Hi, this post comes around periodically because it is an ongoing problem for some students. I'm aware that many of the students do understand about plagiarism. For those students, please bear with me because these are issues that come up frequently. This is the reason for this posting.
This is is a link to University of Leicester's page on plagiarism:
http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/ld/resources/study/plagiarism-tutorial
The following is a link to a useful site at the Indiana University Bloomington that has a useful questionnaire for students who are uncertain about plagiarism:
https://www.indiana.edu/~tedfrick/plagiarism/
To clarify, all students at the University of Leicester should be aware of the university's policy with regard to plagiarism. Once you have read and understood this policy, that may be enough information for some students. However, this is not the case for all students.
Which students are at the most risk of plagiarism or poor scholarship? I have created a list below of conditions that indicate a student is in danger of plagiarism and/or poor scholarship:
1. Students who are lost and use online sources, without clear references, such as this one to help yourself:
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html
This is a poor source to use if you want to understand Bloom's Taxonomy. Notice that there are advertisements here. Notice as well that the taxonomy itself is not labeled. There are many similar websites on, for example, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.
Research for your research papers should come from reliable textbooks, the University of Leicester's digital library and some online sources which are reliable. Sadly, Wikipedia cannot be numbered among these sources at the present time because it contains many mistakes and is not written by scholars.
Look at this source for doing research on the Civil War:
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html
Notice that this source points the way to reliable primary (first hand) and secondary sources on the Civil War. This source is updated regularly. Other such sources would include university webpages or webpages such as the Medline.
Students often don't realize good research takes time. You need to allow yourself to have this time to do the kind of research that is expected in quality work.
2. Students who have difficulty writing.
When students can't write properly, they often use the words of others. There are resources such as:
Academic Writing: A Handbook for International Students by Stephen Bailey
to assist students who have difficulty in putting together a good logical argument. Additionally, the University of Leicester offers courses for students who have difficulties with English. Sometime, taking such a programme can make getting your degree easier and is a worthwhile investment.
Finally, I would add that students must understand that rephrasing the words of another author and not providing citations is a big problem. All ideas and concepts stemming from the work of others must be cited.
Students should be aware that if their work is found to be plagiarized, they won't get a second opportunity to submit it. This is why students who are told that their work has failed due to poor scholarship must be careful. They will be allowed to resubmit their work. However, their work will be scrutinized carefully for plagiarism. Additionally, module tutors/markers will expect that they have fixed this problem in the redraft of their assignment.
I hope that this is clear to all students.
KB
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Thank you to all students
Dear Students:
I was very touched by the number of responses when I was forced to go off line for a while earlier this year. As you may have noticed, there have been a number of blog postings since then. The responses of my students has made me realize that this blog is being read. As we go into summer, I'm going to try and include blogs on grammar. I had considered dropping these blog postings but find that they are very useful for most students.
Thank you again. Every posting is appreciated.
KB
I was very touched by the number of responses when I was forced to go off line for a while earlier this year. As you may have noticed, there have been a number of blog postings since then. The responses of my students has made me realize that this blog is being read. As we go into summer, I'm going to try and include blogs on grammar. I had considered dropping these blog postings but find that they are very useful for most students.
Thank you again. Every posting is appreciated.
KB
Friday, April 29, 2011
Assignment Questions based on Quoted Sources
In the past month, I've noticed that some students have problems with assignments that use quoted sources on a given subject[Finance, Accounting, OB] to sponsor discussion. To help you learn to approach questions that use quotations, I want to begin with a simple example from literature.
Example Question:
Henry James argued in his forward to "The Aspern Papers" that he wanted "to do the complicated thing with a strong brevity and lucidity." (1888). Discuss.
What is implied here by "discuss"? As I've mentioned in previous posts, the objective of most academic work is to develop critical thinking. In the context of this question, critical thinking means discussion of this point. So, when you examine "The Aspern Papers", is the author brief and lucid. These words conveyed something different for 19th century readers than they do in the present. We, as the media constantly reminds us, live in the age of email and phone texts, blogs, Twitter and Facebook. The Aspern Papers, by comparison with these brief commications, is a book of endless emotional complications and complex language. It is roughly 100 pages of dense text. By our standards, this isn't brief. If you were writing about this question, for an assignment, the discussion would involve a lively exchange of information which would highlight both sides of the debate with fairness and clarity.
When longer quotations are involved, the first challenge facing the student is comprehension. What does the quotation mean? An example of a longer quotation, from Fredric Jameson, in Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism Verso, 1991:
"The last few years have been marked by an inverted millenarianism in which premonitions of the future, catastrophic or redemptive, have been replaced by senses of the end of this or that (the end of ideology, art, or social class; the “crisis” of Leninism, social democracy, or the welfare state, etc., etc.); taken together, all of these perhaps constitute what is increasingly called postmodernism. The case for its existence depends on the hypothesis of some radical break or coupure, generally traced back to the end of the 1950s or the early 1960s."
