Comments on: I ♥ the Interweb

By: Navid

Navid — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 00:26:50 +0000

Rehan, I’m telling you gravatars will be back shortly. I just need to finish up this week and then I will not only re-implement the lost and forsaken gravatars but alas, I shall even finish up putting up the new layout. This is a transitional period which we all must cope through. I know it is difficult but we mustn’t give up now!

By: Rehan

Rehan — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 12:48:16 +0000

Navid Azimi, you have killed gravatars. I await a full written explanation for this heinous act of yours!

By: Rehan

Rehan — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 12:47:27 +0000

Slightly off-topic but once at UC Davis in an upper division biology class I had a problem set of four essay questions given as a take home midterm. Realizing that I was in no way the authority on such a subject, I simply went online and e-mailed professors of biology at the other 8 UC campuses asking them for help with a problem I didn’t understand. I remember a few caught on and would respond with comments like “am I doing your homework for you?” but the majority of them loved being asked questions about the field they’ve devoted their life to.

Needless to say, the next day when I checked my e-mail, my take-home midterm was more or less complete.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 17:29:14 +0000

I think it’s unethical, although I would still do it.

It’s unethical, because the proffessor wants you to do the problems by yourself. Also when you find answers online, you are “stealing” from the other students who spent their time thinking and solving the problems.

Proffessors assigning problems from other sources is not plagiarism because they don’t claim they came up with it. Of course there are books with problems and proffessors take problems from these books.

I guess the easiest way to distinguish between the two is this:
If someone asks the proffessor, he will say that he got it from a book.
If someone asks Navid Azimi, he will say that he solved the problem himself.

So there is your answer.

Once again though, I personally would do it too, even though I concider it cheating.

By: brendan

brendan — Mon, 06 Jun 2005 14:22:38 +0000

yeah, i’m with Bryan on this one. however, i’m not the one to ask about “ethical” issues. i’m one of the worst scribes i know.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 15:34:37 +0000

I think plagiarism works a bit differently for math&science problems than for written works. For example, if an English prof asks you to write an essay, and yours is exactly the same as somebody else, clearly something fishy is going on. However, on a math assignment, if both students hand in an assignment with the same answers, it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that they both know the material and that no foul play is afoot.

The difference here lies in ideas vs. facts. When writing an essay about which is more harmful to America, the far left or the far right, it’s very unlikely that any two people would have exactly the same ideas. You might have an idea or an opinion about it, but somebody else probably has a different one, even if they’re backing up the same side as you. Whereas 1+1 = 2 regardless of who you ask.