essays of an information scientist, vol:2, p.110-113, 1974-76

8/14/2019 Essays of an Information Scientist, Vol:2, p.110-113, 1974-76

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Augu st 7, 1974The term paper is an academic t ra-d it ion . Recent ly t h e Duke L.UWou r ru r lpublished an excellen t r eview of thelega l is su es s ur r ounding t h e commer cein term paper s in the United Sta tes. 1Th e a non ymou s a ut hor s con clu ded t ha tit is ext r emely difficult t o find solidlegal ground on which to a t t ack thebuying and selling of t erm papers tostudents. They consider tha t most ofthe st a t e laws passed t o out law thepract i ce are probably unconst itu t ional.They also find this spa te of out rageds ta t e legis la t ion r a th er la ughable. Theyrecommend, quit e sensibly, tha t thep rob lem shou ld be r esolved by colle gesand un iver sit ies t h emselves . Sur ely, ifu n iver sit y s tuden t s n a tionwid e began t osubm it Bacon s es says in fr es hman wr it -ing cour ses, no sta te would at tack thep rob lem by proh ib it ing t he publica t ionor sa le of Bacons work, or a t least nc[su ch ] s ta te law wou ld be s ust ain ed.. .You ca n look a t-a nd con dem n--t hebuying of t erm papers in many ways.On the face of it , it is a waste ofm on ey (t uit ion ). It is a n explicit cr it i-cism, just or unjust , of the rela t iven-ess of s ome lon g-es ta blis hed r ou tin es .]t may represen t a good deal of in-sigh t on t he pa rt of offen din g st uden tsin to what their inst itu t ions educa-t ion al goa ls a ct ua lly a re, a s opposed t owh at t hey a re a dver tised or ot herwisest at ed t o be. It is proba bly a lso a gr ossoverest im at e of m ost t ea ch ers gu lli-bility. on th e oth er hand, it may sh owthat students quite a ccura tely assess

Number 32som e t ea ch er s in differ en ce a nd t heirin toler an ce of bor ed om , t heir h as te a ndmanifold p reoccupa t ion s, t h e fr equen t -ly lop sid ed ba la n ce be tween t h eir t ea ch -in g a nd ot her in ter est s (r esea rch , pu b-lica t ion), their sur r ender t o idiot icschedules and tr ivia l busywork im-posed by a poor administ ra t ion , th eirfr equen t d elega t ion of t erm -paper eva l-ua t ion to assistan ts more harr ied andpr eoccup ied t han t hemselves. NO doubtthe whole business is mora lly repre-h en sible a nd fr au du len t, even if lega Ilyu na ssa ila ble a t t he pr esen t t im e. Wh ena student buys a term paper and submits it as h is own work, who is thevict im ? Who is gu ilt y? Th ose a re ph ilesoph ica lly and mor a lly in t er es t ing ques-t ion s. Im n ot in ter est ed in ch scu ssin gm or alit y h er e, bu t r at her t he st upidit ya nd h ypocr isy of it a ll.

Most bought t erm paper s, so Iunder s tand , a r e of t he r e sea rch va r ie ty.1 ca nn ot fa th om t he ra tion ale for bu y-ing any other type. For a va r iety ofper son al rea son s, st uden ts m ay, I su p-pos e, bu y pa per s t o sa tis fy a ssignmen tsin exp os it or y or cr ea t ive wr it in g. H ow-ever , m ost st uden ts su pposedly do a ndcer t ain ly shou ld wan t fu ll oppor t un it yt o expr ess th emselves. To pa y cou rsefees for t he pr ivilege, a nd t hen t o pa yagain for relief from the burden ispa ten tly inane. But t he n eed for gr adesa nd degr ees m ust be k /?pt in m in d.

I understand tha t there is a br iskbusiness in book review type papers.Th at seem s a lmost a s s tu pid a n examp le

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ays of an Information Scientist, Vol:2, p.110-113, 1974-76 Current Contents, #32, p.5-8, August 7, 1974


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of bein g dou ble-su ckered. I sh ou ldth ink tha t teachers would find thesloppiest r ewor kin g of pa ssa ges fr omlect ur e n ot es , t ext book s, or t he va riou sa va ila ble n ot es a nd st udy a ids lessobvious and less object ionable than abought book review prepared by apaper-mill pro.

But it is the bought research paperthat interests me, as both teacher andinformation scientist/ technologist/en-gin eer . Th e bou gh t r es ea rch p ap er is anobject ified comment on confusion ineducat ion goals tha t is by no meanscon fin ed t o s tu den ts. Th er e h as a lwa ysbeen a grea t dea l of argument aboutthe goals and purpose of educa t ion .Th ere is plenty of mater ia l in presentscien t ific editor ia liz ing and educat ionallit era ture t o show that the same basicargument cont inues. It is as far fromr es olu tion a s it h as a lwa ys been .

