My students are bright enough to produce whole papers from carefully selected quotations. If they included citations and quotation marks, they are not plagiarizing, but neither are they writing.
In science, we are biased against quotes. This is because we paraphrase. This isn't just to provide smooth transitions between cited ideas. Paraphrasing is evidence we understand what we read. In the Orient, so much of education emphasizes memorizing. Their test questions tend more towards 'Quote ABC on XXX.' I don't think this proves we understand ABC's ideas on XXX. So many of my own high school and college test questions were 'Explain XXX using your own words." CL Amartya Saha wrote: > Hello all, > for quite some time i have had some confusion over quoting literature, and > perhaps this plagiarism thread could offer some ideas.. > > If one were to quote a paper, i have heard that one is NOT supposed to > directly > lift a sentence or para or any parts thereof, even though the paper would be > quoted as a reference. Instead, one has to paraphrase the same in one's own > words. > Is this true ? If so, the logic fails me. How does it matter if one rephrases > the sentence, when the idea or result has been copied ( and referenced of > course ). > > Thanks for any views > amartya > > > > Quoting Abraham de Alba <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > >> Dear Ecologgers: >> >> It might seem odd to say this, but the problem is >> that in our education (as in yours) knowledge has been >> at the top, NOT values (or ethics for that matter). >> >> But then again, japanese (that supposebly do stress >> values before knowledge) also have been known to trip >> on plagiarism. >> >> So I guess a simple problem has complex social >> solutions (nothing new there). >> >> >> >> >> <P>Abraham de Alba Avila</P> >> <P>Terrestrial Plant Ecology</P> >> <P>INIFAP-Ags</P> >> <P> Ap. postal 20,</P> >> <P> Pabellón Arteaga, 20660</P> >> <P> Aguascalientes, MEXICO</P> >> <P> Tel: (465) 95-801-67, & 801-86 ext. 118, FAX ext 102 >> alternate: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> cel: 449-157-7070</P> >> >> __________________________________________________ >> Do You Yahoo!? >> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around >> http://mail.yahoo.com >> > -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cara Lin Bridgman P.O. Box 013 Phone: 886-4-2632-5484 Longjing Sinjhuang Taichung 434 Taiwan http://web.thu.edu.tw/caralinb/www/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
