The “P” Word

I hate plagiarism. Hate it. Don’t like the word. Don’t like how it sounds. Don’t like spelling it. Hate it. And I particularly hate when people ask me to come and talk to their students about plagiarism or how to avoid plagiarism. I don’t like having that word associated with our writing center. Why this visceral reaction?

First, the concept of plagiarism is messy. It is a word used imprecisely. It means the act of cheating or stealing (and those are perfectly accurate and usable words, so let’s call those forms of plagiarism what they are). It also means not documenting your sources correctly which covers a range of “sins” from not documenting your sources at all to forgetting to include the publisher in your reference list. It seems nonsensical to me that we have a word that means both an active deception and a lack of training.

I’m also irritated by the approach many people take to plagiarism. I’m often asked to present to students on how to avoid plagiarism. This seems counter-intuitive to me. It’s like asking someone not to think about purple frogs. As soon as you say it, all anyone can think about is purple frogs. How absurd! Let’s focus on discussing proper documentation procedures and advocating academic integrity (which, I should point out, many individuals and groups on campus do).

Another reason for my visceral reaction has to do with the writing center. Our center is a place where students need to feel safe. They need to trust that they can come to our center and make mistakes and not have to pay an academic price for those mistakes. My stance is that the cheating form of plagiarism hasn’t occurred until a paper is turned in for credit. Up until then, students can turn back. At our writing center, we’re very careful how to approach these situations. When our consultants see text that looks like it comes from a source other than the writer and that text isn’t documented, they begin to discuss proper documentation procedures. (By the way, for those students reading this: it’s a lot easier to pick out plagiarized material than you might think.)

Finally, it really irritates me how pedantic some people are about documentation. They seem to want to claim plagiarism or at the very least drop the grading hammer any time a comma is out of place in the reference list or a date is missing from an APA in-text citation. Most of the worst sticklers are people who aren’t even that knowledgeable about the style they’ve required.

So imagine my reaction when the American Psychological Association (APA) released its 6th edition of their Publication Manual complete with numerous errors of just the type likely to set off pedantic professors. Most of the errors were cosmetic, but several were substantive and have caused genuine confusion and concern for students. The APA’s subsequent refusal to issue more than web updates seemed to fly in the face of the rigor they try to impose with their standards. After all, if errors don’t really matter to the APA, why should we care? Finally, however, the APA has relented and agreed to reprint the edition with corrections.

In an article discussing this fiasco in The Chronicle of Higher Education, I found a sister from another mother in the person of Barbara Fister, academic librarian at Gustavus Adolphus College. As quoted in the article, Fister asserts that plagiarism pedants should “stop spending hours trying to correct student work using new style manuals as unfamiliar to them as to their students and go play with the baby or take a walk instead." Hooray! According to the article, Fister believes “being correct [in the minutiae of style] is not that important, but that understanding the rhetorical reasons for bringing good sources into your argument is.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

All of this coincides with the recent announcement of a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) book discussion group set to meet on February 3 to discuss Susan Blum’s latest book, My Word! Plagiarism and College Culture. I’ve signed up for the group and received my complimentary copy of the book. If you’re a member of the Wright State University community, you can too. Contact the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at 775-4522 to reserve a spot at the discussion and to arrange for your free copy of the book. I’ll be blogging my reactions to the book in this space as I read it. Please read along with me and share your comments here.

Dismissed

One of the most annoying traits of public debate in recent years is how often people dismiss one another’s views out of hand. Too often I hear people proclaim, “Well, that’s just your opinion” or “Well, you’re biased.” These dismissals ignore the possibility that an opinion has been arrived at through deep reflection and are a way of not having to engage in any real thought about a subject.

The inaccurate charge of bias is one that particularly annoys me. Bias is a real issue in academic debate. It is something that scholars and students are urged to avoid. We’re also taught to look for it in the sources we use for our research. It really does exist, but too often in public debate it is assumed from someone’s viewpoint. Ironically, though not surprisingly, it is often present in the very people who charge others with this argumentative fault. People's own biases can so blind them to the facts that the only reason they can see for someone else to draw different conclusions must be bias.

The academic definition of bias is “A preference or an inclination, esp[ecially] one that inhibits impartial judgment” (American Heritage College Dictionary). So, for example, a Democrat might be prone to support President Obama’s policies since he, too, is a Democrat. Similarly, a Democrat may have been more critical of a Republican President such as George W. Bush. That kind of partisan bias occurs all the time, and it is wise to be on the lookout for it. However, it is possible for someone to support a member of their own party, to stay with the political example, without exhibiting bias.

So, how do we tell the difference between an opinion that is overly influenced by bias and one that is not?

