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Re: [xmca] FW: The Shadow Scholar - He writes your students' papers.



I believe this does have much to do with issue of control. 

However, I believe that certain approaches to teaching have become so  hegemonic that when they do not work, teachers struggle and become angry  with the students versus looking for new methods or even researching  the reasons why the method is ineffective. 

I am not faulting teachers as much as explaining how a weak method  becomes the standard.   I have an article under review in which I discuss how the current  approach to teaching plagiarism uses an appeal to the emotion of fear to  motivated students to cite texts versus teaching them to feel proud  that they can cite and dialogue with a scholar's text. 

I draw a parallel  to the old days when driver's education classes used "Last Prom" type  films to scare students into driving safely. Research has shown that  fear is an unpredictable motivator. In my inner-city school we never  actually drove a car, we just viewed these movies and took tests for  driver's training. 

I have had success in working from strategies like creating a favorite  quote collection from a source, doing extensive reflection on three  favorite quotes, analyzing the mechanics of a well-cited article,  creating a vocabulary for introducing quotes, emphasizing how the  student responds to the scholar, etc.  I go so far as equating good  citation with bragging--by golly I read this source, thought about it,  found the best part, and now have something to say about it.  

No more drive by citations.  

Nancy

Nancy Mack

Professor of English 
Wright State University

http://www.wright.edu/~nancy.mack





----- Original Message -----
From: Larry Purss <lpscholar2@gmail.com>
Date: Monday, January 10, 2011 8:50 am
Subject: Re: [xmca] FW: The Shadow Scholar - He writes your students' papers.
To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>