Quotations such as these require more investigation. Before writing your paper, it's important when you're given lengthy and complicated quotations, that you spend time understanding them. Suggestions by the module tutor, to look at a particular source or writer to assist understanding, should be taken seriously and these other writers will probably be included in your assignment and bibliography. When you have a complex quotation, such as the one above, the temptation is to by-pass it and begin writing your paper without this analysis. This is a serious mistake. Quotations must be dissected and clearly understood before proceeding with discussion and debate. Thus, you can see, these long quotations are used as a method to inspire debate and discussion in your assignments. Understanding them is part and parcel of being a graduate student.
Until next time,
KB
Example Question:
Henry James argued in his forward to "The Aspern Papers" that he wanted "to do the complicated thing with a strong brevity and lucidity." (1888). Discuss.
What is implied here by "discuss"? As I've mentioned in previous posts, the objective of most academic work is to develop critical thinking. In the context of this question, critical thinking means discussion of this point. So, when you examine "The Aspern Papers", is the author brief and lucid. These words conveyed something different for 19th century readers than they do in the present. We, as the media constantly reminds us, live in the age of email and phone texts, blogs, Twitter and Facebook. The Aspern Papers, by comparison with these brief commications, is a book of endless emotional complications and complex language. It is roughly 100 pages of dense text. By our standards, this isn't brief. If you were writing about this question, for an assignment, the discussion would involve a lively exchange of information which would highlight both sides of the debate with fairness and clarity.
When longer quotations are involved, the first challenge facing the student is comprehension. What does the quotation mean? An example of a longer quotation, from Fredric Jameson, in Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism Verso, 1991:
"The last few years have been marked by an inverted millenarianism in which premonitions of the future, catastrophic or redemptive, have been replaced by senses of the end of this or that (the end of ideology, art, or social class; the “crisis” of Leninism, social democracy, or the welfare state, etc., etc.); taken together, all of these perhaps constitute what is increasingly called postmodernism. The case for its existence depends on the hypothesis of some radical break or coupure, generally traced back to the end of the 1950s or the early 1960s."
Quotations such as these require more investigation. Before writing your paper, it's important when you're given lengthy and complicated quotations, that you spend time understanding them. Suggestions by the module tutor, to look at a particular source or writer to assist understanding, should be taken seriously and these other writers will probably be included in your assignment and bibliography. When you have a complex quotation, such as the one above, the temptation is to by-pass it and begin writing your paper without this analysis. This is a serious mistake. Quotations must be dissected and clearly understood before proceeding with discussion and debate. Thus, you can see, these long quotations are used as a method to inspire debate and discussion in your assignments. Understanding them is part and parcel of being a graduate student.
Until next time,
KB
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Saving time at the Beginning of Assignments
A student asked me how he could save time in doing his assignments. This the advice I gave for the first stages of work on an assignment topic.
"The first thing most students don't understand is the first stage in doing an assignment isn't information gathering. In the first stage of an assignment, you reflect on what you are being asked to do and the materials you already have at hand to do the assignment. Consider this:
1. The tutor will expect that you have read the information in the module text on the assigned topic. It will also help you later if you go over the module text. Good marks on your final exams is a result of going over study information several times. (SQ3R)
2. You should understand all the terminology the tutor uses any given assignment. You should look up terms you don't understand in your module text. The module text was chosen for a reason. The focus and definitions in a text usually fit with the way the tutor also defines any terminology in a given assignment.
3. Read your module text can help you to understand the question, first. Do not go online and read a lot of information on the internet that may or may not be correct.
4. If you spend your time wisely at the beginning of an assignment, defining the perimeters of the question you can save time later by not going off topic later.
5. Discussion on Blackboard is also important here.
Okay, so before writing a word, understand what is really required of you. To do this, you can use a variety of tools:
1. Your mind and your imagination.
2. Your module text.
3. Map minds or other mapping tools.
4. Blackboard (bb)
You need to look at the subject of an assignment clearly and understand what it means.
KB
"The first thing most students don't understand is the first stage in doing an assignment isn't information gathering. In the first stage of an assignment, you reflect on what you are being asked to do and the materials you already have at hand to do the assignment. Consider this:
1. The tutor will expect that you have read the information in the module text on the assigned topic. It will also help you later if you go over the module text. Good marks on your final exams is a result of going over study information several times. (SQ3R)
2. You should understand all the terminology the tutor uses any given assignment. You should look up terms you don't understand in your module text. The module text was chosen for a reason. The focus and definitions in a text usually fit with the way the tutor also defines any terminology in a given assignment.
3. Read your module text can help you to understand the question, first. Do not go online and read a lot of information on the internet that may or may not be correct.
