[ChrisN]

(Original post by HappyHupo)
A site like Coursework.Info gives a blatant opportunity to cheat/plagiarise, whatever you want to call it.

So do Wikipedia, BBC Bitesize, all education websites, all websites that contain subject knowledge, text books, york notes, academic journals, dissertation libraries in universities, lecturer/teacher's handouts etc... It is just information to help people get their heads around a subject. Coursework.Info just happens to present that in the most easily understandable form for students, at the same time as giving them an idea of how to structure good / bad essays.

If I think back to my days as a student I would have bitten someone's arm off for a resource that enabled me to get my head quickly around a subject, and understand what was expected of me. I would then equally have happily made sure I did not plagiarise - just as I did with the text books and journals I used.

I also think that reading a range of other people's views may have broadened my mind more than staying pretty much focused on the prescribed texts that I was generally focused on. Surely that wasn't just me?

You can add whatever 'anti-cheat' software you want, but not everywhere uses it and so any cheating will not be picked up.

80% of unis in the UK use it, and Edexcel has started. If we keep moving in this direction then everyone will soon use it and the plagiarism risk will have gone completely and people will be better off for having a new and useful educational resource.

In my opinion, examinations should be all exam based and no coursework. This would help cut out the cancer of cheating which seems to be plaguing our education system at the moment.

What about the people who perform badly under exam pressure? and What about having an education system that represents the way that people have to operate in the working world - in teams, unsupervised, and over a period of time?

[HappyHupo]

(Original post by CN)
So do Wikipedia, BBC Bitesize, all education websites, all websites that contain subject knowledge, text books, york notes, academic journals, dissertation libraries in universities, lecturer/teacher's handouts etc... It is just information to help people get their heads around a subject. Coursework.Info just happens to present that in the most easily understandable form for students, at the same time as giving them an idea of how to structure good / bad essays.

So Wikipedia, BBC Bitesize and other resources all provide pre-written essays? If so, I certainly haven’t seen them. It’s not the providing information which I have a problem (as you allude to). Rather, it’s providing such information in an essay-based form providing a specific answer to a specific question – which could be the coursework question!

(Original post by CN)
If I think back to my days as a student I would have bitten someone's arm off for a resource that enabled me to get my head quickly around a subject, and understand what was expected of me.

I bet you and most people would – doesn’t mean that it’s right though. As for getting around a subject quickly, essays are by nature narrowly focused, so you wouldn’t exactly be gaining a broad knowledge of a subject – would you?

(Original post by CN)
80% of unis in the UK use it, and Edexcel has started. If we keep moving in this direction then everyone will soon use it and the plagiarism risk will have gone completely and people will be better off for having a new and useful educational resource.

Handwritten essays? It can’t be used on them can it? And yes, believe it or not some essays are still handwritten. Even using such software it doesn’t pick out every case, and from speaking to someone who has had first hand experience of using the software, while it catches the obvious cases, many more slip through the net.

(Original post by CN)
What about the people who perform badly under exam pressure? and What about having an education system that represents the way that people have to operate in the working world - in teams, unsupervised, and over a period of time?

Team building, working in teams etc and be taught in the classroom without needing to be examined. Whilst I understand that some people perform badly under exam pressure, at some point in their lives (if not everyday!) at work, they will be put in a pressurised position and forced to produce under tight timescales – so at some point they are going to have to deal with it. Maybe where you passed through the exam system a while ago your ‘out-of-touch’ with what it needs. Having recently done GCSE’s, A-Levels and now studying at University I have first hand experience of how the system is working – and I can tell you, the day coursework is cut out (or all made to be performed under supervised conditions) will be the day that this plagiarism/cheating culture will be all but eliminated – not, when as you put it, this software is rolled out nationwide.

[nikk]

I think that websites like coursework.info are a disgrace.

[NaN]

1) Aim gun at foot.
2) FIRE!

