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April 19, 2009
Google Scholar: Online Library or Plagiarist's Dream
Google Scholar - in beta since 2004 - epitomizes the problems of the internet. It provides easy access to advanced research that can be used by students - but whether it is used for citations or to plagiarize is the deeper problem.
The site uses an academic approach to ranking. "Google Scholar aims to sort articles the way researchers do, weighing the full text of each article, the author, the publication in which the article appears, and how often the piece has been cited in other scholarly literature. The most relevant results will always appear on the first page."
What plagiarists must know is that professors know how to use it as well to check if they are cheating. There are even sites like turnitin.com where teachers can submit papers and have them checked for originality.
Without a doubt Google Scholar helps improve access to academic research for students, and students are becoming well aware that teachers are tech savvy as well. If used properly it is a great example of the benefits the web provides.
Google Scholar has even released a toolbar plug in for Firefox browsers.
Posted by Frank Watson on April 19, 2009 5:10 PM
Comments
adam April 19, 2009 5:53 PM
I agree students know more online tricks but unless they are senior professors the web has been around long enough and search engines are so well known that academics should be aware of this - or the smart ones have passed it around to their lesser knowledgeable professors. Or I hope they would.
AussieWebmaster April 19, 2009 6:10 PM
Google Scholar makes it much easier to catch cheating. Just google the questionable passage.
For higher education students it doesn't make cheating any easier. Students already have access to subscription databases that they can copy & paste from.
kj April 20, 2009 10:53 AM
I guess unless you have senior professors in seriously technology-defficient fields, they will be savy enough to know how to find out about internet-supported plagiarism, if they can't they can always hire a student or young lector.
Besides, you can always half-plagiarize. Take parts clean from the net and other parts you just shuffle around a bit.
Also: Someone will come up with a software solution for this problem, so extra business is generated, more as a side-effect, but still.
Marcus April 20, 2009 10:58 AM
This is the most outdated and rediculous post I have seen in a long time. Google scholar is no different then EBSCOHost or any other academic journal database. Students could cut and paste from anywhere and Google Scholar is one of the sillier places to plagiarize from since the articles are indexed readily and prof's can find the plagiarism through a simple google search. Furthermore, no student writes like a scholarly article.
Google scholar is a wonderful service and it pains me to hear ignorant comments against making relevant and academic research free and easily accessable to the public. I have been in the business of academic research for students for 12 years and I have never run across either students or my writers illustrating an urge to plagiarize from peer reviewed journal articles. It's utter nonsense.
Karen Sonnenberg April 20, 2009 1:54 PM
Karen,
I actually agree that Google Scholar is a great resource and agree it can be checked - but not with a simple Google search that is the rub - they are separate areas in Google - but the Google Scholar toolbar is a great way to check.
Students plagiarize, buy papers etc etc. It is their loss and should not impact the good GS does for people with no access to libraries.
AussieWebmaster April 20, 2009 1:59 PM
Google will not tell the research community what exactly is included in Google Scholar. But be aware it is only a start for scholarly research--and does not compare with most databases that college subscribe to or, for that matter, databases that are held by public libraries.
Anyone can cut, paste, and plagarize--be it Google Scholar or any database. We must realize that Scholar is only the tip of the research iceburg. I am an academic research librarian for nearly 30 years now. Regsrds, S. P.
sp April 21, 2009 9:25 AM
Google scholar is a greatservice and it hurts me to hear ignorant people against making important and academic research free and easy to access. I have been in the branche of research for students for moren than 5 years and I have never run across either students or my writers illustrating an urge to plagiarize from peer reviewed articles. It's absolute nonsense.
Tischtennisplatte December 25, 2009 5:31 PM
Are you serious, beta since 2004? That seems like a REALLY long beta. I know that Google is found of such long periods, but really. Someone needs to put a cap on how long BETA can mean.
P.S. I'm not sure how MANY professors are really up to speed on this stuff. I am thinking they are learning at a much slower rate than their students.