Plagiarizing for Laura

Hundreds of blogs have linked to this in the past week, so I might as well pay it some attention, even though I'm doubtful that it's a hoax. The basic story is as follows: Some guy was contacted out of the blue via IM by a college student who wanted to know if he would write a paper on Hinduism for her. She had searched for people who mentioned the word 'Hindu' in their AOL profile and came up with him. To make a long story short, he agreed to write the paper for $75, but all he did was slap together a paper by shamelessly plagiarizing texts found on the internet, and then he blew the whistle on her by posting what he had done on his blog. Boing Boing initially cried hoax, claiming that the story had been cooked up to promote the comedy troupe whose site the story is posted on. But then Boing Boing backed off this claim. Personally I have no idea whether or not it's a hoax. Nor can I think of any good way to find out. But it seems plausible enough to me that something like this could happen.

Literature/Language

Posted on Wed Mar 30, 2005



Comments

Alex, when was this on BoingBoing? I read it every day and never saw anything about this, that I can remember.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Thu Mar 31, 2005  at  01:00 AM
It sounds fishy.
To whit, wouldn't it be less work for "Laura" to just plagiarize some stuff from the Internet herself (obviously, academic ethics were not hindering her) than to search AOL for Hindus, then persuade some stranger to write the paper for her, then pay him $75?
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Thu Mar 31, 2005  at  09:42 AM
Cranky, just follow the link to Boing Boing. I believe it was on there march 29.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Thu Mar 31, 2005  at  04:39 PM
Actually, it sounds like a perfectly plausable story. As to why Laura didn't just plagerise off essays already on the internet, well new technology at the college level has made it so that a student must upload their paper online to a program that will automatically search the internet for phrases in their paper that may be plagerised. Trust me, I can't turn in an essay anymore without having to upload it to turnitin.com first. I know people who have bragged about who they paid to write their essays, and I could definitely see someone with little other options finding a random person on the internet and paying them to write an essay for them. In fact I know people who would probably do it. People do all sorts of stupid things to raise their GPA.
Posted by Razela  on  Thu Mar 31, 2005  at  11:38 PM
I think having to upload your paper is a rarity in university than the norm. None of the colleges in Missouri require that. I've also read articles about how some colleges are concerned about the legality of requiring that. I personally would refuse to attend an institution that required that. In my opinion, I have the right to guard my copyright, and I wrote the paper.
Posted by Bill B.  on  Mon Apr 04, 2005  at  01:26 PM
Krishna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. For other meanings, see Krishna (disambiguation).

Lord KrishnaKrishna (Sanskrit for "black", though sometimes said to mean "all attractive" or "dark blue"), is, according to Hindu traditions the eighth avatar (approximately "incarnation") of Vishnu, and in yet others, namely, Gaudiya Vaishnavism, He is considered to be the source of all incarnations. The story of Krishna's life on Earth is an important part of the Indian epic Mahabharata, which contains astronomical references used by some devout Hindus to date the events before the end of last Dwapara yuga (also known as copper age) approximately 5100 years ago, 3102 BC. However, while Krishna plays a key role in the Mahabharata, it is in the Shrimad Bhagavata Purana that thousands of lines are dedicated solely to extolling His life and philosophy.

His place in Hinduism is complex. He appears under many names, in a multiplicity of stories, among different cultures, and in different traditions. Sometimes these contradict each other, though there is a well-known and predominantly common core story that is central to most Indians' knowledge of Krishna.
Posted by Lida  on  Wed Apr 13, 2005  at  05:23 PM
This story has just about been proven true by various websites. Plus I just discovered a picture of the girl, Laura K. Pahl here: http://www.lewisu.edu/academics/coe/LadyIlena/projectorigins.htm
originally on the a week of kindness website, which broke the story, her name and university was given. This matches up with the picture.
Posted by Mike D  on  Mon May 02, 2005  at  03:22 PM
Know anything more about this?
Posted by Nick  on  Thu Mar 06, 2008  at  12:35 PM
omg shes my teacher
Posted by meagan  on  Wed May 07, 2008  at  01:45 PM
she is mine too!!
Posted by noone  on  Mon May 26, 2008  at  12:24 PM
miss pahl,

this person was my teacher!!

how could u? we thought u were an honest person! where are ur catholic values? u used to be my role model! i used to wonder what makes up dirt. now i know....
Posted by the oreos  on  Fri Jul 04, 2008  at  03:15 PM
haha shes my English teacher
Posted by tyler  on  Sat Dec 06, 2008  at  08:43 PM
omg she is my english teacher too! I always knew she was strange...
Posted by Anonymous  on  Thu Dec 11, 2008  at  01:42 PM
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