In the words of a famous philosopher whose name I can’t recall, “Wikipedia is the best thing ever — anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject… so you know you’re getting the best possible information.” With all that knowledge readily available, it’s no wonder someone has built a site that turns any Wikipedia entry into a “legit” academic paper.
It’s called M-Journal, and it works in a pretty simple manner: you insert a URL to a Wikipedia article of your choice, and the website does the “academic” work.
Think of it as a shortcut to your sophomore year, when you discover that academia has more to do with mastering the language of “sounding smart” (and using big words) than actually doing research.
It generates citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles, and even creates a fake preview page in a journal hidden behind a paywall — so you don’t have to worry someone will bother to peruse it.
The results aren’t entirely convincing (and you should definitely worry if one of your professors or fellow students falls for it), but it’s not a terrible attempt at faking it, either.
The inked look feels like an overkill, though.
In all fairness, the fake journal generates work that has more academic integrity than some papers, published in real journals, peer-reviewed by real academics, who have devoted years of their lives to advance “knowledge” in their fields.
M-Journal was built by digital agency MSCHF, which previously developed Netflix Hangouts, the glorious Chrome extension that makes it look like you’re in a conference call so you can binge shows on the clock. So you know their intentions are pure and you can totally use M-Journal for your coursework.
Your mood-killing teachers will probably disagree, but what kind of a cool student buckles down to authority? Outsource your responsibilities to Wikipedia, why waste time on learning, when you can invest it in partying? Word on the street is, that’s what university is all about.
via BuzzFeed News
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