1 to 1 text copies in IU task [en]

[wizo]

Good morning,

 

I'm working on an IU project report, and I'm finding the task list a bit chaotic, and it doesn't all make coherent sense. it looks wildly put together. I've never had that before, and I am over 100 ECTS on international study. The course is super new, and there are currently only a handful of students.

 

After I got stuck, I searched for two or three terms from the assignment on Google, and apparently, entire passages, sentences and structures of the requested project were copied from the work of another thesis.

 

I'm more confused now than before. Should I somehow report the IU? Shouldn't that be citied correctly? I don't want any disadvantage for myself, there are so few students enrolled. Should I just shut up and make the best of it? What would you recommend? I wish I had never googled it.

Bearbeitet 7. Oktober 2022 von wizo

[DerLenny]

Are you referring to the assignment or the course book?

How can an assignment be copied from "another thesis"?

 

[wizo]

Well, for IU, I have to do a project and consider a particular process, and include various points. So I am referring to an assignment; there is no script included. And it's somehow the weirdest task report assignment I've ever read.

 

The old thesis that I found says something like this:

 

Chapter 4 Headline Word

Zitat

Here we describe the models to be applied from chapter 3.9, working out the cases in the explicit context of 20th-century television. We refer to the library."

 

The IU assignment "Task_Project_Report" says:

Headline Word

Zitat

Here we describe the models to be applied from chapter 2.5, working out the cases in the explicit context of 20th-century television. We refer to the program."

 

I put the word "television" in there as a placeholder. This word has no meaning in the project report's context but certainly in the thesis. That's why I was confused and then looked up in Google. 

 

And in this section, the five following sentences and the headlines are simply the same. After that, there are mainly similarities in content. 

Thesis:

Zitat

We use the method of Walt Disney and Jackie Chan's KungFu for further analysis.

 

IU

Zitat

Use the Walt Disney method.
And Jackie Chan Kungfu is to be used.

 

[DerLenny]

Well, I had a course book that was basically a 1:1 translation from different sources. You might have found a similar case.

 

Right now there is no way to report academic misconduct in an anonymous manner. Since the person correcting the assignment might very well be the person who has written the assignment, I can understand why you'd want to stay anonymous.

 

You could name the course and tag the IU in a post. Right now there are few other options.

 

 

Bearbeitet 7. Oktober 2022 von DerLenny

[Gast]

If I got this right, this is not about a course book (aka script), but the statement of a task you need to execute in order to become able to write a project report. Right? If so, apart from it being copied without reference to the original paper, what's the problem? Does the statement not make sense, so you have no idea what you are supposed to do in the project?

[wizo]

Sometimes like that, sometimes like that. It is easy to read out the parts that have been copied. For example, these are in the past tense. In contrast, the parts believed to have been rewritten using the imperative in the present tense. If you can speak native English, you will notice this immediately. This makes it difficult to read and understand the actual task. I've searched a bit more, and some things are even copied from Wikipedia.

 

I can sort of work around there, but it somehow takes away from my peace of mind and positive IU experience till now. If the IU already says in the first part: "Please note that IU Internationale Hochschule GmbH holds the copyright to the examination tasks." Then that's not true.

 

Example of "not sure what to do." 

In the end, a model that has now been developed should now be presented and described. But in the complete task description, it doesn't appear that it should have been worked out or developed.

 

Such as:
"Chapter 7: Present the built car steering wheel."
And me: "Pardon? Where should we have developed a steering wheel?"

[DerLenny]

What course is this? I think I might want to take a look at this.

You can also send me the information via PM., if you don't want to share it publicly.

 

[Gast]

To be frank, I don’t see what could be the point of this thread as no one here can help you to move forward. Did you contact the tutor/professor who is responsible for the course?

 

I‘ve not had such an experience during my studies at IU. However, I remember a course where the task description contained a list of references where half of the list items were erroneous. So I fixed it and sent it over to the prof. In your case, I would confront them with the situation and ask for a statement. Simultaneously it would make sense to file a report at the quality management department. I did that regularly, sometimes with success.

[DerLenny]

vor 30 Minuten schrieb Explorer:

Did you contact the tutor/professor who is responsible for the course?

Do you think it would be wise to tell the person grading your exam that you caught him plagiarizing?

 

[TheHumanHunter]

vor 12 Minuten schrieb DerLenny:

Do you think it would be wise to tell the person grading your exam that you caught him plagiarizing?

Es muss ja nicht unbedingt gleich ein bösartiger Vorwurf sein. Wenn die Aufgabenstellung im Web zu finden ist, bzw. auf irgendeine Weise etwas anderem ähnelt, darf man da ruhig nachfragen. Meine ich. Gut möglich dass dadurch etwas mehr Aufklärung folgt und die Aufgabenstellung besser nachzuvollziehen ist.

 

It does not necessarily have to be a malicious accusation. If the task is to be found on the web, or resembles something else in some way, you can ask about it. I think so. It is possible that this will lead to more clarification and the task will be easier to understand.