May, 1998, From Now On - 1 views
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it is reckless and irresponsible to continue requiring topical "go find out about" research projects in this new electronic context. To do so extends an invitation (perhaps even a demand) to "binge" on information.
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Keith Hamon on 28 Jun 10I agree that too many research assignments encourage plagiarism. Stopping plagiarism begins with crafting better research assignments.
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Stephanie Cooper on 28 Jun 10True. This definitely needs to be addressed at the beginning of our workshop as a "what not to do."
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Little thinking is required. This is information gathering at its crudest and simplest level.
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Students become producers of insight and ideas rather than mere consumers.
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questions worth asking
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While some claim that "There are no new ideas under the sun," our students must learn how to apply some extra color or tone it down. They must learn to see the underlying structure and then construct or deconstruct the original until it shimmers with originality.
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We show students how to take notes with a database program.
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we keep an eye on the note-taking and idea development as they evolve.
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We build our programs around what I called The Prime Questions in the October, 1997 issue of From Now On, "The Question is the Answer:" http://fno.org/oct97/question.html Why How Which is best? We transform topical research into projects which demand that students move past mere gathering of information to the construction of new meanings and insight. Example: Instead of asking why events turned out particular ways in our past (a question fraught with plagiaristic opportunities since historians have probably already offered answers), we might ask students to hypothesize why various outcomes did not occur. Example: Instead of asking how we might protect an endangered species whose chances have already been improved (the bald eagle), we might focus on one which no one has managed to protect (various Australian marsupials, for example). Example: Instead of asking students to study a single country or city, we might ask them to decide which is best for various purposes (the Winter Olympics, a university degree, the building of a theme park, etc.).
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Under the old system of "go find out about" topical research, it took students a huge amount of time to move words from the encyclopedia pages onto white index cards. The New Plagiarism requires little effort and is geometrically more powerful.
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Under the old system of "go find out about" topical research, it took students a huge amount of time to move words from the encyclopedia pages onto white index cards. The New Plagiarism requires little effort and is geometrically more powerful.