OT: Nooooo Sparty!
Boy, Sparty just can't seem to stop stepping on his own dick. Even the professors are thieves. See the link if interested but a professor is being nailed for plagarism. http://www.freep.com/article/20110419/NEWS06/110419021/MSU-professor-accused-plagiarism-school-study?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE Way to set a good example for the students. I guess the Sparties are right, there's no difference between the education at Michigan and Michigan's Secondbest University.
April 19th, 2011 at 11:07 AM ^
Michigan's Secondbest University? Did this happen at K College? Or GVSU? Now I'm confused.
I think "Michigan Secondtier University" is more accurate.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:00 PM ^
I can testify that this did not happen at K. I'm diggin the K reference as well
This happened with some math researchers at CMU last year
im guessing not carnegie mellon
Michigan Staee University?
April 19th, 2011 at 11:10 AM ^
Second best university? Hey! The University of Michigan-Dearborn is a very good school!
April 19th, 2011 at 12:00 PM ^
I would say that Dearborn and Flint are the second best in the state.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:48 PM ^
I'm a UM-D student, haha. Wouldn't say we're THAT good but definitely top 5 public uni in the state
which isn't hard
April 19th, 2011 at 11:11 AM ^
Didn't read it because it was from the freep, but the gist, contained in the link, is pretty funny. I wonder how students who got F's for plagarized papers feel now?
April 19th, 2011 at 11:17 AM ^
They'll probably never figure it out. Most of them don't read the paper or any form of news.
They'll probably never figure it out. Most of them don't read the paper or any form of news.
April 19th, 2011 at 11:15 AM ^
April 19th, 2011 at 11:17 AM ^
In today's world, you have to think that someone who's job is literally research would understand how hard it is to publish material that isn't theirs and pass it off.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:52 PM ^
Research can also be used to find cheaper shopping supplies.
Anyway, that line is my favorite. I really hope that's actually a TP paper for class.
April 19th, 2011 at 11:17 AM ^
To be fair, this probably happens more than people would expect at Universities. There is a fine line between citations and acknowledging credit, and there is an equally fine distinction between expousing a view held by others and stealing an idea outright. And plagarism at a high-academic level is different than the sophomore who copies the paper one of his frat mates or roommates turned in last year for the same class. That said, pretty sad to be caught like this.
April 19th, 2011 at 11:36 AM ^
After reading the article, it sounds like he didn't do his due dilligence in properly citing other people, not that he was outright copying content or other people's ideas. Definitely a screw-up on his part, but not exactly the same thing as stealing other people's work to pass off as your own (as far as I can tell).
April 19th, 2011 at 12:19 PM ^
Googling shows other articles, this one from September 2010 that shows he DID outright copy entire sentences and paragraphs.
Here is a more comprehensive article detailing the charges and outcomes, including the 'cuse prof calling his work "naive" and "not an appropriate use of scientific evidence.”
So what it looks like is that there was a 'cuse research study which he basically copied and misapplied to Michigan school districts without going through the rigor of actual research on his own part. That's clearly plagiarism.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:42 PM ^
I definitely didn't look further into this. If he's copying entire chunks of text without quoting or citing things, that's a different ball of wax, entirely. It also sounds like he's just a bad researcher, if he's just copying and pasting other studies on to different samples.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
For the record, I believe it's the reverse, "Sparty, noooooo"
April 19th, 2011 at 12:33 PM ^
Michael Jahr, senior director of communications for the Mackinac Center, said the center stumbled upon portions of the allegedly plagiarized report after Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek raised concerns about the report’s legitimacy and began comparing the MSU study to the Syracuse University study on which it was based. “The opening paragraphs were the same,” Jahr said. “There were no attributions, no footnotes. We found a large number of places where text was nearly verbatim. So what started out as concern for inadequate scholarship led us to what appears to be plagiarism.”http://www.statenews.com/index.php/article/2010/08/plagiarism_case_cont… Although I don't condone what was done, especially if its verbatim. But I only recently learned that even paraphrasing is considered plagiarism.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:44 PM ^
Paraphrasing is fine, provided you properly cite what you're paraphrasing. If researchers weren't allowed to paraphrase previous work when writing up their own work, publishing would be near impossible and the resulting manuscripts would be of very limited utility by removing relevant context.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:49 PM ^
where literally every paragraph has a citatioin, and you're like, "Seriously? Did you do ANY research yourself?"
Depends on what you're reading and what you consider research. If you're reading a history book, for instance, pouring through pre-existing text is research. Even if the author has uncovered new information, the primary source for that "new" information (e.g., letters, diaries, unpublished manuscripts, etc) needs to be cited.
Generally speaking, brand new (experimental) research will get published in scholarly journal articles, in which case the meat of the manuscript (i.e., the methods and results sections) are relatively lean on citations, because that's where the new material is being presented. Intros and discussions are mostly for providing theoretical background, context, and implications of the results.
is a tool. I know because he's my brother. And he's not really a tool. Most of the time.
Honestly, there are tons of researchers who either fail to see the significance of citing or don't properly know how to cite. Some cite at the end or beginning of studies rather than throughout, but this guy appears to have done none of the above.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:39 PM ^
IMHO, Wayne State is the #2 school in the state. They have a huge Medical research center, a complete Law school, great engineering, etc.
April 19th, 2011 at 12:49 PM ^
an average student ACT score of 17 along with piss-poor admissions
How do you even get a 17? You have to answer signifigantly more than half the test incorrectly to get to that level, atleast based on the conversion chart I was shown in HS to predict the results of a practice test.
I had a buddy in HS get an 18. Thankfully he can play in the USHL now, but I have no idea what he's going to do after.
Don't hate on low scores, I know a lot of people who have gotten in the 17-19 range and are still very successful after college. My brother got a 19 and he is very happily working abroad. One test isn't necessarily an indicator of future success.
I'm not, but in this particular case it is accurate. That's where my concern stems from.
How do you get a 17?
Ask DPS.
Is a professor being accused of plagiarism that rare (or in any way unique to MSU)? My impression - and correct me if I'm off-base - is that there is plenty of plagiarism that goes on in academia, including the highest bastions.
It does sound like this particular professor was really bad at plagiarism. Perhaps he needs some coaching from an expert:
How do I reach these keeeeds?!
how hard is to cite your sources? jeeze louise, I am wondering how this joker even get an appointment at a major research university. I think I am safe to assume this guy doesn't have tenure.
Position:
Professor - Fixed Term
So yeah, seems you're correct sir.
ignore
is not second best university...Grand Valley has passed them up recently
I dig it. +1 for you, sir.
Original: "Shakrani told the Associated Press today he won't comment until he reads the report."
There I Fixed It: "Shakrani told the Associated Press today he won't comment until he reads the report and tries to pass it off as his own."
Sparty NOoooooo!
I blatantly plagarized that.