4. If you spend your time wisely at the beginning of an assignment, defining the perimeters of the question you can save time later by not going off topic later.
5. Discussion on Blackboard is also important here.
Okay, so before writing a word, understand what is really required of you. To do this, you can use a variety of tools:
1. Your mind and your imagination.
2. Your module text.
3. Map minds or other mapping tools.
4. Blackboard (bb)
You need to look at the subject of an assignment clearly and understand what it means.
KB
Monday, February 28, 2011
Studying: SQ3R
Aside from telling students who are studying that they should use distributed practice, I tell them to use SQ3R as their studying method. SQ3R stands for: survey, question, read, recite and review.
1. Survey - Read the material through that you are studying. Think about what it means.
2. Question - Formulate questions about the materials that you need to answer before the exam.
3. Read - When you are reading, find the answers to the questions above.
4. Recite - Cover over the material you are studying, recite it from memory.
5. Review - Go back to the material and see what you have missed.
This cycle should take no longer than 45 min. - 1 hour. You should, following distributed practice, then take an extended break. If you want to remember what you're studying, you are better to organize several short study periods over a week in which you study. The reason that cramming is not efficient is because the objective of studying is to get the information from your short-term memory into your long-term memory. This can't be accomplished by cramming.
What I'm saying here is, use SQ3R as your overall study strategy. If you want to take a last minute look at your textbook to review it, that's not a problem. The important thing you need to remember is that you should go into the exam room, calm and confident. That last minute look is fine, as long as you have the backlog of information in your memory from repeated study and consistent review. I hope this has been helpful.
KB
1. Survey - Read the material through that you are studying. Think about what it means.
2. Question - Formulate questions about the materials that you need to answer before the exam.
3. Read - When you are reading, find the answers to the questions above.
4. Recite - Cover over the material you are studying, recite it from memory.
5. Review - Go back to the material and see what you have missed.
This cycle should take no longer than 45 min. - 1 hour. You should, following distributed practice, then take an extended break. If you want to remember what you're studying, you are better to organize several short study periods over a week in which you study. The reason that cramming is not efficient is because the objective of studying is to get the information from your short-term memory into your long-term memory. This can't be accomplished by cramming.
What I'm saying here is, use SQ3R as your overall study strategy. If you want to take a last minute look at your textbook to review it, that's not a problem. The important thing you need to remember is that you should go into the exam room, calm and confident. That last minute look is fine, as long as you have the backlog of information in your memory from repeated study and consistent review. I hope this has been helpful.
KB
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A Hiatus for this Blog until March 31, 2011
Hi, for the last few months, I've been struggling very hard to write these posts. The main reason has to do with a serious problem with my back. This issue has been dealt with by major spinal surgery two weeks ago. However, I'm still struggling just to keep up with my emails from all my students. The operation, which I wish to say was 100% successful, means that I need to spend more time taking care of myself so that I can heal. That is, I need to do therapeutic exercises in a warm pool every week to strengthen my back as well as gentle walking. In order to facilitate my healing, I'm taking some time off this blog so that I can focus on healing. As I say, I'm not taking any time off my teaching obligations. When I come back to write this blog, I was hoping that students might post suggestions for posts and topics of interest. I will endeavour to help students with these requests in every way possible. As usual, you can contact me through my email at the University of Leicester if you have any urgent inquires before March 31st.
KB
KB
Monday, January 31, 2011
Using critical thinking to make winning assignments
Okay, this week I want to using critical thinking to make winning assignments. Let's look at a sample question:
SAMPLE ASSIGNMENT QUESTION
How can theories of motivation help us to motivate employees at a lower levels of the organization? (Use2 sources, 3,500 words, Double spaced, New Roman 12 pt font)
First, we need to understand what motivation theories we are going to discuss. Looking at our textbook, we find information on these theories:
a) Maslow's hierarchy of needs
b) Herzberg's two-factor theory
c) Expectancy theory
We are not going to go through each theory in detail. However, we will briefly look at how you might take ideas from Maslow (the hierarchy of needs) to begin to frame a discussion of motivation and low-level employees in an organization. You can follow the same pattern with any of the other motivational theories when you write out an assignment question.
In this assignment, the module tutor wants to read about your analysis and your ideas, not ideas you've found on the internet. Second hand opinions found in discussions on Maslow on the internet may look slickly written when you are having difficulty formulating your own opinions, but they are unoriginal and show that you haven't thought about the question deeply. The questions, such as the one above, are written so that you can draw on your own experience to back up arguments on motivational theory.
To begin the process of thinking deeply on this question, you should read your OB text to find the motivational theories you're going to use in your discussion. This will help you formulate ideas about how, to give one example, Maslow's theories could be used to motivate low-level employees in an organization.
