Would you buy an essay from these people?

[robinturner]

The papers contained within our web site are for research purposes only! You may not turn in our papers as your own work! You must cite our website as your source! Turning in a paper from our web site as your own is plagerism and is illegal!

"Plagerism"?

Just to conform with their request and cite appropriately, I should mention that this is from directessays.com.

Comments

devil's advocate

[aguirre.livejournal.com]

not that I do plagerize, but for arguments sake, why is it so important not to plagerize?

I mean legally, unless the person is making a profit or attempting to copywrite or patent plagerized material, then it only matters in terms of cheating issues.

Socially everyone plagerizes or copies other people all the time. Can you imagine what a society would be like if everyone was always attempting to be completely original and different from everyone else. Social interaction would become such a striated, fragmented, and schizophrenic activity that it would no longer make sense.

on the other hand, if someone copied what I just wrote here I would want to practice my jiu jitsu on them.

I suppose also, it is important to learn how to conform our thought processes in line with the subject being taught, instead of relying on the results of someone else doing so.

Re: devil's advocate

[harpersromo.livejournal.com]

My answer:
Because Intellectual Thought isn't some postmodern all-you-can-eat buffet. The concept of 'sampling' in music has somehow bled into the written word, hence no sense of propriety about anything in terms of the written word.

Re: devil's advocate

[solri.livejournal.com]

The important point is not to be completely original, but to acknowledge where you got your ideas. Some teachers explain plagiarism as stealing intelectual property, but IP is such a thorny philosophical and legal issue, I avoid this explanation (even if you accept the idea of intellectual property - which I don't really - what about plagiarising works in the public domain). Rather, I present plagiarism as a form of lying. Except for well-known facts, if you don't cite, you are implying that this is an original idea, when it isn't, and trying to take credit for someone else's work.

[harpersromo.livejournal.com]

Ha, Christ, that's rich.
And to think, LOTS of idiot students probably journey there.