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Below is an archived version of the newsletter Writing at the University of Kansas, which was released in Fall 1996. This edition was published by the Writing Consulting staff: James Hartman, Director; Pat McQueeney, Associate Director; Anne Farmer and Angela Jones, Graduate Students Assistants; and Lee G. Hornbrook, Office Manager.
Writing Resources on the World-Wide Web
The Internet is a treasure trove of resources to enhance your
efforts to incorporate writing into your teaching. It also is a rich source
of support for your students.
For Faculty
Are you ever curious about how your counterparts at other schools
structure their courses? The World Lecture Hall is a growing collection
of syllabi and assignments in 28 fields of study. Don't confine yourself to
your specific subject area; a few minutes spent exploring assignments from other
fields may generate ideas that match your goals.
The KU Communication Studies web site includes Online University
Teaching Centers: A Worldwide Listing. In the U.S. university category
alone are listed professional development services at over 100 universities.
We draw your attention to a new link: Mizzou's. Though much of their Program
for Excellence in Teaching is under construction, The Campus Writing Program
link describes one model of a fully-realized campus-wide writing program.
For Students
In the absence of a campus-wide writing laboratory at KU, students
will find on-line writing labs (OWLs) helpful. Like everything else on the Web,
they vary in quality. We suggest that you encourage your students to begin with
Purdue's. In addition to providing useful information, Purdue links
with several other OWLs. Caution: lots of students use Purdue's OWL, so it is
very busy.
Students wishing to receive feedback on their writing might contact
The Writery at Mizzou. On a space-available basis (with priority given
to MU students), on-line tutors will interact with students about their papers
in progress.
Of course, with the good comes the problematic. School Sucks
is a popular and highly publicized effort in student-paper recycling. This repository
of student papers and exams permits easy downloading and printing--a technological
advance over dormitory file days. Many papers are, at best, marginal, but perusers
may not realize that. As we teach them how to access the Web, the challenge
for us becomes to also teach students how to assess their sources and to use
them ethically.
Teachers can discourage students from resorting to previously
written papers by course-specific assignment design. Continue reading for several
strategies KU faculty have used to discourage plagiarism.
Writing Resource URLs*
cited in accompanying article
Online University Teaching Centers:
Online Teaching Centers around the World
Managed by KU Center for Teaching Excellence, this site links faculty and
TAs to a wealth of faculty resources in the U.S. and abroad.
Purdue University's OWL:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/introduction.html
An excellent resource in itself, this site is also a gateway to
several other OWLs.
School Sucks:
www.schoolsucks.com
A recycling repository, this site is worth monitoring.
University of Missouri's Writery:
www.missouri.edu/~wleric/writery.html
Students may upload papers and receive feedback from Missouri
tutors.
The World Lecture Hall:
http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture
Faculty can pursue syllabi and assignments in a variety of fields.
*URLs active as of 7/5/99.
Assignment Strategies to Discourage Plagiarism
Effective assignment design discourages plagiarism. Strategies
that faculty use to discourage cheating include the following:
- assigning papers and projects that depart in structure and content from the traditional research paper
- segmenting assignments to time management and the research process
- tying assignments to time management and the research process
- requireing incorporation of information from teacher-assigned articles with original research
- assigning early in the process a prospectus and timetable for the project
- requiring submission of an annotated bibliography of the research sources
- requesting photocopies of title pages of books or part of an on-line service cited
- requiring an oral presentation of the work in progress
- asking an exam question that requires students to state and define the thesis of the paper that they have submitted
- establishing assignment-specific grading criteria and grading according to them
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