HIT: printing from CD ROM encyclopedias

[Jan Birney <stmark6614@YAHOO.COM>]

Thank you all for your responses to my question about
students printing entire articles from CD ROM
encyclopedias.

Here is a compilation, with snippets of the actual
text, of some of the responses I received:

Copy and Paste:
Can you get the kids to do a cut and paste of the
relevant parts into Word document (or whatever you
use) so they have a (shorter) hard copy that they can
mark (either underlining or highlighting)?

We have a  few computers in the library. One of the
problems I experience is that where I may have 10 sets
of encyclopedias (in various vintages) I only
had 2 computers kids could use for research. So my
kids didn't have time to read a long article and take
notes. So I taught them to highlight the sections they
wanted and to copy it to a word processing page. They
were
allowed to print out the word proc. document. This
saved paper, and made them be a little selective. I
also met with the classroom teacher and we
both told the students that any info printed out had
to be put into their own words and rewritten in their
report just as if they had used the book form of ency.

Charge for printing or have students bring their own
paper:

We charge our students to print from the Internet or
from cd roms--but if they select what they really NEED
and paste it into a word processor for printing, we
let them print for free. This may not eliminate
plagiarism,
but it at least gives them a little less to work with!

 Since it is the library printer, and at our school
everyone "buys" their own paper (with school funds)
the teacher has to send the student with paper if they
want
them to print anything out.

Get rid of the printers:

You could always remove the printers.....can't print
when there isn't a printer...

Change the nature of the assignment:

...My position is it is the nature of the assignment
that fosters the copy and paste mentality.  If the
assignment requires turning in notes, outline, draft
as well as finished product some of the problem is
solved.  Even better if the assignment requires the
student to do something with the information besides
spit it back than copying becomes a non-issue.  If
instead of doing a report on a capitol city they are
asked to generate a list of features shared by many
capitol cities it changes the research process....

Allow students to print the entire article, being sure
to teach about copyright law, notetaking, and
plagiarism:

We too have kids who want to copy articles, and we
have never  made an issue of it.  I am one of those
who doesn't want to sit and take notes on something in
the library -- I want to make a xerox and take it
home,
where I can read it, study it, and digest it in
comfort and at my leisure. Since we allow this
privilege to adults, why would we treat our students
any differently?  We work on teaching copyright laws,
and we teach (or try to) the difference between
research and plagiarism -- but in the final analysis,
the responsiblity for copying or not copying rests
with the
student.  Providing information does not mean we can
control how it is used.

Several other suggestions:

...I'm trying to encourage students to use printouts
or photocopies as starting points. When they do a
project I ask them to hand all their notes printouts
and photocopies in along with the final work....

Just a quick comment on length of articles...
Before they print, they should look at the scroll bar
at the side of the window. The smaller the bar, the
larger the article.  It's a good way to tell if an
article is too long to print in it's entirety....

...our rule is that you don't print out encyclopedia
articles....

... we allow students to print from several CD-ROM
products including World Book.  The procedure we teach
is for students to select paragraphs rather than print
the entire article.  When the paper is turned in to
the teacher, all print outs must be stapled to the
final draft so that the teacher can compare and
comment on
paraphrasing.  Some teachers include paraphrasing in
their rubric....

I also worry about this because I know that they copy
word for word. I have come up with an idea to help
circumvent some of it. I am on a MAC.
If the teacher has given them an outline I put the
outline in the computer as a simple text document. The
students copy and paste into the outline. This kind of
forces them to do a little thinking and reading....

Again, thank you all for your responses, and I hope
this helps some of us make printing decisions with our
students.

Jan Birney, who probably used up far too much of your
bandwidth with this HIT, and who begs your patience,
as this is her first HIT.






=====
Jan Birney, Computer Specialist
Stratford Catholic Regional School System
Stratford, CT 06615
stmark6614@yahoo.com

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