For Teachers and Professors

wise words g’em

the more i do this the more i realise it’s about motivation, some need nurturing, the tough guys need challenging etc
everyone has their own switch that makes them want to learn.

So many people just teach at students and expect them to absorb it all

I’m a science student and it is pretty much impossible to cut and paste as all our written assignment type assessment is in the form of lab reports. You obviously have to do the data interpretation yourself but even the discussion/intro sections can’t be cut and paste.

This is due largely to the fact that each lab is based around a research interest of one of the professors. They would have either read or contributed to any article relating to the field, so chances are you would be screwed hard for plagiarism if you cut entire sections out of articles.

The reference sections tend to be pretty damn meaty as well, as we are expected to read extensively around the material and to compare our results to previously published material. So you simply can?t get decent marks from slacking off on the research side of things.

With regards to the comment ?I haven’t written a paper since College (when you had to do “ancient” things like “go to a Library”; “research”; “think”; “analyze”; etc…?, those elements are still very much required to do well in a properly constructed course, especially in final year.

I need to do plenty of external research, although a library is useless to me as textbooks are out of date with the rate of research before they?re even on sale. A science degree is built entirely on the ability to think, analyze and research as a scientist without those properties is completely useless.

If the ‘papers’ submitted are all the same, its a pretty good clue. I’ve actually had high school classes all turn in the same thing, when I give 'em an extra credit assignment. As if they should get anything for 5 minutes worth of ‘effort’…

I teach Math, so I rarely give things like the above. I would NEVER want to be an English teacher…never.

most proffessors at my university use a software program that uploads your paper and scans it for copy and paste jobs. it is some how linked to google and through search optimization technology, when a phrase, sentence or paragraph shows up as copied or closely copied, the original source is given.

it’s not like we can just copy and paste a 20 page essay any easier than you could have xeroxed one. hell, it’s probably more difficult to copy and paste and get away with it than it was to just pen a paragragh from a book and leave it off your source list.

i remember doing that in jr high and even elementary school and how easy it was when you realized that your teachers threats of having read all the books in the library was bull shit.

technology is a wonderful thing for research purposes though.

we get the same info you got, we just have access to online libraries that make it easy. with the quality of information being the same or even better with updates, and the convenience and ease of the internet even better, i’d say we have a superior method of writing papers now, and proffessors have a superior method of catching plagiarism.

i’ve never understood the “back when we really wrote papers, when we really did this, when we really did that” bs.

we do all the same stuff if not more, and we do it better.

progressive change is good.

Being a student myself I can tell you that internet is way over rated when it comes to do “homework”.

You never get answers/useful material that easely unless you spend hours and hours going thru some serious annoying ads ,misleading links, registering websites that will only spam your mailbox…

There are very few resources out there: Wikipedia for example.
I always end up turning off my PC and going to the library.

Footnotes!

If you don’t get footnotes assume it’s plagiarized. When you do get footnotes its easy to have a grader look them up if something is suspected.

Since the majority of research on an undergrad level is not original we start by assuming the facts in a research paper are from someone else and thus we expect the student to be forward about where the material came from. It’s pretty easy to spot plagiarism for most experts in a particular field.

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
Something I’ve been wondering about…

I haven’t written a paper since College (when you had to do “ancient” things like “go to a Library”; “research”; “think”; “analyze”; etc…

Question:

With the advent of things like “Google”; and the ability to Cut and Paste ANY article and/or paper on ANY topic imaginable…

  1. Do you guys even have students “write papers” anymore?

  2. How do you even grade something that was most likely Cut and Pasted? Can you spot when that is done?

  3. Are papers a “relic” of the past, and you evaluate students knowledge of a subject in different ways?

Hey…I have to admit my own reading, writing and research skills have taken a hit!

Just curious!

(By the way…that’s a pen and paper in the pic above…!)

Mufasa

[/quote]

I’m a Dutch, History and Math teacher here in Belgium(rated among the top 2 of best education systems in the world - ahem ;-), and I know what you’re saying.

The most important thing as a teacher is to get children more INTERESTED in reading.

I do this by holding a group conversation about the book in question, and perhaps work on their expression by letting them act out some of the scenes in it.

Very recently, I made them read a book(“The Hour Zero” by Dirk Bracke - I think it’s underway to being translated, since it’s a real good book for all ages, and deals with sex, drugs, aids, friendship and love among 13-16 year olds - real good read, can highly recommend it to ANYONE), and after the group conversation(for which we had 3 hours btw), they were allowed to prepare “scripts” and make ready what they needed, because they were gonna film a “trailer” about the book the next day(for which we also had 3 hours).

This worked great, and everyone was enormously enthousiastic.(you wouldn’t believe the ideas some came up with … some came to school with all the attributes for shooting up heroin - the girls in miniskirts to act out as young hookers)

Now, about the writing …
When you know your students personally, you can usually see by the writing that it’s not their own. But even if they DID got it from somewhere, they know they need to put it in their own words for me to not notice.

I notice it(I optimistically assume)most of the time if they do, but I generally prefer them adapting to their own style rather than copy-and-pasting it.

But really, it all comes down to how enthousiastic you make them about reading, and how good the choices are what concerns reading material.

If you don’t choose something that floats your own boat, don’t expect it to float your students’.

VERY insightful thread, guys!

THANKS!

Mufasa

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
Something I’ve been wondering about…

I haven’t written a paper since College (when you had to do “ancient” things like “go to a Library”; “research”; “think”; “analyze”; etc…

Question:

With the advent of things like “Google”; and the ability to Cut and Paste ANY article and/or paper on ANY topic imaginable…

  1. Do you guys even have students “write papers” anymore?

  2. How do you even grade something that was most likely Cut and Pasted? Can you spot when that is done?

  3. Are papers a “relic” of the past, and you evaluate students knowledge of a subject in different ways?

Hey…I have to admit my own reading, writing and research skills have taken a hit!

Just curious!

(By the way…that’s a pen and paper in the pic above…!)

Mufasa

[/quote]

Interesting, I wonder if students at the Academy or Lyceum had multiple choice questions and research papers.

I teach PE and health in the 6th-12th grade level. I assign them papers to write relating to exercise and/or health conditions/concerns.

The conditions are they must show me/turn in are their rough draft, final draft, and works cited page. It’s typically easy at the middle and high school level to spot plagarizing. The districts won’t pay for turnitin.com, but we typically just punch in phrases into google and it’s fairly easy to spot plagarizing.

I’m pondering on dropping the written essay in lieu of spending more time on their dietary journal assignment they have to complete.

  1. It’s for teaching and not evaluating

2.you can google it again to see if they c&p’d it

3.if they edit it , at least it’s something

4.Ive did the c&p a lot