My student, D, looked pretty glum when he walked into class this morning. As soon as class was over, he started talking about all of the corrections he'd made to his paper, and that he was really concerned. So we began talking, and he followed me up to the office. I told him my main concern was founded in the citations. I asked what he thought about the assignment and how he'd found the researching process, and he said that he'd done all his research through the online databases with the exception of a book his friend gave him. I asked which book, and he told me it was the one that he uses as a main source. "How was this book helpful to you?" and he explains how his friend's annotations had helped him through it because his friend was "big into the issue," and how his friend had actually pushed the topic on him knowing that he could help fill him in on the information (less research for my student to do).
AH. This explains much. My student did read the article that he works with (which explains why the article matches its info), but not the book, so he couldn't possibly know the limitations of its information. Laziness. As to mismatched citations: his friend told him where to put the citations... SUPER laziness and irresponsibility.
I asked about the final citations: what does April 28, 2010 mean?
To this, he responded that it was just a typo and that he had 2 works cited and he'd turned in the wrong one: but he'd given me two different works cited sheets - BOTH with the date following each citation, so I pointed that out and asked him what the typo was. He didn't have an answer.
I told him my main concern when I'd read the paper was whether or not these were HIS words, and he swore up and down that he'd written the paper, but he didn't know why he'd put that date after...fishy.
So we talked about the major effects of turning in something like this:
1. How it weakened his voice as a writer: it made him seem irresponsible, sloppy, and possibly dishonest (I now regret such harsh words, but they seemed to hit home...)
2. How it might effect him academically: turning something like that in (knowingly or not) is plagiarism, which is theft, and would definitely result in an F in the course, and possible expulsion from the school.
Then I gave him 2 options for this paper:
1. Research each of the claims he makes in his current paper and present the information in a draft which represents him best as a competent researcher.
2. Write a new paper representing himself as a competent researcher.
I told him that, as it was, I would not accept the paper because the information was not fully his.
He considered the two, and told me that he didn't want the paper to be a conflict issue, so he should probably write a different one, but he'd e-mail me by the end of today with his final decision.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
ADVICE
I sent this out via e-mail, but thought I'd post here too so that I'd get advice from whichever form of communication you check first!
My D student who I approached about plagiarism last week e-mailed me this morning asking me how my holiday went, and what I thought about the newest draft. I'm considering the following response (HELP!):
Hi Damian,
I'm glad your vacation is going well; mine has been pretty busy with work, but thank you for asking! I've just finished reading your paper, but haven't written on it yet because I need help understanding a few things:
1. I was looking at your works cited, and after each citation it says "April 28, 2010" - why is that?
2. There are 4 sources in your works cited, but only 2 used in-text (Bernard and Donoghue), so you'll need to either do some more research if the two sources don't apply, or you'll need to utilize them (to complete the project you need at least 5 sources).
3. I've noticed that you've cited Donoghue throughout your paper, but there are a few in-text citations that don't match up with the information being discussed (one example being the final paragraph on page 3 which discusses info about 2003 and 2007, but Donoghue was published in 1990, so the source CAN'T fit).
I don't mean to sound suspicious, but there are aspects of your paper that really aren't adding up here. I've asked for counsel on the matter, and it's been suggested that I run your whole paper through a plagiarism-checking website. Before I do that (because I hate the idea of it), I want to give you the chance to help me understand your paper. Last week, you turned in 3 pages for the rough draft with your works cited marked as page 10 (suggesting that you'd already written the paper before the workshop - which is doable, and I don't have a problem with at all!), but that's when I commented on your use of un-cited information from Wikipedia. You've taken out the photos, but there is still information from Wiki in your paper in the form of direct and indirect quotes (in spite of your taking the citation off of your works cited). If it's possible, I'd like to talk with you face-to-face on Monday so that we can sort this out.
Best,
Elisa J.
