarism checker it is a similarity checker, they all also know how to exclude correctly cited material if it is wrongly highlighted as similar to past material. Each uni typically has a limit of similarity that your essay or exam may contain AFTER they make all the adjustments to exclude the incorrectly highlighted material (off the top of my head I believe my unit's is 20% then your mark drops significantly and 30% your mark is 0%).

    To sum it up, If the Dean has already had a look over it and concluded the same as probably her lecturer and their department head then its pretty set in stone.
    If you want to write anything that you did not come up with (with the exclusion of it being a well known common fact) then you need to cite correctly even under exam circumstances, E.g for my recent exam I was given 2 different texts to use to construct a short essay, I used 1 direct quote and about 6 in-text citations to support my arguments but I paraphrased all 6 as if I didn't, I'm not writing an essay I am combining 2 different texts into one.
    excuse typo's running for a train

  • Dsquall on 21/06/2020 - 16:56
    +1

    'Plagiarism' is such a broad concept. As a researcher I often use other people's ideas and concepts, and it's a critical part of any higher level education you might do later on. Everyone understands that genuinely original ideas and concepts are hard to come by, essentially you spend your whole PhD maybe developing one or two, the rest is just cited based on existing work.

    However, you have to reference properly and paraphrase. I have had used turnitin for my undergrad honors and I think that one had a similarity of 60% but that was a science piece that referenced hundreds of different things. Unfortunately based on your PDF the questions are much more subjective and ask for your friend's interpretation and position. I think in that context while it is okay to rely on the work and opinion of others, you do need to make an attempt to analyse that work, cite appropriately and critique why you do or do not agree with that position rather than passing it off as your own.

  • greatlamp on 21/06/2020 - 20:49
    +1

    I have used turn it in as an exam marker. It highlights passages and gives a percentage similarity. It doesn't just give an overall percentage.

    It highlights passages that may be plagarised, and it is up to the grader to check they have been referenced. So even if you have references you get a high % similarity.

    It is very easy to see if the areas outside the quotation marks are highlighted as similar.

  • logistics on 22/06/2020 - 04:22

    I used Turnitin for my final Thesis when I was at UNI. I thought it was a smart idea before submitting it.

    Imagine my shock when it said I had plagiarised material.

    But after reviewing it, I found they were references from my earlier work :p

    • Zephyrus on 22/06/2020 - 11:38

      Yeah, you just need to cite it. A negative Turnitin result means you haven't plagiarised, the inverse is not true but it lets you filter out a bunch of fine essays you don't care about and points you to the dodgy parts of the dodgy ones.

  • SteveBuscemi on 22/06/2020 - 09:35

    Plagiarism or not, the responses to the questions are woefully inadequate and demonstrate a complete lack of understanding of the underlying concepts.

  • Smile0670 on 22/06/2020 - 09:55
    +1

    Turnitin is only a software that finds the similarities, it is assessor who make final decision. Anything above 50% (as it is done only 50% of what u asked for) will be flagged and assessors will look in to the turnitin report and determine if it is plagiarism, collusion or collaboration etc. Some assignments may be group with individual submissions like, individuals have to use group’s findings and add their analysis and submit. In this case the percentage will be high as all group members will be using same data but the analysis should be different(or at least on their own words). And there are few other cases also were u could get a higher turnitin percentage and not cheating.
    Here, it is clear It’s only 30% is her own work (Not getting into the contents). I would say she is extremely lucky that the uni allowed for re-exam rather than redoing unit. Usually if you fail in final exam which will be a hurdle for a pass in unit, u have to redo whole unit ie wait for a year and pay full unit fee and do all assignments etc.
    Most uni have lots of study groups, mentors etc. for helping students in need. Ask her to make appointment with them or speak to unit chair for any help (most of them will be very busy but they can guide you or maybe can arrange some research students working under them to help you).

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