The real answer to this question is that we can’t always tell; however, we can take steps to help us find out. Research is a key tool in helping to determine a person’s bias.

For example, let’s say you read an article by a particular political pundit. By reading this article you find out that when the Republicans were in charge, the pundit supported certain key policies. If you only read this one article, you might assume that he has a Republican bias. But if you read another article by the pundit -- one written as a new Democratic administration announces that it will continue those same policies -- and the pundit continues to support them, then we can be pretty sure that he wasn’t supporting those policies just because they were proposed by Republicans. Of course, the pundit might have other biases that contribute to his support of those policies, but through our research we’ve eliminated one of them.

Detecting true bias is very difficult. We all have biases that influence how we develop opinions. The key to honest debate is to try to recognize bias (our own and that of others) and mitigate it by keeping an open mind. We must remain open to new information that might change our opinion of a subject. This is very difficult to do even when we are aware.

What we can do rather easily is stop using the charge of bias as a cheap way of dismissing what others think. If your opinions are so fragile that you can’t bear to hear what someone else has to say, perhaps they aren’t worth keeping.

Seriously?

Last week we talked about how argumentation is at the core of academic writing. I was going to attempt to spell out how to make an argument, but that is too complex a subject for a mere blog post. There are a number of good sources to help you learn how to create a good argumentative paper. Dartmouth’s Writing Program has created this very worthwhile source for making the transition from high school writing to college writing. More specifically, Wright State’s Writing Center has this guide to creating thesis statements. In fact, our wiki has a number of useful links to help you with making the transition to academic writing.

We talked last week about how the process of argumentation is geared toward building an understanding of a subject. Still, it’s difficult to get past the connotation that the goal of an argument is to win. So what is a “win” in an academic argument?

There are a number of definitions I can think of, including the obvious one: winning an argument means making readers change their minds about the subject. I think this is a valid definition, but it can be difficult to achieve. It also can lead to bad scholarly habits. If our goal in an argument is always to convince someone that we are right, we create the temptation to cheat toward that goal. We might hide relevant information that might not support our conclusion. We might misrepresent the viewpoints of certain experts. In short, we might not be honest with our readers. That’s bad.

I think a better goal in an academic paper is to get your audience to take you seriously. This goal is well-aligned with other goals you might have. In a very personal way, much of your life to this point may have been devoted to getting people to take you seriously. After all, you’re not a kid anymore.

The key to being taken seriously in an academic environment is to demonstrate reason and objectivity. Biases born of prejudice or emotional reactions are not well thought of in college. Your readers (e.g., mostly your professors) are going to be far more impressed and persuaded by your dispassionate discussion of a subject.

So how do you achieve this tone of objectivity?

First, find out as much as you can about the subject. This is the reason professors assign research. Their requirements for the number of sources you should look at are the minimum they think you will need to review to begin to understand the subject well enough to discuss it intelligently. Don’t limit yourself to the minimum; read everything you have the time for. Remember, though, not all sources are of equal value.

In your reading, you are looking for factual data about the subject and informed opinion from other scholars and experts on the subject. Sources that deal honestly with counterarguments and differences of opinion will generally be of value. The side benefit to your research is that as you discover valid sources of information on a subject, you will also be exposing yourself to the types of writing and the tone that you will be trying to achieve for your readers.

Most importantly, be open to learning something. Try not to cling too tightly to your preconceived notions about the subject. By being open minded about the subject, you will more naturally seek out opinions on both sides of the argument. Being one sided is the perfect way to convince people that you are NOT serious.

By avoiding bias, addressing potential counterarguments, and generally trying to create an aura of competence, you will appear reasonable, and get your readers to take you seriously. It isn’t always important to win the debate – you will not always convince your reader that you are right. But if you can get your reader to take you seriously, to consider what you have said and think about it seriously, then you will have gone a long way toward being successful in your academic writing.

Why Is Everything An Argument With You?

When most students hear the word “argument,” they think of angry people yelling at one another. When you tell them that academic writing is about making an argument, they picture those uncomfortable moments with family and friends where they fought with one another. No wonder students have so little enthusiasm for “making an argument” in their classes.

An academic argument isn’t an angry fight, though. When you hear the term “argument” in an academic context think about two people having a reasonable conversation. Envision two people who aren’t emotionally attached to the subject. Instead, these two people are actually curious about what the answers to a question might be. As each proposes a possible answer, the other gently tests the proposition with questions and offers new facts to be discussed.

Even given this slightly less combative vision of arguing, students are bound to ask, “Why do I have to argue at all? What’s the point?” It’s a good question.

