Do professors check sources (PROFESSOR answers)

Do professors actually check your sources?

You wrote a paper, cited multiple scholarly sources, and are wondering if your professor is going to cross-check your references.

Are they going to find the sources you cited and read them to see if you were accurate in your paper?

Are they going to find them to see if you plagiarized?

Or maybe they are just curious about the source and want to know more about the topic and you hope you got it right.

Either way, you are probably wondering if it really matters if you even cite correctly, or interpret the paper accurately because if they don’t even check the sources, they will never know, right?

“As a former professor, I am going to tell you exactly how I graded students’ writing assignments, and I will tell you if I checked students’ sources and how often.”

How often do professors check student's’ resources they use in papers?

I did not ALWAYS check students’ sources in their papers BECAUSE I often knew the studies they were citing. And could just tell if something wasn’t right.

So, I officially checked sources about 5% - 10% of the time.

Remember, professors are supposed to be experts in their field, and this requires lots of research and keeping up with current trends and news.

I would frequently review new publications in my field and learn about any critical updates. While I may not carefully review every study that was published (who has the time) I would know the general findings.

And most professors are going to know the most common scholars in their field. So, if you think that you can swap out resources, write inaccurate findings, or misinterpret the data, you’re wrong.

Don’t just haphazardly cite sources. Your professor will probably find out.

Now, I did not always check my students’ source because I just knew with something didn’t sound right. There were times I would read a student’s paper, and I just had a hunch that the data was WRONG and it would cause me to further investigate.

“So, I only reviewed the sources when I had a gut instinct something seemed off.”

I have to admit that plagiarism checkers helped me out A LOT.

Why?

Because these software tools would search all over the internet for any matches to other sources. And if the student used a quote from a source, it would pull that source up for me. I could then cross-check that information to the student’s citation list to make sure they were using their citations correctly.

What would also cause me to check students’ sources further is if the information just didn’t sound right. Sometimes students get the information confused or try and fabricate findings that just aren’t there.

I would occasionally find the study or source myself and read it entirely. This was rare though.

But in reality, this is very UNLIKELY because professors have hundreds of papers to grade each semester and there just isn’t any logical way to check every students’ sources in depth.

There are a few exceptions to this though.

Why would professors check a student’s sources?

If you are in a graduate program, your professor may have the time to do this. A lot of graduate classes are much smaller which allows your professor to focus on grading more carefully. And graduate professors are probably going to know the topic better because it’s a much more focused course.

Or if your professor has a teaching or graduate assistant, they could have them do this for them instead.

And finally, if it is your thesis or dissertation, I bet they’ll be more likely to check your sources carefully.

Those are higher stakes. And situations you won’t probably be in often.

Otherwise a typical professor is only going to investigate your citations and sources further if something seems suspicious.

Remember, I am not saying that your professor is being lazy or ignoring your efforts if they don’t check your sources, rather I am saying that professors are experts in their field and have good instincts about suspicious circumstances. No need to waste those precious resources.

As a former professor, I did not want to take up all my time researching sources from hundreds of students each semester because it takes up too much time. And my time is better spent mentoring students, grading thoroughly, and teaching instead of inspecting resources.

Don’t give this too much thought, but I would recommend that you write your paper honestly.

Dd professors validate all sources students use?

Professors will not always validate every single source that a student uses in their assignments. Professors are tasked with grading hundreds of assignments each semester and it would nearly be impossible to look into every reference a student used in their assignment.

If a professor were to analyze every resource a student used, they wouldn’t be able to grade their assignments quickly enough.

Therefore I believe that most professors are just glancing at them and looking for any inconsistencies.

When I was a professor, I knew a lot of the research in my area, and it was obvious if a student was misinterpreting information or making up a source.

But sometimes it does require a closer look. There have been a few instances where a source seemed suspicious and I looked a little further into the source to make sure it was valid.

Here are some tips to make sure you don’t get your sources checked

Cite only sources that you have read yourself. Don’t cite sources that you did not actually read. This helps to ensure accuracy.

Try and avoid using direct quotes and summarize the content in your own words. This ensures authenticity and lets your professor know you understood the content.

Make sure you cite correctly. Use the correct citation method and double-check each citation (in-text and in your bibliography).

And finally, don’t plagiarize. Plagiarizing means that you are taking someone else’s content and pretending that it is your own. And you could accidentally plagiarize if you don’t cite correctly.

Don’t even think about changing a few words here and there to try and fool your professor or the tools they use to check for plagiarism because they can see right through them.

You can check out my complete plagiarism guide here.

And if you have been caught plagiarizing, check this article out now.

I know writing papers, citing sources, and worrying about plagiarism can be scary, but I know this information and other articles I have published on this website will help you out immensely.

Do professors actually read papers?

Well, you might be wondering if professors actually read your papers too. Yes, professors actually read your papers but some might skim them rather than looking at every little detail.

So some mistakes might go unnoticed. But glaring problems will be detected.

If a professor finds some questionable material in your paper, they will more carefully read your paper.

If you have an average paper, they’ll probably glance over it, and read some paragraphs more than others, but they don’t take an hour to grade your paper.

Think about it. If your professor has a hundred research papers to grade, and it’s at the end of the semester, they cannot take an hour to read and grade each paper. It’s literally impossible. So they have to skim most papers and allow a more thorough review of some sketchy ones.

You got this.

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