> I don't want to take a position on this topic, but was curious 
> about what
> seems a contradiction between issues of "control and trust" in a 
> mannersimilar to Engstrom's article on the use of technology in 
> middle schools and
> putting computers in the hallway.  I wonder if the 
> concepts  "control" and
> "trust" are primary or basic constructs when discussing institutional
> structures or containers.  I was wondering when reading 
> Engstrom's article
> if the terms control and trust were explanatory terms 
> within  2nd person
> actor narratives or if Engstrom abstracted these terms as 
> explanatory 3rd
> person narratives of what he observed in the middle school 
> environment.  Do
> others see a contradiction or tension in the discussion of 
> plagarism or is
> it a clear case of civic virtue?
> 
> Larry
> 
> On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 12:40 AM, Rod Parker-Rees <
> R.Parker-Rees@plymouth.ac.uk> wrote:
> 
> > And I can also confirm that this extends to submissions to 
> peer reviewed
> > journals, too. I have had the experience of receiving a paper 
> which was
> > noticeably more lucid than the email which accompanied it, a 
> quick bit of
> > googling revealed that the paper was the work of a student at 
> a UK
> > university where the submitter had been working as a visiting 
> academic.>
> > Rod
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-
> bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On
> > Behalf Of Robert Lake
> > Sent: 10 January 2011 01:20
> > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > Subject: Re: [xmca] FW: The Shadow Scholar - He writes your 
> students'> papers.
> >
> > I can verify that from my experience last semester.
> >
> > With one student I suspected because of an obvious misuse of 
> future tense
> > in
> > a paper, Google worked,,,,,, Turnitin missed it.
> >
> > On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 6:46 PM, Nancy Mack 
> <nancy.mack@wright.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > There are significant problems with commercial plagiarism 
> checkers.> > There are studies that indicate that a simple 
> google search for a unique
> > > phrase is more accurate and is free.
> > > See this study
> > > http://wac.colostate.edu/journal/vol20/gillis.pdf
> > >
> > > The National Council of Teachers of English website has 
> several better
> > > resources for issues of plagiarism. Here is just one resource:
> > > http://www.ncte.org/magazine/archives/122871/
> > >
> > > Turnitin is very expensive. School districts are being 
> pressured to buy
> > > this service. Some teachers are using these policing 
> mechanisms rather
> > than
> > > teaching students effective ways to use direct citation. Moreover,
> > citation
> > > practices do vary from discipline to discipline.
> > >
> > > Nancy
> > >
> > > Nancy Mack
> > >
> > > Professor of English
> > > Wright State University
> > >
> > > http://www.wright.edu/~nancy.mack
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: David Cross <d.cross@tcu.edu>
> > > Date: Sunday, January 9, 2011 6:22 pm
> > > Subject: Re: [xmca] FW: The Shadow Scholar - He writes your 
> students'> > papers.
> > > To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> > >
> > > > Turnitin is used at TCU ... it works well for plagiarism, but
> > > > wouldn't
> > > > have caught The Shadow Scholar.
> > > >
> > > > http://turnitin.com/static/index.php
> > > >
> > > > Cheers
> > > >
> > > > David Cross
> > > > d.cross@tcu.edu
> > > > www.davidcross.us
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Jan 9, 2011, at 4:11 PM, David H Kirshner wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Karen,
> > > > > I'd not heard of anti-plagiarism services.
> > > > > What a great idea. Their use should be routine--a high-tech
> > > > solution
> > > > > to
> > > > > a high-tech problem.
> > > > > To tell you the truth, I don't know how they would be 
> able to detect
> > > > > frauds like the Shadow Scholar, in that the papers are 
> one-of-
> > > > a-kind,
> > > > > not recycled. Yet some organized effort to combat this really
> > > > is in
> > > > > order. This is something that a union of university
> > > > professors, or
> > > > > some
> > > > > other pan-university organization should undertake.
> > > > > David
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-
> > > > bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]> On Behalf Of Karen Heckert
> > > > > Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 4:03 PM
> > > > > To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> > > > > Subject: Re: [xmca] FW: The Shadow Scholar - He writes your
> > > > students'> papers.
> > > > >
> > > > > This is not amusing. This is horrifying. (You can tell 
> how old
> > > > I am.)
> > > > >
> > > > > I recently finished an MS in I/O Psychology, and one professor
> > > > made us
> > > > > submit
> > > > > everything we handed in to an online anti-plagiarism service.
> > > > > Personally, I
> > > > > thought she was nuts and certifiably paranoid. Now I 
> understand.> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > About fifteen years ago I spent some time in a Ph.D program
> > > > and
> > > > > teaching
> > > > >
> > > > > undergrads. One day I received two exactly identical papers
> > > > from two
> > > > > different
> > > > > students. Some astute questioning uncovered the fact 
> that the best
> > > > > student in
> > > > > the class (Chinese) and several American students were 
> pooling their
> > > > > resources
> > > > > to write the research papers. Since their exams were all
> > > > written in
> > > > > class, this
> > > > > didn't bother me too much. I just stipulated that each student
> > > > had to
> > > > > write up
> > > > > the work in their very own words for submission. But there
> > > > wasn't a
> > > > > question (I
> > > > > think) of anybody getting paid - it was just a case of uniting
> > > > in the
> > > > > face of a
> > > > > common enemy (the gradebook). Beng a student myself, I
> > > > understood only
> > > > > too well.
> > > > > Besides, I figured, most research these days is done by teams,
> > > > and
> > > > > this
> > > > > was a
> > > > > little practical experience.
> > > > >
> > > > > Another cautionary tale: One of my students who had been
> > > > turning in
> > > > > acceptable
> > > > > papers all semester turned in one that read very much like
> > > > > schizophrenese
> > > > > word-salad. I called her into conference and asked her point
> > > > blank,
> > > > > "Are
> > > > > you
> > > > > dyslexic?" She said that she was, but that the student
> > > > center's
> > > > > writing
> > > > > lab had
> > > > > been helping her write her papers. This time she simply hadn't
> > > > had
> > > > > time
> > > > > to take
> > > > > her paper to them.
> > > > >
> > > > > Having just survived another bout of our "educational" system,
> > > > I
> > > > > have to
> > > > > agree
> > > > > with many of the anonymous writer's points about 
> college, if
> > > > not with
> > > > > his/her
> > > > > ethics. I find this sort of thing a far more serious symptom
> > > > of "moral
> > > > > decay"
> > > > > than abortion or gay marriage. We in the US are supposed 
> to be a
> > > > > meritocracy and
> > > > > those things which undermine that threaten our existence in
> > > > more
> > > > > crucial
> > > > > ways.
> > > > > The "system" is failing the students and in the long run
> > > > failing us
> > > > > all.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > ________________________________
> > > > > From: David H Kirshner <dkirsh@lsu.edu>
> > > > > To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" 
> <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>> > > > Sent: Thu, January 6, 2011 
> 3:17:56 PM
> > > > > Subject: [xmca] FW: The Shadow Scholar - He writes your 
> students'> > > > papers.
> > > > >
> > > > > Not a propos of anything, this is both amusing and disturbing.
> > > > >
> > > > > David
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > ****************************
> > > > >
> > > > >> From the Chronicle Review [A Weekly Magazine of
> > > > Ideas/Chronicle of
> > > > > Higher Education], Friday, November 19, 2010, pp. B6-B9. See
> > > > > http://chronicle.com/article/The-Shadow-Scholar/125329/
> > > > >
> > > > > ****************************
> > > > >
> > > > > The Shadow Scholar
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > The man who writes your students' papers tells his story
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > By Ed Dante
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > __________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > *Robert Lake  Ed.D.
> > *Assistant Professor
> > Social Foundations of Education
> > Dept. of Curriculum, Foundations, and Reading
> > Georgia Southern University
> > P. O. Box 8144
> > Phone: (912) 478-5125
> > Fax: (912) 478-5382
> > Statesboro, GA  30460
> >
> >  *Democracy must be born anew in every generation, and 
> education is its
> > midwife.*
> > *-*John Dewey.
> > __________________________________________
> > _____
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