The point of arguing is to help us better understand something. Anyone can have an opinion. In fact, opinions are among the most common things around. But what is the value of those opinions? Many opinions only have real value to the person who holds them. Typically, these are opinions based on an emotional response to something. For example, I can say, “The Oakland Raiders are my favorite team.” That statement reflects my opinion, and it is factual. But so what? It isn’t really an arguable statement, in part because it has no real value outside of my own personal preference. It doesn’t matter to anyone but me. The fact that I like the Raiders doesn’t preclude you from liking another team.

But what if I claim, “The Oakland Raiders are the best team in the NFL.” That statement is also an opinion. Furthermore, it might matter to you (if you care about football) because if I am right, then your favorite team isn’t the best team in football and maybe you think they are. We don’t have to fight about it, though, because my opinion is arguable and, therefore, potentially provable in a meaningful way. We can actually establish criteria for evaluation, look at data, gather the informed opinions of experts, and evaluate the facts to make a reasonable assessment about which team actually is the best team in football.

We can have a heated argument – the personal kind – about whether the Raiders are my favorite team, but why would we? It doesn’t matter. We can also have an academic argument – though it need not be heated – about whether the Raiders are the best team in football. That argument, though, actually has a good possibility of yielding a factual conclusion. We might not discover who the best team really is, but we are sure to discover that, in fact, the Raiders are not the best team in football (actually, over the past several years, they are one of the worst teams – if not the worst team – in football).

For an opinion to have broader value, for us to have a chance to establish it as fact or truth, we have to take a more intellectual, critical approach. The process of challenging assumptions or opinions; of asking critical questions; of looking for data, facts, expert opinion; and analyzing a subject is a process that can lead us to the truth or at least a better understanding of the subject. It can lead us to better answers about all sorts of things like what you can do about global warming, who you should vote for to be President, even what kind of car you should buy.

Argument – even internal argument – is how we come to understand the world around us. It is a form of critical thinking, one of the most valuable skills you can possess. And academic writing is one of the surest ways to learn that skill.

Start Me Up

I had the pleasure of talking to some freshmen in their UVC classes last week. I asked them what they wanted to know about college writing. During our conversation, a theme emerged. Most of the students I spoke with told me that the hardest part about writing was getting started.

There are a number of techniques for getting started. Experts recommend doing some brainstorming, free-writing, creating a web, or making an outline. All of these techniques have value, and I concur with the experts: try one or more of these techniques and see what works best for you. But as the conversation with these students unfolded, I was struck by a thought that I’d like to explore.

Almost every creation story I’ve ever seen emphasizes that creation came from the organization of chaos. The Creator in these stories always brings order to the chaos. This same story is fundamentally true of “small c” creators as well and, thus, it is true for writers (and Writers).

When we write, we rarely know exactly what we want to write until we write it. We must work hard to shape our formless thoughts into a point, something sharp and focused. This shaping often takes place on the page itself, but it just as often takes place in our heads. In fact, there is a definite back and forth relationship between what appears in our head (the image of our creation) and what ends up on the paper (the final form of the creation). In short, writers make order out of the chaos of their thoughts.

My point is that the very act of thinking “Where do I start?” is, in fact, a start. We have begun the process of creating order out of the chaos of our thoughts. Is it difficult? Yes, often times. But it is also clearly the beginning of writing.

This is the point I’d like for those students among you to take: don’t confine your definition of writing to the act of putting pen to paper or fingertips to keyboard. The page is merely a container for your thoughts. Typing merely propels your words to the page. Thinking is part of the writing process. In fact, it is the real essence of writing. To continue the creation analogy, it is the spirit that inhabits and energizes the flesh.

Thinking is the work of writing. The rest is just packaging. This fact is why writing has such a critical role in education. It is the primary reason (of two reasons) why writing is so important: college is about learning how to think. Not what to think, but how to think, the process of thinking. (The second reason that writing is important is that it is still the best way to communicate complex ideas to a large number of people over an extended period of time so, it is critical that you learn how to communicate clearly in writing.)

The kind of deep thinking you are learning to do in college can’t be rushed. It takes patience. Because writing is thinking, the same is true of writing: it can’t be rushed, and it takes patience. If you’ve started grappling with the chaos of your thoughts, you’ve started to write. Does that make it any easier or more fun? Probably not, but at least we’ve now accurately located the real problem, and that’s the first step toward solving it.

There is a reason (learn, learn, learn)

Starting college is a heady feeling. New school, new people, newfound freedoms, all of these things make starting college an exciting time. One of the first shocks most students receive is how much writing is required in college. If you haven’t seen this reflected on your course syllabuses or heard it from your instructors yet, you will before the first year is over.

