Success On Exams & Avoiding Plagiarism

Successful Essay Writing Idea #1

• Students often ask how they can do well for exams in the on-line class

• There are a few things to keep in mind:– The #1 source to use for essays is lecture

material from LecturePoint (you can earn an “A” without any outside research)

Website For LecturePoint

• For US History up to 1865, the first lecture is “The First Americans”

• For US History after 1865, it’s “Reconstruction Politics”

URL = http://college.cengage.com/history/lecturepoints/index.html

Successful Essay Writing Idea #1

• Students often ask how they can do well on exams in the on-line class

• There are a few things to keep in mind:– The #1 source to use for essays is lecture

material from LecturePoint (you can earn an “A” without any outside research)

– Outside research is not needed & even discouraged (it sometimes leads to plagiarism)

– It is alright to use outside materials as long as they are cited

Successful Essay Writing Idea #2

• Essays should be well written, with an Introduction, Body & Conclusion. The Introduction should include a Thesis statement.

Body

Introduction

Conclusion

Thesis

Re-state Thesis in

Conclusion

One Student’s Essay For A Past Exam

Thesis statement is underlined

Question: Write an essay that describes and evaluates, each of the following crises:  Fugitive Slave Law, Dred Scott Decision, and John Brown’s Raid.  Overall, which of these crises had the biggest impact on the cause of the Civil War?   Explain.

Successful Essay Writing Idea #2

• A helpful hyperlink is located on Moodle & the Study Guide for each exam (it’s also below)– Click here for information about how to

organize & write in-class essays

Plagiarism Example:On-line Class

• I’ve been teaching at WSCC for 13 years• Plagiarism is not an issue with at least 95% of

the papers students have turned in• The next slide includes an example of a

plagiarized essay: – Students wrote an essay about US President

James K. Polk

One History Student’s Paper

This was all good

information, but was not

covered in LecturePoint; I

wondered where the

student found it

Wikipedia Entry: James K. Polk

I did a quick internet search,

and found…

Wikipedia AND Student Paper

Wikipedia

Student’s Paper

Underlined sections from

Wikipedia were included

in the student’s

paper

Plagiarism Example:On-line Class

• The student who plagiarized had their grade lowered. I felt no joy in this.

• Some schools (like GVSU and several others) have Zero Tolerance policies which call for automatic expulsion for students guilty of plagiarism.

What To Do…?

• There is no need to research information to include in the essays for each exam; you can simply use LecturePoint and still earn an “A”

• If outside sources are used for an exam or for the paper, they must be cited in your paper and a bibliography must be included

Citing Sources

If an outside source is used, two things are needed:1. Within the text of the essay or paper an in-

text citation is needed

Citing Sources: In-Text Citation

• If a direct quote is taken or a set of ideas is paraphrased, include an in-text citation

• After the direct quote or paraphrase, put the author’s last name in parentheses.

Citing Sources

If an outside source is used, two things are needed:1. Within the text of the essay or paper an in-

text citation is needed2. At the end of the essay or paper include a

Bibliography page

Citing Sources: Bibliography

• If any outside source is used or consulted, include a Bibliography page

• Include the author (if one is listed), the title, the complete URL address of your website and the date it was accessed

URL Address = Key

Citing Sources: Bibliography

• If any outside source is used or consulted, include a Bibliography page

• Include the author (if one is listed), the title, the complete URL address of your website and the date it was accessed

• If you have any questions feel free to ask—it’s perfectly fine to ask me questions at any time

Citing Sources

When must a source be cited?1. When a direct quote is taken from a source.2. When a series of sentences or a paragraph

are paraphrased. For example, if some words are changed around there must be an in-text citation and an item must be included in the bibliography.

3. When a source is consulted (even if nothing is quoted or paraphrased) it must be included in the bibliography

One Last Thought

• There are a lot of websites with information about the outside books. Make sure to provide citations if these are consulted. One example is below.

Summing It Up

• The #1 source to use for essays written for each exam is lecture material from LecturePoint. No other research is needed & it’s actually discouraged.

• If any other source is used for essays or for the paper, make sure to properly cite your sources.

Now That You Have Viewed This…

• I was born in Des Moines, Iowa• My family moved to Seattle

when I was four years old• My favorite baseball player

growing up was George Brett (even though I lived in Seattle)

• Send me an e-mail attachment with a brief paragraph of information from this presentation showing that it was viewed

• My e-mail address is: mwnagle@westshore.edu

George Brett

Success On Exams & Avoiding Plagiarism

Bibliography

• “George Brett.” http://www.instantreplaysportcard.com /items/8x10s/brett.jpg. Accessed 8 January, 2010.

• Nagle, Michael W. “LecturePoint.” http://college.cengage.com/history/lecturepoints/index.html. Accessed 8 January, 2010.

• tommy53565. “The Brethren.” Planet Papers. http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/4098.php. Accessed 8 January, 2010.

• Wikipedia. “James K. Polk.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_K._Polk .Accessed 8 January, 2010.