In t he sim plest t er ms, t he a rgumen tr ep res en t s a d iffer en ce between elit ista nd ega lit ar ia n views . [f t he p ur pos e ofeduca t ion is r efin emen t of t h e in t ellect ,then it is by defin it ion ineluctablyelit ist . Teach the few whom you canhow to th ink. If, on the other hand,the purpose of educat ion is to fdl themind, then educat ion must be, ofn eces sit y, ega lit a ria n . Te ach a ll whomyou can what they should know, or a tlea st wh at t hey sh ou ld k now h ow t o do.

Th er e a re ma ny ela bora tion s of th issim ple opposit ion , bu t t hey a re essen -t ia lly n ot hin g mor e t ha n ela bor at ion s.Thus we can read tha t universit ies, tos ur vive , must a ss ume some funct ion s oft he t ech nica l sch ools--wit hou t, h ow-ever , damaging wha tever it is tha tm ak es t hem univer sit ies.z We r ea d t ha twe a re a societ y in da nger of deser tin gthe mind,s tha t our universit ies havea ct ua lly become a t best m er ely bu rea u-cr a t ic (and e rot icized) ca r ee ris t academ-

ies, way-sta t ions on the road to pre-p ar ed cells in t he gover nmen ta l, in du s-t r ia l and academic hives.Q Or , a tworst , m er ely in tellectu al su perm ar -ket s ,s adole scence -ext ender s , hold ing-oper a t ions ,G lear n ing bou t iques, wher eth e consumer student , wieldin g h isch eck book in t he bu rs ar s office,T h asbeen set fr ee to make choices abouth is educat ion tha t , once upon a t ime,it wa s a ssumed on ly a complet ed ed uca -t ion wou ld h ave equ ipped h im t o m ak e.Th e u nder gr adu at e cu rr icu lum: wh atdid we do to it ? asks the t it le of a re-cen t a r t icle . s~g

I may seem to have digressed frommy su bject of bou gh t t erm pa pers, bu tI h ave n ot . If t he pu rpose of edu ca tionis to t ra in young people to th ink, thenany th inking young person wh o buys at er m pa per m ust t hin k t ha t r esea rch in gits theme isnt going to help him learnt o th in k. If t he pu rpose of edu ca tion isto teach him what he should know orneeds to know in order to fdl his cellin one of the societa l h ives, then theth inking young person must believet h at r es ea r ch ing his theme in thea ver age u niver sit y libr ar y is a wa st e oft im e--in sh or t, t he pu rsu it or pr act iceofa skill for wh ich h e will in t he fu tu rehave n o use at a ll. If h e hopes to fdl on eof the more impor tant cells in thesocie ta l h ives, ce rt a in ly he will expect -and he wdl be expected-to be able tobu y in forma tion a lon g wit h ot h er com -modit ies a nd s er vices h is fu n ct ion mayrequire.

Con sider the usual r esea rch-typeterm paper . The success of the term-pa per mills must indica te tha t a t erm-paper assignment t oo oft en requir est ha t t he st uden t m er ely dem on st ra te h ehas dug up an adequate number of per -t in en t book s, a rt icles , r ep or ts , et c., a ndext ra ct ed fr om th em en ou gh m at er ia l

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t o fdl a specified number of pages. Iknow that a t many univer sit ies andcolleges the length of the paper iss pecified a long wit h ot h er in format ionon the assignment , even when thechoice of topic is left to the student .In deed, t he a ssignmen t m ay be sim plya t en -pa ge pa per . [n som e ca ses, t hisin st ru ct ion is qu alified: t yp ed dou -ble-spa ced, in ch -a nd-a -h alf m ar gin%etc. There is as much prohibit ion insu ch a n a ssignmen t a s t her e is r equ ir e-ment ; as much Please, dont burdenm e with m ore tha n t en pa ges, a s t hereis ,You must s ubm it a t lea st t en p age s.Rarely, as far as I know, is brevity ors tylist ic pr ecis ion of a ny r ea l con cer n.As t hey a lwa ys h ave been , t he dem an dson a t ea ch er s t im e t od ay a re en ormou s,but it seems to me that any teacherwor t h h is s alt wou ld neve rt h eles s r efu set o en ter ta in su ch a quest ion as, H owlon g sh ou ld th e pa per be? Th e a nswerwou ld be determ in ed by t he stu den tsdiscover ies. Th e sa d fa ct is t ha t n owa -da ys t he st uden t usu ally doesn t h aveto ask. He is told, indeed expects t o betold, how long it has to be. And soterm paper mills charge by the page.

