cheating

[gusl]

Up until today, whenever I saw students using unclear or imprecise language in their homeworks, I always assumed this was due to either poor writing skills (including fluency in English), or haste, or possibly an attempt to disguise one's imprecise ideas. (I think that I have been guilty of the latter, at least once)

Now I realize that, sometimes, they are attempts to hide the fact that they copied someone else's answer, without even bothering to write it in their own words. Instead, they change "all" to "any", and similar transformations.

Comments

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

The cheating thing is *sooo* weak. I've seen it. It's obnoxious, in the "oh come ON, you didn't think I was going to NOTICE?" kind of sense.

A lot of the imprecision in language that I've seen (and used) has been due to a lack of understanding that you are being imprecise.

[the-locster.livejournal.com]

"[Ultimately] you're only cheating yourself" - The standard mantra is true.

[surrey-sucks.livejournal.com]

Cheating...ugh.

After seeing my grades, I tell myself, "It's about understanding, not the grade", but in the end, it is about the grade :( I don't cheat, of course. Anyway, cheating would require memorizing what you copied from someone, and I have a horrible memory. It's just easier to understand.

[kartiksg.livejournal.com]

People don't believe that cheaters will get caught. The thing they forget is that the grader (if they are competent) has spent so much time looking at the code/proof/work relevant to that field of study that they can recognize matches much better than anyone in the class. I have had cheaters in my class who thought they were clever by ripping off from some of my own code that was online.... like... really guys?