My D student who I approached about plagiarism last week e-mailed me this morning asking me how my holiday went, and what I thought about the newest draft. I'm considering the following response (HELP!):
Hi Damian,
I'm glad your vacation is going well; mine has been pretty busy with work, but thank you for asking! I've just finished reading your paper, but haven't written on it yet because I need help understanding a few things:
1. I was looking at your works cited, and after each citation it says "April 28, 2010" - why is that?
2. There are 4 sources in your works cited, but only 2 used in-text (Bernard and Donoghue), so you'll need to either do some more research if the two sources don't apply, or you'll need to utilize them (to complete the project you need at least 5 sources).
3. I've noticed that you've cited Donoghue throughout your paper, but there are a few in-text citations that don't match up with the information being discussed (one example being the final paragraph on page 3 which discusses info about 2003 and 2007, but Donoghue was published in 1990, so the source CAN'T fit).
I don't mean to sound suspicious, but there are aspects of your paper that really aren't adding up here. I've asked for counsel on the matter, and it's been suggested that I run your whole paper through a plagiarism-checking website. Before I do that (because I hate the idea of it), I want to give you the chance to help me understand your paper. Last week, you turned in 3 pages for the rough draft with your works cited marked as page 10 (suggesting that you'd already written the paper before the workshop - which is doable, and I don't have a problem with at all!), but that's when I commented on your use of un-cited information from Wikipedia. You've taken out the photos, but there is still information from Wiki in your paper in the form of direct and indirect quotes (in spite of your taking the citation off of your works cited). If it's possible, I'd like to talk with you face-to-face on Monday so that we can sort this out.
Best,
Elisa J.
Monday, November 21, 2011
No offense? None Taken!
I've got my students' workshop responses back, and I'm pleasantly surprised with what I've found. :) To "set them up," I gave them a detailed guide to workshopping for our first essay: a complete set of rules/guidelines as to what they should be looking for, what not to comment on (grammar), and how they can be of help to their fellow students by offering commentary in full sentences and telling them what they see as a reader. All of that changed for essay 2. This past workshop (Nov. 14), I'd set up the room as I'd done before: I moved the chairs so that there could only be 4 to a group, and I got out my markers. However, instead of writing up a list of rules or bringing up my guidelines to project on the screen, I asked my students to take five minutes and write their own guidelines.
*blank stares*
Rules:
1. No grammar notes.
2. Check for interesting ideas/expanding on ideas.
3. Check for biases
4. Check citations
What ended up happening was this: one student walked up to the board to write her rule down (rule 1), and she ended up staying up there to write the other 3. Nobody else got up - they just told her what to write. Because it was just a rough draft, I completely stayed out of this process. I provided the markers, and said nothing as the rules were written. When my student had been standing there in silence for a sufficient amount of time, I asked if they were good with just those 4 rules, they said they were, and then they began (sans strict guidelines) in a Joshua Shynn-esque manner: the author read the paper, the students listened, offered commentary, asked questions, and then the author was given a chance to speak up. Once they were finished, they left.
Wednesday, one of my students spoke up in class and said that she was frustrated with the workshop because she saw that she'd been too dependent on me to give the questions. Here's a segment of her Journal response:
I got a lot out of our first workshop, so I was really looking forward to the one on Monday, November 14th. However, the workshop on Monday was not very helpful. I think that it was hard for us to critique each other's papers because the guidelines were very linient - -we didn't know exactly what to look for. At the first workshop, my paper was full of marks which included suggestions and ideas on ways that i could improve. However, on Monday, I found that when I received my papers back, there were little to no marks on any of them. I was pretty frustrated, because I feel like my paper could use a lot of work, but I'm kind of lost and overwhelmed with where to start making changes. This is a learning experience for us, though, because it is critical that we learn how to do things on our own, and find a way to do them well. Even though I don't feel like much was accomplished, it was good for us to learn how to construct questions and procedures on our own, so we can do better at it next time.
Another of my students felt empowered:
I noticed in my group, one of my peers had a good topic, but they did not state a clear thesis sentence. I was able to explain to them that a reader would be lost and lose interest in their paper if they did not have a good structured thesis statement. This amazed me because it showed me that I learned what to look for in a paper, since I have always had low confidence in essays I write. After this workshop, it showed me that I have learned in this class how to think critically when starting a paper so that way in the future I know how to start my essay and keep the ideas I have in flow for the reader to understand and become interested in as they read.