This is a stupid idea. Whereas before I would have considered submitting my essays for other people to look at (especially seeing as there are no essays for my course), there's no chance now. I'm not going to submit my work if theres a chance that I may be called up for plagiarism even though I wrote it.

[Stick Man]

I don't think anyone's meant to submit essays before they've had their award certificated. Not that I know much about this sort of thing.

Though at your gun analogy

[Reue]

(Original post by RJ89)
1) Aim gun at foot.
2) FIRE!

This is a stupid idea. Whereas before I would have considered submitting my essays for other people to look at (especially seeing as there are no essays for my course), there's no chance now. I'm not going to submit my work if theres a chance that I may be called up for plagiarism even though I wrote it.

Im pretty sure your perfectlly allowed to show others your own essasys once you've passed the exam. Afterall, what are they gonna do.. come and take away your g.c.s.e. you got years ago cause someone read one of your old essays? :P

[Anarchy Everywhere]

All i can say is good job you didn't do this earlier, coursework.info made my GCSE's so much more easier and tbh i think if this was done a few years ago i'd have been found out.

[Philosoraptor]

Yeah I hate coursework, go exams!

[NS]

I agree with CN.

[ChrisN]

(Original post by RJ89)
I'm not going to submit my work if theres a chance that I may be called up for plagiarism even though I wrote it.

All work is submitted with the user's name against it so people can't be done for plagiarising their own work.

[magicbuspass]

What i don't like is although what you say is true, that Coursework,info is a good place for getting some ideas, people still do use it for plaguirism and get away with it. This is unfair for the people working hard in their coursework. Why last year i spent a winter in a freezing room with my no internet P.C. looking through my york book and the notes i written in my book. After all that suffering i came out with a good grade, if somone easily copied that coursework and done it with words that are not theres, i would most certainly be angry.

[guitarromantic]

(Original post by CN)
So do Wikipedia, BBC Bitesize, all education websites, all websites that contain subject knowledge, text books, york notes, academic journals, dissertation libraries in universities, lecturer/teacher's handouts etc... It is just information to help people get their heads around a subject. Coursework.Info just happens to present that in the most easily understandable form for students, at the same time as giving them an idea of how to structure good / bad essays.

If I think back to my days as a student I would have bitten someone's arm off for a resource that enabled me to get my head quickly around a subject, and understand what was expected of me. I would then equally have happily made sure I did not plagiarise - just as I did with the text books and journals I used.

Sadly, most students in 2006 aren't as scrupulous as you were. We live in the age of instant-access everything - downloadable essays are another step down that road. You're saying you've added them to TurnItIn, but TurnItIn wouldn't need to exist without sites offering downloadable essays. It's self-perpetuating.

I think essays do give people the help with a subject they need, but since it's in the format that people are being asked to write in, the temptation is huge to just copy it wholesale. At least with Wikipedia, Bitesize et al, some effort has to go into the processing of information into an essay/coursework format. You are giving people their answers on a plate and asking them not to eat them, essentially.

[H.C. Chinaski]

(Original post by guitarromantic)
Sadly, most students in 2006 aren't as scrupulous as you were. We live in the age of instant-access everything - downloadable essays are another step down that road. You're saying you've added them to TurnItIn, but TurnItIn wouldn't need to exist without sites offering downloadable essays. It's self-perpetuating.

I think essays do give people the help with a subject they need, but since it's in the format that people are being asked to write in, the temptation is huge to just copy it wholesale. At least with Wikipedia, Bitesize et al, some effort has to go into the processing of information into an essay/coursework format. You are giving people their answers on a plate and asking them not to eat them, essentially.

An old thread resurrected .....
I noticed today that coursework.info seems to have current IB maths type 2 "essays" online.
If they are indeed the solutions then this gives the green light for 100 percent cheating.
Is it indeed the case that full solutions of current tasks can be "bought" here?

[KingGoonIan]

Old thread but why can't you search for BTECs on Coursework.Info?