Typed? Pencil? What means these words? On May 11, 2009, at 8:29 PM, [email protected] wrote:
> > Absolutely! Some of these students' problems with reading > comprehension and writing are not unlike those of students whose > primary language is not English. There seems to be a real lack of > self-discipline in maintaining mindfulness in what they read. Of > course these problems are compounded by a lack of genuine interest > in learning and a number of bad habits that students have acquired > since grade school, such as not taking the time to print out a copy > of their paper to revise it. The result is that we end up getting > first drafts that are submitted as final products. When I remind > them of my requirement that their papers must be accompanied by an > earlier typed version with substantive penciled-in corrections, > they react as if I was from Mars. > > Miguel > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Gerald Peterson" <[email protected]> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, May 11, 2009 10:02:23 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [tips] Reality check/Reading compreh. > > Thanks Miguel! An interesting issue here is that I suspect some > students have problems with reading comprehension, and this > presents even further challenges for them when attempting to > summarize or rephrase points or ideas in a paragraph they have > read. Many students tell me they read the text or chapter but do > not understand anything. No wonder they miss my subtle wit! > Again, given the lack of reading experience in new students, this > lack of comprehension makes it very inviting to merely copy > everything and stay at a superficial level in their writing. > I think it would be a useful class exercise to give students--as > you did here--some paragraphs and explore what the author was > saying, what the major point was, and what other ideas, > assumptions, suggestions might be found in that paragraph. Then, > when it comes to summarizing it or paraphrasing, students should > have a better sense of how the points covered can be described > differently while retaining and giving credit to the key ideas the > author presented. At the same time, such exercises, in groups or > as class activities, might help with problems of reading > comprehension. Gary > > > Gerald L. (Gary) Peterson, Ph.D. > Professor, Psychology > Saginaw Valley State University > University Center, MI 48710 > 989-964-4491 > [email protected] > > >>> <[email protected]> 5/10/2009 9:05 pm >>> > > > I agree that the Indiana site is one of the best ones to send > undergraduates to, especially because of that certificate of > completion that can be mailed directly to you. > > And for a little shameless self-promotion, in the future you should > consider having your students read my short piece in Eye on Psi Chi > titled "Avoiding those little inadvertent lies when writing > papers": http://www.psichi.org/Pubs/Articles/Article_666.aspx : > > Miguel > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Paul C Bernhardt" <[email protected]> > To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" > <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2009 8:32:11 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: RE: [tips] Reality check > > I am finding the same patterns increasingly. I do not think I have > become better at spotting the pattern. I think that there is an > increasing level of acceptance of these kinds of plagiarism, > possibly due to an attitude of "I got it off a web page, there is > no ownership on the internet, therefore, I can't be stealing." > > I, too, will have my students complete the Indiana University > School of Education (Bloomington) tutorial, requiring each supply > me with their certificate of completion by the end of the first > week of the course. Here's the link: > > http://www.indiana.edu/~istd/ > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: DeVolder Carol L [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Sun 5/10/2009 5:00 PM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: RE: [tips] Reality check > > Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I have been > grading papers nonstop for several days now (with a brief recess > for graduation). Generally, what I am finding is that my C and D > students are the ones who are stringing together sentences that are > not their own. I start reading a paper that is grammatically poor, > maybe started with the phrase "In this paper I am going to talk > about..." and then suddenly shifts to a beautiful, fully-formed > sentence or set of sentences. Of course I Google it immediately and > sometimes have some luck, other times it doesn't come up. If I am > still suspicious, I go to the database and look up the original > article. Students sometimes reference the article, although there > have been some who have omitted references. Sometimes I find entire > paragraphs taken verbatim, other times I find phrases here and > there, interspersed with other phrases lifted from other articles. > I believe the student could not figure out a way to rephrase what > the article said, and took the lazy (and deceitful) way out. I > would rather have a poorly written paper(poor from a grammatical > standpoint) than one in which the student made no attempt to > understand the material. One the other hand, I had one student who > wrote her paper on stroke because both her sister and father had > strokes and she wanted to understand what happened in each case. > She told me that one of her articles was too difficult and she was > going to find an article that she could understand. I respect that. > I believe if I repeat this assignment, I am going to have all > students complete a plagiarism tutorial before handing in their > papers, and as Tim mentioned, I'm not going to wait until the end > of the semester to collect the papers. I can't remember which > school has the excellent plagiarism tutorial--one of the Indiana > Schools? > > Thanks again, I appreciate your collective insight. If nothing > else, I'm learning a great deal (though becoming somewhat more > cynical as I do). > > Carol Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