A third student just really likes workshopping:
The work shops we do to review each others papers are extremely helpful especially for me. One of the ways its helps me the most is reading my paper out loud. It's not because I need help in public speaking but because when I read my essay I can see my errors. It's not just spelling and grammar errors I find but also sentence flow[...]. Also when we read our paper out loud we think of, or at least I think of, great ideas or sentences that could have fit in my paper. The second most helpful thing I get from workshopping is the peer editing. It was easier to head criticisms from your friends and classmates then from a professor, no offense M's Ellis you are super cool and down to earth but your still a professor, and I don't want to hear that somethings wrong from you, professor.
We do have another workshop coming up on Wednesday, and I'm going to help them come up with questions this time. Also, I'm going to open a discussion board for weekend discussion should they choose to talk with each other over the weekend as their paper is due next Monday. What I wanted them to gain from the experience has been gained. The majority of them either questioned their authority and wrote what they should have said, or they wrote about what a positive experience they had in finding out that they were capable of critiquing a piece without my help. :) I only had one student write about all the things he didn't say that he wanted to - that the paper he read was biased, boring, and lacking in research... to which I wrote on his journal: "If you feel your peers' papers aren't meeting the expectations you feel they ought to be, TELL THEM! Peer workshops are all about giving positive & negative feedback so that your peers can succeed! Wouldn't you want them to tell you if your paper were biased before turning it in and getting the same comments from me?"
*blank stares*
Rules:
1. No grammar notes.
2. Check for interesting ideas/expanding on ideas.
3. Check for biases
4. Check citations
What ended up happening was this: one student walked up to the board to write her rule down (rule 1), and she ended up staying up there to write the other 3. Nobody else got up - they just told her what to write. Because it was just a rough draft, I completely stayed out of this process. I provided the markers, and said nothing as the rules were written. When my student had been standing there in silence for a sufficient amount of time, I asked if they were good with just those 4 rules, they said they were, and then they began (sans strict guidelines) in a Joshua Shynn-esque manner: the author read the paper, the students listened, offered commentary, asked questions, and then the author was given a chance to speak up. Once they were finished, they left.
Wednesday, one of my students spoke up in class and said that she was frustrated with the workshop because she saw that she'd been too dependent on me to give the questions. Here's a segment of her Journal response:
I got a lot out of our first workshop, so I was really looking forward to the one on Monday, November 14th. However, the workshop on Monday was not very helpful. I think that it was hard for us to critique each other's papers because the guidelines were very linient - -we didn't know exactly what to look for. At the first workshop, my paper was full of marks which included suggestions and ideas on ways that i could improve. However, on Monday, I found that when I received my papers back, there were little to no marks on any of them. I was pretty frustrated, because I feel like my paper could use a lot of work, but I'm kind of lost and overwhelmed with where to start making changes. This is a learning experience for us, though, because it is critical that we learn how to do things on our own, and find a way to do them well. Even though I don't feel like much was accomplished, it was good for us to learn how to construct questions and procedures on our own, so we can do better at it next time.
Another of my students felt empowered:
I noticed in my group, one of my peers had a good topic, but they did not state a clear thesis sentence. I was able to explain to them that a reader would be lost and lose interest in their paper if they did not have a good structured thesis statement. This amazed me because it showed me that I learned what to look for in a paper, since I have always had low confidence in essays I write. After this workshop, it showed me that I have learned in this class how to think critically when starting a paper so that way in the future I know how to start my essay and keep the ideas I have in flow for the reader to understand and become interested in as they read.
A third student just really likes workshopping:
The work shops we do to review each others papers are extremely helpful especially for me. One of the ways its helps me the most is reading my paper out loud. It's not because I need help in public speaking but because when I read my essay I can see my errors. It's not just spelling and grammar errors I find but also sentence flow[...]. Also when we read our paper out loud we think of, or at least I think of, great ideas or sentences that could have fit in my paper. The second most helpful thing I get from workshopping is the peer editing. It was easier to head criticisms from your friends and classmates then from a professor, no offense M's Ellis you are super cool and down to earth but your still a professor, and I don't want to hear that somethings wrong from you, professor.