The nature of college writing is vastly different than you may have experienced in high school. It is certainly different from the types of communication you see on a daily basis. In college, you will be required to make a claim or statement (called a thesis statement) and defend it with logic, facts, and expert opinion. It is unlikely that you had to do this, or do it as thoroughly, in your high school English classes.

Much writing in high school involves your personal response to other people’s writing and opinions. Similarly, most public communication strives to appear reasonable and well-supported, but it often falls short. We’re bombarded by advertising claims that seem to offer a supported argument (“Is gas mileage important to you? Our car gets 24 miles per gallon on the highway. You should buy our car.”), but those appeals to our pocketbooks are far more shallow and narrow than the types of writing and issues you will be asked to consider throughout your college career.

Why is there so much emphasis on writing in college? There are two primary reasons. The first is that writing is a great way to demonstrate your understanding of a topic. The slow, in-depth nature of the process gives you time to develop a clear, coherent response to an issue or topic. The second reason is that writing is a way of learning. Writing is far more than just putting words on paper. In college, when we speak of writing, we’re talking about the entire process from researching a topic and working to understand it to developing a clear, well-supported response to the issues involved in that topic.

Helping you navigate the requirements of writing in college and understand the value of writing beyond school is one of the main purposes of this blog. In the coming weeks, we’ll address some of the issues that make college writing such a challenge and such a rewarding experience. We’ll investigate what academic writing is, why everything seems to be an argument, and why this isn’t such a bad thing after all. We’ll look at how to evaluate sources and discuss some of the differences between what you are being taught about writing and arguing in college and how things happen in “the real world.”

Future posts aren’t written yet, so feel free to use the comments section of this blog to ask questions and propose ideas for discussion. Being engaged in the conversation is another exciting and important aspect of being in college.

Evaluate Your Sources with CRAAP!

Hi, I'm Piper, the resident librarian at the Writing Center. I'll be posting here from time to time, and while my posts might not be directly about writing per se, they will be about library-related aspects of the writing process. Most of my time is spent upstairs in the Dunbar Library, where--among other things--I and my fellow librarians help students find books, articles, and other materials for their research papers. Although we spend a lot of time searching with students in our catalog and in article databases (and if you don't know what those are, get yourself upstairs and ask! we're cheerful and helpful and we love questions!), another big part of what we do is help teach students to evaluate all the information that they find.

“Well,” you might think, “I already know how to do that.” I'm sure that you do, to some degree, but just think of the vast amount of information out there. For example, when you do a Google search, how do you know which sites will have reliable information? What are the kinds of things you look for in a good, authoritative site? These are not just questions that you should ask yourself when you're doing research for a class assignment (and if you are working on an assignment, you should probably be using the library's catalog and article databases ;)), they are questions that you should ask when you are looking up health information, or buying something, or just looking up a fact on which you made a bet with someone.

Some of the librarians here use a handy checklist developed by librarians at Cal State Chico called the CRAAP test for evaluating websites and other information. CRAAP is an acronym for Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose. These are all things that you should look for, whether on the TV news, in a book, or on a website that pops to the top of your search results. Take a look and use the CRAAP test: it’s brief, it’s useful, and it could save you from making a big mistake in either school—“Whoops, that web page I cited on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was produced by white supremacists”— or the rest of your busy life—“Oh no, that shopping site put a virus in my computer! “

Analyzing Analysis

As a tutor and as a student, I think it is safe to say that text analysis is my least favorite English 101 assignment. However, it is also more useful than it appears at first glance. Speaking as someone who spent many years in the workforce prior to returning to college, I can say that if I had possessed the skills achieved by formulating a successful text analysis back then, it would have served me well.

Instructors assign text analysis for a variety of reasons. However, one of the most important is to assess students’ ability to truly comprehend the message that is being delivered. This goes beyond the ability to look at an advertisement and know what the company is trying to sell, or the ability look an article and accurately summarizing its contents. It is a dissection of language and images that inevitably tells us more than we could possibly glean from a simple summary.

Generally, I suggest that my clients approach analysis as a mechanic might. I recommend that they examine the text as though it is a motor that can be taken apart and examined piece by piece, then put back together to comprise a whole, working machine. Examining each portion of the text gives the student an in depth understanding of why the author used certain words or images, and how those individual components contribute to the success or failure of the piece as a whole.

Not only does this approach serve as method of creating a successful text analysis for an instructor, it provides the student with tools that will serve him or her in a business setting. An understanding of text analysis can lay the groundwork for better communication in the workplace.

Though it will rarely be a favorite assignment, text analysis will inevitably strengthen a student's skill as a writer. Successful completion of this assignment can strengthen a writer’s confidence and improve his or her reading comprehension in preparation for further collegiate endeavors, as well as undertakings beyond the world of academia.