Let's consider Maslow. Maslow develops a hierarchy of human needs beginning with simple needs such as food and shelter. At this level of the hierarchy, we can see that financial remuneration allows low-level employees in an organization to pay for their rent, food and other basic needs. Moving to the highest level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, self-actualization, we have to ask how the organization inspires low-level employees to (for example) get more education. Education and training helps employees to move from lower-level jobs to higher-level jobs. In writing about this, you need to consider how the organization might encourage employees to receive more education and training (or if this doesn't really happen).
I mentioned earlier that you are supposed to use critical thinking to back up your arguments. Using the example of Maslow's hierarchy of needs again, let's look at how you can structure a paragraph to make a critical argument that fulfills the needs of the topic.
Outline of a Paragraph Discussing the Use of Motivational Techniques on Low-level Employees in An Organization
Sentence 1 (Topic Sentence with Main Discussion Point) - Employees can satisfy the need for food and shelter, a basic need according to Maslow
Sentence 2 (Use of evidence to back up or disagree with the main point) - In Organization X (a fast food restaurant), the employees are all part-time and the salary could not be used to pay for their food and shelter
Sentence 3 (Analysis) - Because it is a part-time job, it is often difficult to get employees to come in for extra shifts because the job is not used to support them or pay for their rent.
Sentence 4 (More analysis) - When you were a manager at Organization X, you had difficulty filling all the shifts and found employees quit with little or no warning. This seemed to be because employees were not motivated at the most basic level to work for Organization X.
The question asks you to use 2 sources. Don't use the internet for this research. The University of Leicester has a Digital Library with good source materials that will help back up your arguments. Databases such as Business Source Premiere, JSTOR, Emerald Online and many others can assist you to find the kind of resources that your module tutors will expect to see cited within your assignments.
Until next time,
KB
SAMPLE ASSIGNMENT QUESTION
How can theories of motivation help us to motivate employees at a lower levels of the organization? (Use2 sources, 3,500 words, Double spaced, New Roman 12 pt font)
First, we need to understand what motivation theories we are going to discuss. Looking at our textbook, we find information on these theories:
a) Maslow's hierarchy of needs
b) Herzberg's two-factor theory
c) Expectancy theory
We are not going to go through each theory in detail. However, we will briefly look at how you might take ideas from Maslow (the hierarchy of needs) to begin to frame a discussion of motivation and low-level employees in an organization. You can follow the same pattern with any of the other motivational theories when you write out an assignment question.
In this assignment, the module tutor wants to read about your analysis and your ideas, not ideas you've found on the internet. Second hand opinions found in discussions on Maslow on the internet may look slickly written when you are having difficulty formulating your own opinions, but they are unoriginal and show that you haven't thought about the question deeply. The questions, such as the one above, are written so that you can draw on your own experience to back up arguments on motivational theory.
To begin the process of thinking deeply on this question, you should read your OB text to find the motivational theories you're going to use in your discussion. This will help you formulate ideas about how, to give one example, Maslow's theories could be used to motivate low-level employees in an organization.
Let's consider Maslow. Maslow develops a hierarchy of human needs beginning with simple needs such as food and shelter. At this level of the hierarchy, we can see that financial remuneration allows low-level employees in an organization to pay for their rent, food and other basic needs. Moving to the highest level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, self-actualization, we have to ask how the organization inspires low-level employees to (for example) get more education. Education and training helps employees to move from lower-level jobs to higher-level jobs. In writing about this, you need to consider how the organization might encourage employees to receive more education and training (or if this doesn't really happen).
I mentioned earlier that you are supposed to use critical thinking to back up your arguments. Using the example of Maslow's hierarchy of needs again, let's look at how you can structure a paragraph to make a critical argument that fulfills the needs of the topic.
Outline of a Paragraph Discussing the Use of Motivational Techniques on Low-level Employees in An Organization
Sentence 1 (Topic Sentence with Main Discussion Point) - Employees can satisfy the need for food and shelter, a basic need according to Maslow
Sentence 2 (Use of evidence to back up or disagree with the main point) - In Organization X (a fast food restaurant), the employees are all part-time and the salary could not be used to pay for their food and shelter
Sentence 3 (Analysis) - Because it is a part-time job, it is often difficult to get employees to come in for extra shifts because the job is not used to support them or pay for their rent.
Sentence 4 (More analysis) - When you were a manager at Organization X, you had difficulty filling all the shifts and found employees quit with little or no warning. This seemed to be because employees were not motivated at the most basic level to work for Organization X.
The question asks you to use 2 sources. Don't use the internet for this research. The University of Leicester has a Digital Library with good source materials that will help back up your arguments. Databases such as Business Source Premiere, JSTOR, Emerald Online and many others can assist you to find the kind of resources that your module tutors will expect to see cited within your assignments.
Until next time,
KB
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