We do have another workshop coming up on Wednesday, and I'm going to help them come up with questions this time. Also, I'm going to open a discussion board for weekend discussion should they choose to talk with each other over the weekend as their paper is due next Monday. What I wanted them to gain from the experience has been gained. The majority of them either questioned their authority and wrote what they should have said, or they wrote about what a positive experience they had in finding out that they were capable of critiquing a piece without my help. :) I only had one student write about all the things he didn't say that he wanted to - that the paper he read was biased, boring, and lacking in research... to which I wrote on his journal: "If you feel your peers' papers aren't meeting the expectations you feel they ought to be, TELL THEM! Peer workshops are all about giving positive & negative feedback so that your peers can succeed! Wouldn't you want them to tell you if your paper were biased before turning it in and getting the same comments from me?"
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Capitolize P-L-A-G-I-A-R-I-S-M for a Capitol Offense.
... One of my students (My D+ student who'd turned in the same paper he'd given me at conferences) had a family emergency Monday, so he dropped by class, gave me his rough draft, and left. That was yesterday morning. Tonight, I've finally gotten around to glancing over their rough drafts, and his is not "his." I read the first paragraph, googled a suspicious phrase, and up came Wikipedia. He DID cite a source for that section - but it wasn't Wiki, and that phrase wasn't in quotes. Oh, well - an honest mistake. Next paragraph, I come across something similar - so I word-searched the wiki article, and up came the same sentence (with 3 word changes, and one tense change...). I read the paragraph that the sentence came from in my student's paper, and then the paragraph in the wiki article, and they're very similar. I've stopped reading the paper for now because I don't want to deal with it.
I'll talk to him about it tomorrow... oy.
I'll talk to him about it tomorrow... oy.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Extra Credit....
As the quarter drags on, a few of my students have begun to notice how their not turning in assignments in the first half has effected their grades. Last Wednesday, they asked about extra credit assignments: extra writing assignments. To this, I inwardly groaned, but externally smiled and told them I'd think about it.
If I give them extra credit assignments, it means extra work for me so that they can catch up to the work that they should have done earlier on in the quarter. Granted, it's a class of first year students and they're only just getting used to the work load, but there are also a good handful of students who have not only kept up with the work, but have worked very hard on each assignment. Is it fair to them to offer extra credit? I put it to a vote, and they said they didn't care. We discussed library/writing center workshops that I'd told them about earlier on in the quarter, and then told them I'd have to think about an extra credit project that they could work for.
I didn't want an extra credit written assignment that would simply "save" their grade - I wanted them to understand the importance of working towards the grade on their own. My alternative to written assignments:
Extra Credit: 5 points. This is HALF a letter grade
Friday 12/2 and Monday 12/5 have been marked as “workshop”days in our syllabus in order to hold those days should we need to push our portfolio project back. What I propose is this:
1. From this day, November 4, 2011, ALL of your assignments must be turned in ON TIME.
2. You must participate in class discussion/workshops/etc., etc. to the best of your abilities.
In other words: You must put forth the effort to raise your grade yourself. If you meet these requirements, you will be eligible to take part in the extra credit assignment.
I know it sounds harsh, but I don't think they should be given extra credit - they should earn it. I think half a letter grade is fair enough if they do the work.
What do you think?
If I give them extra credit assignments, it means extra work for me so that they can catch up to the work that they should have done earlier on in the quarter. Granted, it's a class of first year students and they're only just getting used to the work load, but there are also a good handful of students who have not only kept up with the work, but have worked very hard on each assignment. Is it fair to them to offer extra credit? I put it to a vote, and they said they didn't care. We discussed library/writing center workshops that I'd told them about earlier on in the quarter, and then told them I'd have to think about an extra credit project that they could work for.
I didn't want an extra credit written assignment that would simply "save" their grade - I wanted them to understand the importance of working towards the grade on their own. My alternative to written assignments:
Extra Credit: 5 points. This is HALF a letter grade
Friday 12/2 and Monday 12/5 have been marked as “workshop”days in our syllabus in order to hold those days should we need to push our portfolio project back. What I propose is this:
- Should you fulfill the below requirements, you will be eligible to receive extra credit for giving a 5-10 minute presentation of your research on those days.
