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Hi,
I've had an amazing piece of work handed in by a y13 criminology student who I think has not written it themselves. I can't find any plagiarism, but they can't tell me what some of the words they have used mean.
Criminology is not a level English. I have never had a piece of this standard of writing and vocabulary handed in by any student. This students writing is good, but not this good.
Any suggestions for how they have made this? They have denied it's plagiarised, and can't quite verbal explain some of the harder vocabulary and phrasing used.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Extract below
Psychological studies including research by lotfus et al, indicate that factors like the timing of the event, discussion with others, the passage of time and questioning methods in court can influence witness’ memory and testimony. This casts doubt on the validity of eye witness evidence, as memories may lack accuracy, especially over extended periods or in heightened focus on specific details such as ‘weapon focus’. In complex technical cases, the outcome frequently depends on the testimony provided by an expert, be it a medical specialist or a forensic scientist. Essentially, these experts are expected to possess superior knowledge in their respected fields compared to legal professionals or laypeople, like jurors
Chatgpt says:-
The passage you provided does exhibit characteristics consistent with a well-written piece on the topic of eyewitness testimony, the fallibility of memory, and the reliance on expert testimony in legal proceedings. However, it's important to note that the language and structure alone may not definitively indicate whether it was written by ChatGPT or a human. If it has a balanced and informed perspective, cites relevant studies like Loftus et al., and uses appropriate terminology, it could be the work of a knowledgeable human or a well-tuned language model. To further evaluate, one might consider the depth of analysis, coherence of arguments, and the accuracy of the information presented.
Chat gpt
they can’t tell me what some of the words they have used mean.
"So if you can't tell me what it means, how did you know to use it?"
Maybe he just read all the books and cribbed the right bits. Ask him
Wasn’t there a recent clamp down on those websites that will write you an essay, not an AI thing, actual bright people doing it for a fee? Do you think it might be that? <br /><br />
can you Google key paragraphs and see if it hits?
The fact that they can’t explain what they have written is a massive red flag for sure.
they can’t tell me what some of the words they have used mean.
“So if you can’t tell me what it means, how did you know to use it
They claimed they used an online thesaurus.
I was suspicious.
Firstly thats almost certainly Chap GPT. Secondly I presume Turn-it-in or its modern day counterpart has a AI detection tool?
Maybe he just read all the books and cribbed the right bits. Ask him
The writing is better than the textbook!
If they had copied the textbook the language used would be much less flowing
I’m no criminologist but:
but they can’t tell me what some of the words they have used mean.
is pretty good evidence for not having written something.
I stoped short of accusing them of lying. Just short.
Ask him for what he used for research. It could be he read a book and regurgitated it in his own words, thinking he understood but either not really or promptly forgetting.
In addition to that, run it past one of these tools looking for AI written stuff:
Turn-it-in
Too expensive for my school. 😔
Thanks @brucewee !
I've tried 5 ai detectors and none of them would load.
That one reckons 50% chance of being ai written
I tend to look for inconsistencies between sentences/paragraphs/earlier pieces of work. Of the few students I taught who really could make it flow, one went to Oxford and two to Cambridge. It's an unusual skill at that age even amongst the brightest.
If they've used a thesaurus (crap joke: what's another name for a thesausus?) they're just as likely to have chosen the wrong word and their piece will be vertiginous verbose verbiage.
That's a lot better than most of the AI generated copy my colleagues send me for editing.
There are a number of plagiarism rewriters out there now. Just upload a paper and off you go.
Your school will need to have an AI policy soon, but as always the students are one step ahead.
I would say as there are questions about the essay you also need something under controlled conditions to compare.
Is the reference to loftus right? Where / how would they know about that?
They claimed they used an online thesaurus.
The thing is to use a thesaurus you have to know the alternative word you are looking for - so it seems unlikely you don't at least know the gist of the sentence you embellished.
It reads very "ChatGPT" to me. Now what's the point in finding the cheat? Is it to punish them? to stop them doing it again? to praise them if its genuine? to make them realise that they aren't learning like this? etc?
You could turn it into a learning exercise for the whole class where a small number of students have to give "witness evidence" to the audience and see who is believable. Perhaps get a good student with work you know is theres, a poor student with work you belieive is theres and a poor student with work you have provided and this guy. I'd want to be careful that the take home message there was not "look John's a lying ****".
I had a Uni tutor who quickly would spot when someone had copied an answer and would say "John has a good answer to this question, so will come up to the board and talk us through it". A little peer humiliation and a knowing look from him meant nobody handed in stuff they couldn't explain in the future!
Yep, that's definitely lifted.
et al is a pretty common phrase, but quoting references isn't in the stuff most 13 year olds are taught. There's also an interesting 'jump' between sentences 2 nad 3 suggesting google and cut/paste .
What was the question?
My partner has just had an essay in from a student who barely knows what day of the week it is. Really well written, very knowledgeable and using a lot of 'big words'.
