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HSC Plagiarism? (1 Viewer)

Meromaths

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Hi,
Something that's always nagged me and I've never gotten a straight answer for. If you summarize out of textbooks, rote learn this information, and then regurgitate in the HSC exams, is it considered plagiarism? Like if you learn a definition or even an explanation off by heart and then use it exactly in the hsc paper will you get a 0? Especially since most of the writers of these textbooks are also senior hsc markers.

On another note, why do people buy state ranking creative writing stories? What's the point? Do they intend on using it exactly or just rewording it? Isn't this considered plagiarism?
 

Absolutezero

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Hi,
Something that's always nagged me and I've never gotten a straight answer for. If you summarize out of textbooks, rote learn this information, and then regurgitate in the HSC exams, is it considered plagiarism? Like if you learn a definition or even an explanation off by heart and then use it exactly in the hsc paper will you get a 0? Especially since most of the writers of these textbooks are also senior hsc markers.
Think of it this way. Could you publish it without getting sued?

On another note, why do people buy state ranking creative writing stories? What's the point? Do they intend on using it exactly or just rewording it? Isn't this considered plagiarism?
Theft. Ideas. Structure.

Bunch of reasons.
 

strawberrye

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"Something that's always nagged me and I've never gotten a straight answer for. If you summarize out of textbooks, rote learn this information, and then regurgitate in the HSC exams, is it considered plagiarism?"

It is not plagiarism if you summarise things properly-i.e. write it using YOUR OWN WORDS. If you learn an explanation off by heart-it rarely fits completely into the demands of a particular question and you are not understanding the concepts-so if a question is tweaked slightly different from syllabus, or involves integrating multiple syllabus dotpoints-you will be answering what you want/think the question is, not what the question is actually is-so you are basically just disadvantaging yourself. The best thing is to collate information from various sources, including your class notes, textbooks-and even from HSC online-then condense the various information under syllabus dot points-that way, you will increase your UNDERSTANDING and ENJOYMENT of the subject.

"On another note, why do people buy state ranking creative writing stories? What's the point? Do they intend on using it exactly or just rewording it? Isn't this considered plagiarism?"

A main reason is to understand how to subtly convey ideas about belonging-'state ranking' has a certain prestige-they probably buy it because they believe if they try to write like that, they might also get state ranking-but it is quite a false notion, because creative only accounts for such a tiny part of HSC English exams, as to whether they intend on using it exactly or rewording it-I have absolutely no idea, it probably won't help much if they don't know how to adapt the story to different exam question, I guess it just gives them extra resources to look at for inspirations-i.e. use the same starting sentence-but create a completely different story... but all seriousness, don't use stories or reword it-You will not learn anything from this exercise.

Hope this helps:)
 
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cem

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People who write textbooks most certainly can mark the HSC. One of the best modern history textbook writers is Ken Webb - writes well for HSC students and across a range of topics. He was a Senior Marker until two years ago when he was 'rolled' for having reached the maximum number of years of marking. Others I have marked with have also written books on the topics we mark. I also teach with people who have written textbooks who also mark every year.
 
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People who write textbooks most certainly can mark the HSC. One of the best modern history textbook writers is Ken Webb - writes well for HSC students and across a range of topics. He was a Senior Marker until two years ago when he was 'rolled' for having reached the maximum number of years of marking. Others I have marked with have also written books on the topics we mark. I also teach with people who have written textbooks who also mark every year.
There's a maximum number of marking years? I worked at the board before with markers and I've seen some having marked for ~15-20 years?
 

cem

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I have marked for 22 years but was 'rolled' this year and then called up from the reserve list. After 20 years you are only employed if there aren't enough applicants. If I apply again I expect to be 'rolled' and maybe get called up late or maybe not. One friend of mine has had that happen three years in a row and then missed altogether.
 

JT145

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Surely definitions aren't covered by intellectual copyright
 

babylonne

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Why do you get 'rolled'? Wouldn't it be better to have more experienced markers marking the HSC each year?
 

cem

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Why do you get 'rolled'? Wouldn't it be better to have more experienced markers marking the HSC each year?
If they kept all the markers with 20+ years experience then the younger teachers wouldn't get a chance to get that experience. By rolling markers after 20 or so years they keep having a turnover of experienced and new markers and there isn't a large drop off of experience all at once.

If there are 70 markers for the course and all of them have 20+ years experience that is great but...what happens if most of them decide not to mark - lack of experience. The group in which I mark for instance has a total of 38 years experience - and 22 years of those 38 are me so it is good to have me go while the next most experienced marker - who has 10 years stays and the build up of experience happens elsewhere in the team.
 

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