SparkNotes is a legitimate site for study guides. They are the online
equivalent of Cliff Notes and are meant not as substitutes for reading (or
for independent thinking for that matter), but to help kids understand the
material. They are written by college students and recent graduates and
all articles are signed. For each work, they offer Context, Plot Overview,
Character List, Ananlysis of Major Characters, Themes/Motifs/Symbols,
Chapter by Chapter summaries and analysis, Important Questions Explained,
Key Facts, Study Questions and Essay Topics, Quiz, and Suggestions for
Further Reading. To find a particular work, just search at the top. It's
really easy to navigate, so probably your students just cut and paste from
the text. I want to stress that this is NOT the intent of the site. They
even offer a "How to Cite" link.
The kids in the class were abusing the site. The site actually includes a
whole page on plagiarism which might be a good teaching tool
(http://www.sparknotes.com/help/plagiarism.html). It gets the point
across while being funny and not preachy.
While the students were clearly in the wrong, I think the teacher might
want to reconsider how she gives her tests and how she structures them so
that such cheating is not so easy.
- Meg
School Library Media & Network Communications
<LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> writes:
>From: Brenda Lemon <blemon@473MAIL.NET>
>Subject: SparkNotes
>
>Yesterday, one of our English teachers came in upset because she had =
>discovered her students where cheating on their essay test by going to
>www.=
>sparknotes.com . What happened was that she had the test as a word =
>document in the Moodle site. She had it blocked so that it would only =
>show up during class. The students could then see the test and respond =
>back to her in the class. However, she found out that many of the =
>students were able to bring up Sparknotes and copy and paste. They only =
>had one class period in which to do this so it had to be something really
>=
>quick. She gave me the papers and I went through them. Many of the =
>papers have very similiar answers. I then went to www.sparknotes.com and
>=
>looked at the site. Does anyone know how I can see where the students =
>were able to find the information so easily for them to copy and paste
>the =
>answers? I would appreciate any help you can give me. Brenda Lemon
************************************************
Megan Frazer
Librarian
Commonwealth School
151 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02116
mfrazer@commschool.org
(617) 266-7525 ext. 255
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