As a scient ist I am fully aware ofthe impor tance of gather ing back-gr ound ma ter ia l-of doing a p relim in a rysea rch . As a t ea ch er a nd librar ian I amfu lly a wa re a lso of h ow in adequ atelymost students are inst ructed in thescien ce a nd a rt of usin g librar ies. As ascholar I r egret tha t so few studentsh ave t ast ed t he fa scin at ion of explor -in g for in for ma tion , t he excit em en t ofpin nin g d own a fa ct , t he exh ila ra tion ofget tin g a t t he t ru th . But as an informa-tion scientist I am appalled that so veryfew are trained in the use of moderninformation retrieval techniques. Thereis certainly merit in t he det erm ina t ionof s tu den ts who will p er sever e t hr ou gh

r efe ren ce book s, in dexes , a bs tr a ct pub-lica t ions. How much I long to hear asin gle st uden t dem an d a dequ at e t ra in -ing in t h is b ib liogr aph ica l a r chaeology,and even more, one who will insist ,wa vin g h is ch eck book in t he bu rsa rsoffice, that his inst itu t ion give himaccess to modern data bases and thet ech n ology t o u se t hem .

If we wish t o t ra in st uden ts t o t hi,n k,we sh ould, m ake it as ea sy a s possiblefor them to get informat ion to th inkabout , ra ther than proceed as if wewere t ra in ing every student to be aschola r . I t is hypocr it ica l t o be hor r ifiedwh en st uden ts decide t he qu ick est a ndeasiest wa y to get informat ion, mrd abibliography, is to buy a term paper .Ter m-pa per mills a re th eir modern , ifillicit , da ta ban ks. If su ch illicit databa nk s wer e legit im ized, a nd pr oper lys uper vis ed , t hey cou ld be u sed wit hou tqu alm . Isn t t uit ion su pposed, amon got her t hin gs , t o cover s ome su ch ser viceon t he pa rt of t he in st it ut ion ?

If students had convenient andr eady a cces s t o publis hed in forma t ion ,I wonder how many who now dowou ld a va il t hem selves of t he ser vicesof t hese dope peddler s. I sh ou ld lik e,as a mat t er of fact , t o do some marketr esearch on the subject . Id like toknow, for example, t h e a cadem ic s ta nd-ing and reputa t ion of students whobuy term paper s. Id like to see ana na lysis of th eir rea son s for doin g so,and I wonder how it would correla t e,for example, wit h t he dem on st ra tedn eed for an d su ccess of ext ra -in st itu -t ion al cr am cou rses. It is sign ifica nttha t , in my exper ience, these cramcour ses are pa tronized heavily by As tu den ts , p ar ticu la rly wh en gr adin g a ttheir colleges is done on the curve.

I doubt that any such resea rch ora na lysis will be u nder ta ken in t he n ea r

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fu t u re , bu t wh y n ot in t h e m ean t im eu se t h e t e rm -p ape r m ills a s a n in s t r u c -t ion a l t ool? I r ecomm en d t o som e ad-ven t u rou s in s t ru c t or t h a t h e or sh et ur n t his m or al pr oblem in to an edu-ca tion al ch allen ge. Let t he in st ru ct orbuy a term paper , dist r ibute it t o theclass, and requir e tha t the student sevalua te it . Has the ground been ade-quately covered? Are th e referencesgen uin e, a ccu ra te, per tin en t? What h asbeen missed? Are the conclusionsreasonable and valid? Where did thewr iter go wr on g? Wh er e h as h e sh ownreal skil l?

Challenge the student t o demon-st r a t e tha t it is a bought t erm paper .Wha t r ecen t in form at ion does it la ck,because it has been in circu la t ion foryea rs ? What r ea dily a va ila ble m at er ia lin t he u niversity libra ry wa s n ot u sed,because the writers library didnt haveit? Where do the students (because of1 [De nn is , S. e t .1 . ] Te rm p ap er c om p an ie s an d t he Con st it u t ion Duk e Low J ou rn al(6 ):1 27 &1 31 7. 1 97 3.z . Sh or t , L.N. Un t ve ra it ie s a nd c ofle ge s o fh ig he r e d uc at fo rx d e fin in g t h e d iffe re n c e.T he Au 8t mlia n Uniuernity 1 l(l): S-2 6. 1 97 3..3. Levi E.H. A eode t y in dan ge r o f dese r t -IIW t he m in d. Th e Washington Post 24Fe bru ary 1 97 4, p . C2 .4. Thompson . W.I. Wa lk in g ou t on t h eu rdvem dt y an d e seap in g t he gr ip of t he:1 x6 i~9u # t s t a t e . Harpers 247(1480) :5, Hun t . P.R. Com m en ta ry: t owa rd t he tetal i tarfarr n ive rs it y. J o u m aI o f Canad i anS tu die s 7 (1 ): 6 7 -8 4, 1 9 73 .(j. Rede fe r , FL. A ca fi t o t h e edu ca t or s o fAm erica . S a t u rd a y Review /Wor f d 2 7 July1 9 7 4 , p. 49-50 .7 Hu ngivt t le , M. & Gu st afe om S. S t u de nt a. e s con su me rs o f ed uca tion . Ch ron ic le ofHigh er E du ca t io n 7 (3 7 ): 1 6 .1 9 73 .g. Win dU.r a , R.C. Th e u nd ergra du at e cu rrS-cu ium : wh a t d id we do t o it ? AA UPJ ou rn a l 5 9 (4 ): 4 0 7 -1 0 , 1 9 7 3 .

