A Sense of Doubt blog post #3412 - How I feel about AI and Plagiarism

A Sense of Doubt blog post #3412 - How I feel about AI and Plagiarism

And so I had my first student submitted project that I am reasonably certain was written all by an AI or in large part.

Even if it wasn't written by AI, the student misused sources in many egregious ways that would indicate that the project was written by AI and the student was trying to add sources to it.

After being told that the GPTZero checker was flawed, I ran my own experiments and found that it was 100% certain that some work that I know was written by my students was AI written.

So, GPTZERO alone is not proof that a piece of writing was written by AI, but it can be one piece of the puzzle along with other indicators and poor use of sources that will help to identify this new form of plagiarism.

Also, apparently, words like "firstly" and "thirdly" are indicators of AI writing.

Then again, if you search for GPTZero, you will also find ways to beat GPTZero.

Whether the project I received was written by AI or not, it features poor source that constitutes plagiarism.

Below is what I wrote to the student after making my determination.

I have removed all identifying information, including the topic of the paper to protect the student's identity. Also, it may be possible that I delayed reporting this incident to further protect the student's identity, so do not assume that this example came from the most recent Spring quarter.

TO THE STUDENT

I regret to inform you that you earned a zero on your final project, and I have submitted it to the college for academic honesty review.

I am not applying the points back system for this zero, and so the previous grades will remain so as to retain your grade of a D in the course, which is sufficient to pass the class and to graduate with an AA degree without having to re-take the course. However, I recommend retaking this English course if you plan to transfer to a four year school in order for you to acquire the necessary skills to survive other classes at that institution: skills with which you have not shown facility in your final project in terms of making an argument, using evidence to support that argument, and accurately citing and referencing source material as evidence.

My determination that you earned a zero on the final draft results from multiple examples of incorrect or inaccurate source use. There are passages of factually-based material that must have been paraphrased from sources and feature no cites. There are other supposed paraphrases that are cited that bear no relation to the content at the indicated place in the source or in any part of the source at all. There are multiple quotes from summary abstracts with citations to articles in which that text does not appear and may not have been written by the authors named in the reference. Many cites do not correspond to end references (as in the reference is not provided). Many end references are not accurate and are missing key elements. In most cases, there are no signal phrases present to introduce sources, and when signal phrases are used they are incomplete and no context for the overall content of the source is provided. Follow up explanations of evidence are either missing entirely or extremely minimal.

These many issues with source use make any other assessment of the organization and argument structure (or lack thereof) of the project irrelevant.

Though the rating by GPTZERO claiming this work is AI generated is insufficient as evidence of plagiarism, when added to the overwhelmingly poor or absent proper citation and use of sources, the project is clearly academically dishonest and thus should earn a grade of zero.

Additionally, when compared to your other writing, the project reads in a completely different style, providing another indicator that it may be plagiarized work.

I gave you multiple chances to ameliorate this situation in how source material was paraphrased, being very clear that I might check each and every citation and source. Reviewing my second draft feedback, I see that much of it was ignored.

I wish you all the best in your future academic career and hope this difficult situation will serve as a valuable learning experience.

Best wishes,

chris tower

AI is a great tool.

I have been showing students hot use it for brainstorming.

Like Wikipedia, I am not of the mind set to advocate against its use entirely.

Wikipedia is the single greatest, collaborative writing project in the history of the human race, and criticism against it are often toothless and deeply inane.

Suggesting that Wikipedia be avoided entirely is a deeply stupid point of view. I wish to sock any teacher who suggests such a thing with a large sock full of horse manure.

Likewise, AI can be a great way to brainstorm. I created an intriguing outline and source list for a research project using it.

Like Wikipedia, it's a starting point not an ending point. It's not a way to circumvent doing actual academic work.

But using it for help is not something to be wholly avoided.

more here:

https://dlabs.ai/blog/ai-powered-content-a-comprehensive-guide-to-engaging-and-plagiarism-free-writing/

In this Blog Post

Do You Really Need To Check ChatGPT Content for Plagiarism?

1. So you can ensure originality

2. So you avoid serious repercussions

3. So you protect your reputation

4. So you’re never caught out

Tools to Check for Plagiarism in AI Content

ChatGPT Itself

PlagiarismDetector

AI Text Classifier by OpenAI

Tips to Avoid Plagiarism in AI Content

1. Source Ideas from ChatGPT, Not the Actual Words

2. Find and Cite Your Sources

3. Maintain Authenticity by Fact-Checking

Takeaway: Use ChatGPT Wisely, And You’ll Write Well

CHECKER

GPTZERO

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2406.21 - 10:10

- Days ago = 3276 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.