Hi all,
I am working on a new book (now you know I am certifiably crazy). This is
Youth Risk Online: A Guide for Adults Who Work With Children and Teens.
Started January 8 and have one more chapter to write (did I mention
certifiable? <sigh> oh my aching neck)
I also have 4 chapters in this book addressing Web 2.0 issues in schools -
including plagiarism and attribution. Here is a section that addresses an
online research strategy. I would love feedback.
Inadvertent Plagiarism or Failure to Appropriately Attribute
The failure to appropriately attribute is related to a lack of skills.
Students may not understand how to incorporate the ideas of others into
their paper and provide appropriate citation. They may lose track of their
sources as they are conducting their research, especially as they "surf" the
Web. They may think that "copying and pasting" what others have said is an
acceptable practice.
Online Research Strategy
It is important to look at how students are being taught to research and
keep track of their online sources. In the past, students kept track of
sources using 4X5 note cards. This approach will not work. The following is
a research and writing strategy that is adapted to the era of conducting
online research:
* Keeping track of information resources. Make sure that students know a
systematic way to record the full reference to any document downloaded from
the Internet. One strategy to accomplish this is to create a separate folder
for a specific writing assignment. Every document that will be used for
reference should be downloaded from the Internet and stored in this folder.
Also start a word processing document entitled ³sources.² Whenever a
document is downloaded from the Internet, add the source information to this
word processing document‹including the URL for the document that has been
downloaded and the date it was downloaded. Any information resources for the
project that are in hard copy, such as a copy of an article from a book,
should be retained in a ³real world² file folder.
* Note taking. Open a new word processing document and entitle this document
³notes.² Go through each of the information resources. Either cut and paste
or paraphrase the important information from the information resource onto
this page. Make sure that each note is one separate idea‹ one idea only‹ and
is separated by blank lines both before and after the note. It is important
to retain the reference to source of the information or quote, the page this
appears on, and to keep track of when material has been cut-and-pasted or
paraphrased. One strategy is to use the initials of the lead author of the
article, ³P² or ³Q² for paraphrased or quoted (cut-and pasted), and the page
number. In front of each separate note, there would be an indication: JS-P23
(John Smith, paraphrase, page 23) orJS-Q54 (Jane Smith, quote, page 54).
* Organizing. Once all of the notes have been gathered, they need to be
organized into an outline form. One way to do this is to print off the
entire notes document, cut the notes paper so that each separate idea is on
one strip of paper. Then sort the slips of paper into separate groups--one
topic per group. Then organize the notes strips within each topic group and
staple the notes in that group together. It will be helpful to create a
topic title for each group. Then organize the topic groups into a logical
sequence. This logical sequence is the outline for the paper. It is very
helpful for younger writers to take the step of physically sorting and
organizing the notes. More experienced writers can do this electronically.
They can open up a new word processing document, then simply cut and paste
the notes from the notes document into like groups and then organize the
groups. Or they might have a pretty good idea of the outline and start with
the outline and input the notes. The key purpose of this step is to organize
the information into a logical sequence for writing. Many young writers have
great difficulty with this kind of organization.
* Writing the paper. Open a new word processing document for the actual
paper. Each section of the paper will contain one or more paragraphs that
present the information for each topic‹in the logical sequence or outline
that was created. During this step, the notes in each group will be turned
into written text. It may help to create the outline first. The outline is
the topic title for each group, presented in the logical sequence. The key
skill necessary to accomplish the actual writing is appropriately
paraphrasing, or stating in new words, the writings of another. Sometimes a
student will want to select a key section of a writing of another to quote
directly. Students should note where material is being paraphrased or quoted
and provide a proper citation using correct citation format as approved by
the school. The source document provides the information to be used the
citations.
One of the ways in which this strategy is effective is that nothing gets
lost. If somewhere along the line a specific citation gets lost, students
can simply backtrack to the notes document or the original sources to find
the reference.
This technique can also be used if students are collaborating in the
creation of a document in a wiki environment. All of the students would then
contribute to the original source file and the list of possible citations or
attributions.
Seems there ought to be a program that kids could use that would accomplish
this. If you are aware of any I would love to know about it.
Nancy
--
Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use
http://csriu.org
http://cyberbully.org
http://cyber-safe-kids.com
http://csriu.wordpress.com
nwillard@csriu.org
Cyberbullying and Cyberthreats: Responding to the Challenge of Online Social
Aggression, Threats, and Distress (Research Press)
Cyber-Safe Kids, Cyber-Savvy Teens: Helping Young People Learn to Use the
Internet Safely and Responsibly (Jossey-Bass)
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