if i only have to turn in a paper copy of my paper can my professor tell if i plagiarized or not?

They can't *always* tell, but professors have been catching plagiarists - including people who "change some of the words," those who paraphrase without citation and students who hire someone else to write their papers - since the days when everything was turned in on paper.

Plagiarism-catching software didn't suddenly destroy those skills. It just made catching one kind of plagiarist easier and provided a good way to provide evidence.

Most college students don't seem to see the things that tip professors and TA's off that something is "off" with a paper. They don't see them in others' work and they don't see them in their own, so they can't hide the plagiarism (not that people who can see them are necessarily going to be good at hiding it). It's like trying to hide your presence at a crime scene without knowing that every individual (except identical twins) has unique elements in their blood.

But also keep in mind that college professors have access to quality scanners and can easily take your paper copy and get an electronic file from it, and they have access to student assistants who can just type handwritten bits in by hand and get an electronic file that way. They probably aren't doing that automatically for the entirety of everything being turned in, but they can certainly do "spot checks" on every paper and then full-body testing for papers with red flags.

Students are free to gamble that a professor won't spot what they've done. Some will win. Others will lose. A few will lose big.

Yes. The professot os an expoert in their field, chances are they have read most of the good papers on their subject,,,,. which will be your subject as well (otherwise you would have a different professor). They are likely to remember key parts of most papers and if they see thm or close words to them they will know.

The second thing they will pick up on easily is basic language. You are very likely to write in a different style to whoevers paper you copy. Copy from a few sources and the problem increases and an experienced examiner / professor will notice these changes. A simple and quixk google search will show which parts were copied

Usually the teachers would be able to tell. It really depends on if they know your usual writing style, how "smart" is your teacher, and if you literally just copied and pasted it. Hope this helps!

Oh yes. There are many ways to tell plus they can scan it to a computer service that checks for plagarism. It's not hard.

They can always tell.

Idk