This weekend I went home for the first time since coming to college. It wasn't weird, everything felt normal, except that I got a lot of attention, a pinata, a dark chocolate milkshake from Steak n Shake, and I didn't have to do any chores. Well, now I'm back to the daily college grind.
Every class has issued serious warnings about plagerism. Except Sociology. Our writing assignment for that practically IS plagiarism. Since we are supposed to summarize some points from the book, and they are graded by a computer program (you see your score right away and can resubmitt it), basically the assignment adds up to "paraphrase in your own words" where the only possible way to get a good grade it to feed it exactly the same terms as the book. Lovely. :P
I'm going to have to actually WORK on my English paper (1250 words about the expressive content of a greek statue), and I can't procrastinate because it has to be peer reviewed at least 24-48 hours before it's due. That's one way to make me get my work done!
I actually ate some salad with my dinner twice (be proud of me, mom!)
I just finished reading Jane Austen's Persuasion; I had had enough of fluffy christian fiction and greek heroes slaughtering each other, and this book was just right.
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3 comments:
Don't assume that you've been asked to plagiarize simply because you're summarizing the content of a book (or multiple books). Remember, you've re-entered "grammar stage" learning for many subjects, including Sociology. For practical purposes, you can apply Bloom's Taxonomy to the trivium (a Google search will reveal more on Bloom's) and see that the "grammar stage" includes knowledge (read: facts that are presented to you as facts) and observation (read: facts that you recognize to be facts). Thus, a "grammar stage" paper in Sociology will be, properly, essentially a summation of the facts gathered, along with any so-called common knowledge that you've encountered.
(It is natural, though, to feel pressure-- be it external or self-inflicted-- to start learning a new subject at a "logic stage" or even "rhetoric stage", especially for someone who has progressed through the stages in other disciplines, like yourself. But the beauty of the trivium model is that it helps you see where you are in the learning process, and what is/should be expected of you at that stage. Don't be afraid to be where you are in the learning process.)
Anti-plagiarism rules of thumb for "grammar stage" papers:
~"Common knowledge" is any idea you've encountered in three or more sources.
~Cite everything that you take from a non-common knowledge source, even if you have paraphrased, re-worded ideas, or presented it in a different order.
~Citations do not have to be only things in quotes; it is perfectly legitimate to cite, say, at the end of a paragraph that has no quotes whatsoever, if the bulk of that paragraph was someone else's idea.
Please don't plagiarize!
Thanks for the advice! :) Yeah, I've kind of been trying to jump ahead. At wildwood I knew what was expected of me, but now I have to learn how totally different teachers want things done.
The problem with the Sociology assignment is that the computer won't believe that you've included the concepts unless you've worded every single key phrase exactly like the book. (For example, I tried to include terms like worldview and enlightenment, but it only accepts terms like "religious beliefs.") It also allows for no citation (the teacher knows this and doesn't have a problem with it). So basically you are left with what in any other class would be considered plagiarism. Ick!
those dark chocolate milk shakes were wonderful!
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