What a time to be a teacher! 🙄
Oh, I just googled Loftus - and it seems it probably is a sensible reference (which is better than normal for AI!)... so in that case "John, can you explain what Loftus meant by weapon focus". If he can, even if he used ChatGPT to make the answer he probably has learned the topic so I wouldn't be too hard!
Parental help?
Even when I send emails at work I use the synonym checker to find fancy words that sound better than my own dyslexic writing style.
Perhaps his other half proof read it and decided to change a few things, again I get my other half to do this for me and its always different to how I'd write it.
Jumping to AI nowadays is so common, are you able to just ask? If he is using AI, he's going to need to know you can still be caught.
Thr lotus et al reference is correct and correctly used from class notes and the textbook.
If they were paying attention in class they - should- be able to describe what et al means
It's year 13- aged 18. I'd be impressed if a 13 year old could copy and paste that :-)
Just ask them to explain some of the content of the paper. Targeted questions about some of the key themes etc.
Should be relatively easy to determine whether they understand what has been written and whether they really were the author.
An adult has written that IMO. Whether directly or indirectly via chatgpt or similar I don't know, but that's definitely not a teenager's work. IMVHO of course!
but they can’t tell me what some of the words they have used mean.
is pretty good evidence for not having written something.
I wrote tons of stuff I didn't understand in uni essays! I mastered the craft of essay writing early on so just spent 3 years stitching together bits and bobs, and ended up with a middle of the road 2:1 from a moderately academic uni. But I don't think I really understood or bothered to think about much - a shame in retrospect...
That one reckons 50% chance of being ai written
When I did it it said there was a 51% chance it was entirely written by AI. It then highlighted these sentences as being the suspect ones:
In complex technical cases, the outcome frequently depends on the testimony provided by an expert, be it a medical specialist or a forensic scientist.
Essentially, these experts are expected to possess superior knowledge in their respected fields compared to legal professionals or laypeople, like jurors
Jumping to AI nowadays is so common, are you able to just ask? If he is using AI, he’s going to need to know you can still be caught.
I asked repeatedly if if was their work- they said it was, with a thesaurus, so I could give a bit of leeway for the odd massive word.
I had a Uni tutor who quickly would spot when someone had copied an answer and would say “John has a good answer to this question, so will come up to the board and talk us through it”. A little peer humiliation and a knowing look from him meant nobody handed in stuff they couldn’t explain in the future!
As I was sat reading choice quotes out with the student in class I'm reasonably sure the rest of them got the message the student was busted.
"If this is Your work you should consider writing for a living" "you have said that several times sir"
What a time to be a teacher!
What's the answer? Qualifications more exam based? Or reward for sensible use of AI..?
Just ask them to explain some of the content of the paper. Targeted questions about some of the key themes etc.
They were fine on the themes- as I would expect, they are smart and have had it explained in class.
They used cited, rationales, encompass, parties (as in court room) and unconcious assumptions and couldn't explain them verbally.
I’ve had an amazing piece of work handed in by a y13 criminology student who I think has not written it themselves. I can’t find any plagiarism
Sounds like the perfect crime.
My mistake - if he's 18, and knows his stuff, that's a bit more realistic. How's his oral answering in classes?
Clever googling will get you there
It's a
lotfus et al,
about nothing.
Seriously, if you have run the plagiarism detector over it and found nothing, there's not much more you can do.
Wasn’t there a recent clamp down on those websites that will write you an essay, not an AI thing, actual bright people doing it for a fee? Do you think it might be that?
Yes there was, I thought it was degree not school level.
It is specific to school level criminology. If I could write like that I would not have used that vocabulary for a year 13 qualification.
My mistake – if he’s 18, and knows his stuff, that’s a bit more realistic. How’s his oral answering in classes?
Good, but not with that vocabulary.
Ask him/her to write something in class to compare it with. I bet they poo themselves a little bit!
They claimed they used an online thesaurus.
Hold on, they would have to understand what concept or idea they were trying to communicate in order to use a thesaurus in the first place, in which case they'd have learned the meaning of the word in context at the time, and wouldn't be flummoxed when questioned later...
Blatant use of AI. Was chatting to a teacher friend the other night about this over a beer or 4 and the example he gave matches yours OP - student who constantly churns out average work etc suddenly produces the finest work known to man.
Hmmm. As someone who wrote technical government reports for a living, that quality of writing is pretty rare ime and would typically be the work of a senior or very experienced officer or engineer. Writing style can take many years to develop and while it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that a school pupil possesses the technical knowledge and ability to write a complex and readable piece, it does seem unlikely. I am not overly familiar with chatbot type writing but it does have the flavour of similar pieces written by AI.
Incidentally I had a couple of student trainees who regularly used words incorrectly. I also had relatively mature team members do the same.
That said it is a bit of a word salad, yes it flows along ok but really it's a bit pompous.
At college I once inserted a paragraph in an essay that I lifted from somewhere or other, the tutor spotted it straight away as not mine. At the time I was staggered he could tell. It's pretty obvious if you're familiar with the writing style of someone, but at 18 I knew nothing!