9. Resde r s i t er e s t ed in t he t op ic wili h aven o t ed it em s Sik e t h e fo llowin g, e fon gwit h o t bem , in p aa t is su e s t h e 1S1 @ PressDige # t s ec t io n o f Cu rren t Con t en b ~. Cop iesof t he se an d t he a r t ic le s in re fe r en ce s 1 -8 a reave ifable t hrou gh 1 S1 s OATS@ (Origin alAr t ic le Tea r Sh ee t Se rvk e ).

t heir pr eviou s st udy a nd r esea rch ) su s-p ect ou t righ t p la gia rism ?

Such an assignment wiU cer ta irdyget th e stu den t to th ink about the sub-ject . It will ta ke a dva nta ge of th at u ni-versa l r eadiness to cr it icize and redowh at a noth er h as don e. Wh atever elsethe bought t erm paper may be, it is inp ar t a cr it icism of h ow lit tle t he s tu den thas been taught about informat ion re-t r ieva l. It may at least offer a meth odof tea ch in g h im som eth in g a bou t it , ina rounda bout way

And, if by chance, some studenthas in mind to become a scient ist orsch ola r, su ch a n a ssignmen t will offere xe rcis e in con s tr u ct ive cr it icism, ed it -in g, a nd r evis ion sk ills . In ot her wor ds,it may h elp t ra in h im pr oper ly n ot on lyfor his r esearch , but a lso, as no othera ss ignmen t cou ld , for t h e j ob of r efe re e-ing pape r s by his fu ture co[teaWes.a En ar son , H.L. Un ive r s it y or k n owle dgefac t o~? Sc ien ce 1 8(1 40 3): 8 97 , 1 97 3.b. Wilm s. W.W. A n ew look a t p rop r ie t a ryaehoo l s . Ch an ge 5 (6 ):6 -8 , 1 9 7 3 .c. Le vi, A.W. Hom age t o t h e s qu ar e J o u r n a lof Aes t h et ic Ed u ca t ion 7 (2 ): 1 1 -3 4 . 1 9 73 .d . Co t tfe , T.J . R a t iorm fes for re leva n ce inh igh e r s du ca t io n, In terch an ge 4 (1 ):6 4-7 8,1 9 7 3 .e. Msrt in . W.B. Th e e t h ica f c r is is in edu -ca t i on . Change 6 (5 ): 2 8 -3 3, 1 9 74 .f. S CUUY, M.G. Th e job gen era tion . lntei-le ct u ol Dige st 4 (1 0 ): 3 7 , 1 9 74 .& Dean , D.S. Con fe r en ce on fbe Doc t o r ofAr t s Degree h e ld a t t h e Un ive rs it y o fNo r t h e rn Co lo r ad o . AIBS Ed uca tion Reu i eu !3 (1 ):1 .s . 1 9 74 .IL Re if, R. Edu ca t ion al c h efle n ges for t heu n ive rs it y. S cie nc e 1 84 (4 1 36 ): 5 37 -4 2 , 1 9 74 .i. Fr eem eq L. D . Man agem en t of k nowle dgein b igh e r e du ca t io n. J ou rn a l o f High er Ed u -c at ion 4 5(2 ):8 1-9 9, 1 97 4.i. Sch oe r r l. W.J . Or t e ea s Mis s ion of t h eUniversi ty revisi ted U; iv. COIL Qu a r t er ly1 9 (3 ):4 -1 5 . 1 9 7 4 .k . Wolin , S.S. Giid in g t he iron cage . NewYork Reu iew of Book s 2 9(2 1/ 2 2 ): 4 0-2 , 2 4J an 197 4.L Soim on . L.C. & Tau bm an . e d% DoesCollege Ma t t er? New York : Ac ad em ic P re s s,1 973 , 415 pp .m . Tofffe r , A. Fu t ur e sh ock in edu c a t ion .S a t u rd a y Eu en in g Pos t Ma y /J u n e 1 9 7 3 ,P. 4 6 p =.t im .

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essays of an information scientist, vol:2, p.110-113, 1974-76

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