Ideas needed

Nerissa

I am being forced to write a paper about a topic of dissention in computer science. I have several ideas, such as data mining, intellectual property or open source. I just need something huge with lots of sources and arguments. I really hate writing; I'm terrible at it. My professor sucks and keeps giving me shitty papers written by past students. Yet he gives me a C on my last paper, because I didn't site sources in my paper. (hello they were common knowledge) Anyways, that's not the point. I need some examples of arguments in the field of computer science. Also I need an interview with someone working in the field, so you know... any volunteers. pretty please. I don't want to have to kidnap someone leaving citibank.

Kate Monster

Yet he gives me a C on my last paper, because I didn't site sources in my paper.

Assume that almost nothing is common knowledge. Cite everything. It is simply laziness (both intellectually and in action) not to do so.

Schnevets

Yet he gives me a C on my last paper, because I didn't site sources in my paper.

Assume that almost nothing is common knowledge. Cite everything. It is simply laziness (both intellectually and in action) not to do so.

Yeah, especially since a citation can take up a lot of space.

Also, one great place to look for citations is actually wikipedia. For an important article like Open Source, references are a must, and any cited articles are located at the bottom of the page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software#References

Also, your college probably has membership to an online database. I don't know how useful it is for CS, but in most topics, these databases have the most credible sources (especially professors).
And don't think you'll be able to get away without citations. It's one of those things many professors think every student should know because it's necessary for the real world. Kind of like cursive writing was in third grade...

Nerissa

The last paper I wrote was on my hometown, so the information I was giving was common knowledge there. I figured it was a better idea not to cite myself. Of course I'm sure the professor didn't know that,but since it's MLA style (meaning you need the author's last name and the page number) I didn't want my entire paper full of (lastname).

We do have an online database and a library too. I don't have problem finding resources, I was looking for some ideas. but then again I guess I was asking for too much.

Rym

Ahh, MLA. I much prefer APA, but that might just be a byproduct of getting used to it at RIT.

Apreche

Ahh, MLA. I much prefer APA, but that might just be a byproduct of getting used to it at RIT.

I went to RIT, and nobody ever made me use APA. Every teacher I ever had was MLA all the way.

Kate Monster

Ahh, MLA. I much prefer APA, but that might just be a byproduct of getting used to it at RIT.

I used MLA exclusively in college, but I was an arts and humanities person, so APA was never required. Neither style is particularly difficult.
I did a paper in college on my town putting in a sewer, and I cited all over the place (local news articles, interviews, construction documents, public records, etc.)

Rym

I went to RIT, and nobody ever made me use APA. Every teacher I ever had was MLA all the way.

All of the PTC classes required strict APA, and would fail a paper without proper sourcing. I never had to write a real paper in any other classes, so APA was all I used. I can't say for sure if it's just familiarity or the fact that I was writing interesting papers at uni, as opposed to high school and middle school, where we used MLA for the trite little essays we were given. Maybe I just associate APA with RIT and MLA with my pre-college days.