This is an unusual question

[Mr.Blank1.5]

Hi, for the record, I graduated from college a week ago. During the process of writing my final major papers, I stumbled upon this definition of plagarism from Plagarism.org:
“The writer properly cites all sources, paraphrasing and using quotations appropriately. The catch? The paper contains almost no original work! It is sometimes difficult to spot this form of plagiarism because it looks like any other well-researched document.”

I panicked and thought to myself, “Man, I paraphrased a lot in past papers, could I have unknowingly done this?” I also thought to myself, “What are the chances of me unwittingly fooling all of my professors for four years in a row?” Of course, I have this fear now that if I were to go through my past papers I would discover that all of them had little to no original material.

While I honestly hope my teachers were skilled and competent enough to spot something like that, what would happen if it turned out that my assignments were all wrong? Would I have to contact my teachers and say “hey Dr. so-and-so, turns out I may have been plagarizing without knowing it.” I pray that I am overreacting.

 

[Iron_Donkey]

Don’t worry about it. Your instructors were obviously satisfied that your work was original, and the only reason why over-quoting/paraphrasing is considered problematic (though I hesitate to agree that such is plagiarism so long as you don’t claim that an idea is yours that is not) is because it bypasses the purpose of an essay - to make you come up with and express your own ideas. But it is your professors’ responsibility to decide if your papers adequately meet their requirements on such things, and there is no need for you to put in more effort deciding if this is so than they did, especially so long after the fact.

Basically so long as you have not presented others’ ideas as your own, you have not committed plagiarism and have no need to worry.

 

[achmafooma]

Hi, for the record, I graduated from college a week ago. During the process of writing my final major papers, I stumbled upon this definition of plagarism from Plagarism.org:
“The writer properly cites all sources, paraphrasing and using quotations appropriately. The catch? The paper contains almost no original work! It is sometimes difficult to spot this form of plagiarism because it looks like any other well-researched document.”

I think Plagiarism.org has an overly broad definition of plagiarism, likely because more plagiarism is better business for them (the site is operated by the same people that operate the for-pay ‘turnitin’ anti-plagiarism service).

Probably 99% of what I think, say, and write is paraphrased from somewhere else, and the same is probably true for pretty much everybody else. If I write a paper opposing abortion, chances are that much of it will express similar ideas to any other paper opposing abortion. This is not plagiarism.

As long as you weren’t copying somebody else’s work and ‘tweaking’ it to make it look original, you have likely not plagiarized.

God bless you .

 

[GratefulFred]

“Contains ALMOST no original work.” That is an elastic measure.

I presume you included a bibliography and footnotes to give credit to sources other than your own thoughts. You can decide for yourself how much of each paper contained your own analysis of what it all meant to you and or what you think it should means to others.

You may take the same position as a referenced author, you need only to assure yourself that your expression of that commonly held view is in your own words.

But for the sake of argument, and you may have crossed the line (who knows?), as long as you do not try to publish your work that is mostly the work of others or as long as you don’t run for public office and come under the review of your opposition, you should be OK because your professors did not call you on it when you submitted the papers.

 

[1ke]

I pray that I am overreacting.

If you tend towards scrupulosity, you should discuss this with your regular confessor.

Yes, I believe you are overreacting. But those who suffer from scrupulosity tend not to take other people’s word for it and continue obsessing even after being told they’ve done nothing wrong.

So, go talk to your priest if this describes you.

 

[jmcrae]

Hi, for the record, I graduated from college a week ago.

Congratulations!

I pray that I am overreacting.

You are. If your professors gave you a passing grade, then you did just fine, and your future is bright - you have the skills you need to cope in what they call “the real world” (though I have never figured out what makes the business world more “real” than school, home, or church )