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End of essays in school ?

kiwi_birdkiwi_bird
edited October 2006 in Everything Else
Now let me explain this.

When I say essay I mean a speech you write and then hold it in front of your class which then gets marked. Now when I was still in school the teachers would complain about students having nearly all their information from wikipedia and they would then give them an F. Now since generations from here on have the Internet as a source of information should teachers still be allowed to give an F on an essay if he took everything from wikipedia 1 to 1?! Of course if it was all correct...

Before the Internet some students took all there information form books, sometimes even 1 to 1 but no one cared. Now do you see a solution or can you correct me if I said or understood something wrong?

Comments

  • CramitCramit
    Taking from any source without reference is plagiarism. Most teachers I know would demand re-write at very least no matter what source it came from. In colleges you are luck if you do not get kicked out all together. Wikipedia is not a great source for a paper. It contains many inaccuracies and opinions. Wikipedia, however, is a good starting place to find out general information about a topic and the sources that are listed might turn out to be great sources.
  • BrineshrimpBrineshrimp
    edited October 2006
    Cramit's right. The reason why Wikipedia isn't a good source for any paper is because the entries for whatever you may be searching for are almost always user submitted. Without knowing who that user is, how would you be able to confirm the credibility of the source? However, most quality entries on the Wikipedia cite their sources and if you're looking for books or documents with credentials to find the same info, that's the best place to start. I studied for my history test with wiki ^_^'

    Also, taking 1 to 1 information from a book and making it a paper is considered plagiarizing. Which WILL (as Cramit said) get you kicked out of school and get 'cheater' slapped onto your transcript.
    Post edited by Brineshrimp on
  • kiwi_birdkiwi_bird
    I think there is a really thin line between finding out information and writing an essay or just copy stuff from all different places.
  • CramitCramit
    A good essay is you taking info from all those places and then synthesizing your own ideas and opinions copying stuff from all different places is just summarizing the existing information. At the end of the day the essay shows why it matters and what all the facts together really mean.
  • SailSail
    Wikipedia is for simplification and summarising purposes, it should never be used as a key source. For internet sources, simply google the topic. Any other site that you can find information is appropriate.
  • tuttle88tuttle88
    A good essay is you taking info from all those places and then synthesizing your own ideas and opinions copying stuff from all different places is just summarizing the existing information. At the end of the day the essay shows why it matters and what all the facts together really mean.
    You are exactly right. The reason why you have to use information from other sources is that as a student you are not well informed enough to form your own opinions. Your get an essay topic, you take an opinion on the issue and then you find sources that agree and disagree with you. Then you discuss the sources, why they relate to your topic and why they prove your hypothesis. A good essay will also take the people that disagree with you and explain why they are wrong.

    If you quote something you can't just stick it there, you have to insert the quote then discuss it. This is a great way to pad out your word count.
  • CramitCramit
    Exactly!
  • BrineshrimpBrineshrimp
    edited October 2006
    If you quote something you can't just stick it there, you have to insert the quote then discuss it. This is a great way to pad out your word count.
    Yea, for word counts, block quotes are your friend! Not for page total though... you have to single space them in MLA :-(
    Post edited by Brineshrimp on
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