1. From this day, November 4, 2011, ALL of your assignments must be turned in ON TIME.
2. You must participate in class discussion/workshops/etc., etc. to the best of your abilities.
In other words: You must put forth the effort to raise your grade yourself. If you meet these requirements, you will be eligible to take part in the extra credit assignment.
I know it sounds harsh, but I don't think they should be given extra credit - they should earn it. I think half a letter grade is fair enough if they do the work.
What do you think?
Sunday, November 6, 2011
"Academic Dishonesty"
This past week, I wrote a panicked e-mail to Brenda with two pages of my student's paper attached to it... While I was reading a revision, I came across a paragraph that was focused, well-crafted, and had a lovely semi-colon in it that was actually being used correctly. While I read the paragraph, my thought process went somewhere along the lines of this nice analysis is coming out of nowhere! I wonder how long it took her to write this... Semi-colon?...What's that doing here? It's perfect. How did it get here? ... and then I re-read the paragraph, and paid closer attention. The grammatical structure wasn't perfect, but this student has had difficulty with syntax in the past; it was much more eloquently written than anything she'd written to date. Also, there were quite a few words in there that I wasn't sure the student would have chosen to use normally, and I couldn't remember her ever using a semi-colon. It was too eloquent. The diction. The structure. The paragraph... it wasn't her voice.
So I panicked, and then went for a walk to clear my head. I didn't want to think about the two words I've chosen to use as a title for this post. Those two words together are just eery. When I got home, I scanned the page prior to the paragraph, and the one with it, and wrote an e-mail to Brenda.
Friday came, and I passed all the revisions back at the end of class except for that student's; I simply asked her (quietly) if we could talk after class. I asked her how she approached the revision, and she immediately told me that she'd had help revising it. When I asked what part she'd had help with, she pointed straight to the paragraph, and told me she hoped I'd grade up if she used larger words and varying sentence structure. I was so relieved that she'd told me instead of my having to ask if she'd had help or if she'd just lifted it from somewhere. She told me that she'd revised the paper up to a point, and then sent it to a friend who talked her into using another source; after my student had written a paragraph with larger words in it on that source, she sent it to her friend, and her friend "fixed" it.
Ahhhh... So from there I explained what that paragraph had done to her paper - how it had weakened the rest of her work because of its being so different, how her friends' changes had stripped the student of her own voice, and how having such "help" could be looked at as (insert the title here) _____ _________. I applauded her for having a reader for her text, but suggested that, in the future, she ask only for advice, and that she execute the revisions herself.
I was terrified of asking her to stay behind and speak with me after class, but am very glad that she just told me what she did, and why she did it. What a huge blessing it was to be able to have this sort of experience and be able to come out of it with positive feedback for my student!
So I panicked, and then went for a walk to clear my head. I didn't want to think about the two words I've chosen to use as a title for this post. Those two words together are just eery. When I got home, I scanned the page prior to the paragraph, and the one with it, and wrote an e-mail to Brenda.
Friday came, and I passed all the revisions back at the end of class except for that student's; I simply asked her (quietly) if we could talk after class. I asked her how she approached the revision, and she immediately told me that she'd had help revising it. When I asked what part she'd had help with, she pointed straight to the paragraph, and told me she hoped I'd grade up if she used larger words and varying sentence structure. I was so relieved that she'd told me instead of my having to ask if she'd had help or if she'd just lifted it from somewhere. She told me that she'd revised the paper up to a point, and then sent it to a friend who talked her into using another source; after my student had written a paragraph with larger words in it on that source, she sent it to her friend, and her friend "fixed" it.
Ahhhh... So from there I explained what that paragraph had done to her paper - how it had weakened the rest of her work because of its being so different, how her friends' changes had stripped the student of her own voice, and how having such "help" could be looked at as (insert the title here) _____ _________. I applauded her for having a reader for her text, but suggested that, in the future, she ask only for advice, and that she execute the revisions herself.
I was terrified of asking her to stay behind and speak with me after class, but am very glad that she just told me what she did, and why she did it. What a huge blessing it was to be able to have this sort of experience and be able to come out of it with positive feedback for my student!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)