[etni] fw: copying vs. writing


From: Sharon Tzur <sharontzu5@xxxxxxx>
Subject: copying vs. writing

Ester wrote: 
Let's be honest: in University when we submitted term papers
and / or did a thesis we all quoted word for word from other
sources and then noted the places with a number , and source
in the Appendix.
Writing projects should, in my opinion, help the pupils learn
how to write other serious research papers and I feel it is
legitimate for weak pupils to copy small portions from "ready texts,"
as long as they don't download entire projects. I'm sure some
teachers won't agree with this-- to each his own :)


Ester is right - I'm a teacher who doesn't agree.
It is certainly legitimate to quote provided that you provide
quotation marks and give credit to the source. (Do our students do that?)
However, no one submits a term paper that is just a collection of
quotes. Most of the writing has to be done by the student with
only a few scattered quotes here and there where appropriate.
Having students just write an introduction and summary, with a
large part of what is in between just copied is not acceptable in
my opinion and defeats the whole purpose of the project -
which is to have students write.

I think that in choosing a project for four pointers we have to try
hard to come up with topics that take into account the student's
level of English. If the topic is too hard, the students will hardly
be able to understand their sources, let alone do their own writing.
Even a topic such as "countries" might be very hard. (I once did
that topic with a four point class and found they couldn't read
the complicated encyclopedic entries on geography, climate,
economy, etc. However, they were able to cope with telling
about a food that is popular in the country and how it is made
- telling about 1 famous site in the country and why people find it interesting, etc.)

Secondly, if students come up with (or are given) a long list of
questions that they are supposed to answer, they can often find
the answers even in a fairly difficult text and then they can do the
writing as a series of answers to questions. For example, take a
topic like "Famous kidnapping cases". The students can try to
answer the following questions:

When did it take place?
Where did it take place?

Who was the victim? How old was she/he?

What is the name of the person who did the kidnapping?
What time of day did the kidnapping take place?
How did the kidnapper take the victim?
Were there any witnesses?

What was the reason for the kidnapping?
Was a ransom note sent..

etc. etc.

I do think that one cannot expect a four pointer (or maybe even
a 5 pointer) to effectively integrate 4 sources. I think it is better
to divide the topic into two subtopics and expect students to use
2 sources for each subtopic.

Finally - today, in 10th grade, I asked my 5 pointers to close an
article we had read, and answered questions on and asked them
to write a very short summary of what they had read with their
books closed. Most of the class found in extremely difficult!
If we find that so many students around the country are not
capable of reading sources and then and writing in their own
words - maybe we have to rethink the whole idea of the project,
which is a challenging enough task in one's native tongue.


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