Today, my older brother thinks typing out a Wikipedia article for an essay is not plagiarism, because he didn't "copy and paste" it. He's in college. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, my classmate told me she can copy an article from the internet and hand that in, as long as she cites it at the end. FML
Today, I got an A+ on a writing assignment. My teacher asked me three times if I really did write this article myself, and didn't memorise an article from the Internet. FML
Today, I turned in an overdue English assignment at college. My instructor accused me of plagiarism, writing that my sentence structure was "TO" good. Seriously? FML
Today, I got yelled at for 10 minutes by my head of department for failing one of my students for plagiarism, because, "we can't be sure." It was my work he plagiarised, but because it's not in our system, it doesn't count. FML
Today, I collected my students' final essays. One of them submitted a printout of a screenshot he took with his phone. Too bad a browser address bar was still in the shot, along with a "click to read more" link at the bottom. My students are too dumb and lazy to even plagiarize properly. FML
Today, while drunk, my brother got on my computer onto my already logged in Wikipedia account and made a few bad edits. He got me reported for vandalism, sending abusive messages to other editors, and banned from editing, pending appeal. FML
Today, my AP teacher once again accused me of plagiarism. Apparently the words "demise," "ultimately," and "rural," are too sophisticated for an 11th grade AP student to use and MUST have been copied from the Internet. FML
Today, at school, I got in trouble for plagiarizing on a paper. The subject of said paper was where I see myself in ten years. FML
Today, I got a paper back that was given a zero for suspected plagiarism. Everything I wrote was my own thought and analysis. My instructor basically thinks my paper is smarter than I am. He won't listen, even when I explain my thought processes throughout the piece. FML
Today, my brother decided to help me artificially age some of my artwork by singeing the edges slightly. Apparently "my brother set fire to my homework" isn't a valid excuse. FML
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Top comments
devildog562 33
Considering Wikipedia is often wrong and teachers can easily tell when sites are plagiarized, let him do it and learn his lesson.
Kiki242 19
He is in for some trouble. Plagiarism is not taken lightly. Also, how does he NOT know what plagiarism is? My language arts teachers and English teachers have been hammering that in since elementary school.
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Comments (70)
naesha 13
really?????
lexiieeex3 32
Well since OP posted it yes, really.
platinumbking 4
*dislikes your bitchy comment*
LittleBells 17
ya rly
devildog562 33
Considering Wikipedia is often wrong and teachers can easily tell when sites are plagiarized, let him do it and learn his lesson.
LifeAlertTwerk 14
The only problem is that "lesson" could result in expulsion from the college in some serious cases. At the very least, he would fail the paper, and in classes with few grades, he may as well have gotten a poor grade in the course. It's better to let the brother know beforehand and to try and save his grade.
PennyLane27 32
Citing Wikipedia as a source is punishable by death! What OP's brother did... send him to the guillotine!
lnheritance 19
Actually, Wikipedia was changed. Now you can't edit and change information on it. So everything is true on the site. Given OP's brother should know better than to plagiarize..since he can get kicked out of school for that..
edmunson 22
Wikipedia has changed the editing rule, but everything there is definitely NOT TRUE!!
BSnapZ 21
+1 for #34 Let's not exaggerate so much, #33
emisara93 18
Teachers can take your essay, and type in certain phrases into Google, so they can check for plagerism, regardless of whether you copy and pasted, or not. My mother-in-law teaches 6th grade, and she uses this to check for plagerism, among other methods.
RedPillSucks 33
He definitely needs to check. My friend got expelled just for not properly citing a source
IMcPwn 12
Wikipedia is a great place to start, but never use it as a source. The main reason it's hated is because "anyone can edit it" which is true, but if you change something and make it wrong, it will get fixed almost immediately. The problem with that is if you open the page when it's wrong, and you don't refresh it and just take all the information as facts. That's when Wikipedia is wrong. Side note pro tip: click on the links at the bottom of Wikipedia because most of them are reliable resources that can be used as sources to cite.
gatorclay97 28
They did a comparison between the info in the encyclopedia brittannica and Wikipedia and 98% of the stuff on Wikipedia was correct.
zykrithium 22
Yeah and then older brother gets expelled, doomed for life, then moves in with little brother.
Kiki242 19
He is in for some trouble. Plagiarism is not taken lightly. Also, how does he NOT know what plagiarism is? My language arts teachers and English teachers have been hammering that in since elementary school.
tonyfan00 38
Boy that sounds fun... And what kind of second grader goes on to Wikipedia to play copy/paste?
stingray112 24
While I agree with you wholeheartedly, maybe he just actually didn't know (or he was joking idk). Everyone has moments where they learn something that's so simple and they should have known all along and your like "wth how did I never know this" but I dunno maybe he just never payed attention. Just Tryin to defend the guy
Kanick 9
He's going places not college, oh wait...
jojomalone55 16
You know he can be expelled for that right?
MrConcise 35
This is actually pretty typical of college students. Being enrolled in college doesn't mean you're a scholar, intellectual, or even intelligent.
PennyLane27 32
My husband was a TA and had an number of students from China blatantly plaigerising (sometimes from Wikipedia). They claimed that all through school, that was how they had always been taught to complete work. Perhaps it was unique to wherever they were from within China. But he encountered this a number of times over the years, with the same response, uniquely from students from China. They genuinely didn't know it wasn't okay.
AnyaS 19
Exactly. I'm a grad student with a roommate attending college herself and she actually doesn't know how science operates. She thinks any made up ideas can have evidence to back them up and a scientific theory is, at best, a guess.
Ichiya 29
#32 Please for the love of all that is scientific either teach her or kill her. Ill leave the choice to you.
AnyaS 19
I can't teach someone like that. She's an adult in college. If her 3rd grade science teacher didn't get through to her then I can't either.
RedPillSucks 33
Well, as long as she isn't a science student, teacher or politician
MrConcise 35
@51 - It's okay if she's a politician, everybody will think she's lying anyway.
Ichiya 29
#46 that leaves one option left.
_Peppermint_ 34
This is why I am afraid to go to college. Idiots like your brother are allowed there. Ugh.
Goblin182 27
Better stay at home, they are allowed everywhere.
Thunderstruck14 30
Its still better than high school.
stingray112 24
Since you're obviously so smart maybe you should just stay at home and never go to college
PerditaDessa 38
I worked in a review group that went over rough drafts for students at my college and was surprised how many people thought things like this, or didn't know basic grammatical rules; such as capitalization.
work_while_bent 13
Tell him it's all cool. Then let him get expelled.
dudeman1212 22
I feel sorry for your parents. They payed all that money for him to be kicked out :/
Toriahh 21
Not everyone's parents pay for their schooling...