I agree that paraphrasing requires one to understand the material one references, as well as express it more concisely ( in the interests of space ).
However, sometimes I have come across papers where the authors misinterpreted the original results or ideas, and thereby this misinterpretation was carried forward in their paraphrasing. This could be dangerous, especially if someone else were to quote the misinterpretation. Well this is a completely different issue, but about education in the Orient, I don't know if its mostly memorizing. My undergraduate institute heavily focussed on understanding basic principles and applying them. But again perhaps thats a basic difference between engineering and biology. Thanks for your views. amartya Quoting Cara Lin Bridgman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > 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/ > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >
