The School/Uni Thread

[V.V.V.V.V.]

That does sound rather stupid. I have heard of people in high school being under suspicion for plagiarism because of being too "academic", but this is university.

Ha, one of my papers for a "writing about art" class had a thing on it when I got it back that said "plagiarism? please cite sources when you quote things" and pointed at a sentence I completely wrote myself. Retarded.

 

[Zephyrus]

I use a lot of big words when I write essays, and I've yet to have that kind of problem with my professors.

 

[The Ozzman]

I think I got one comment about plagiarism on one sentence in a business law paper. We had to turn it in both to the professor directly and on turnitin.com to check for plagiarism. That was the only comment she had. I got a 91 on the paper and it was 30% of my grade

 

[skeptik]

Ha, one of my papers for a "writing about art" class had a thing on it when I got it back that said "plagiarism? please cite sources when you quote things" and pointed at a sentence I completely wrote myself. Retarded.

You know, sometimes professors do that when you are talking about information that you could not have just intuitively known. Just because you're not quoting a direct line from a text does not mean that you don't have to cite where you extracted the information from.

And DA, I think it's always prudent to define the key terms of your paper regardless of the actual audience. In fact I just ran into this trouble myself with a paper, but luckily I talked to my professor about the draft and fixed it for the final paper.

 

[Death Aflame]

And DA, I think it's always prudent to define the key terms of your paper regardless of the actual audience. In fact I just ran into this trouble myself with a paper, but luckily I talked to my professor about the draft and fixed it for the final paper.

I could understand that if I was writing about a film for a philosophy class or some other non film analysis related field. However, this was for a comm studies class, a field that makes examining media a huge part of its focus. The professor even used the terms 'diegetic' and 'nondiegetic' to talk about sound within films, both words derive directly from the root 'diegesis'. In my mind I shouldn't have to define a term if it is one the professor already makes reference to. Moreover, self-reflexive is term which should be apparent to anyone who has read anything English or Film Studies related. I may have not explained the term itself, but I did give a fully developed example of its use within the context of a particular film, followed by the sentence beginning with "This self-reflexivity...". If the term is still vague and unknown to the professor or any reader at this point they should either put an end to their career or quit school immediately.

The only place I could see defining one's terms being absolutely necessary is if an entirely new term is being postulated and utilized throughout the same paper. Otherwise, well used academic terminology should not be the grounds for a complaint of a paper in an academic setting.

I am still considering taking it up with him, but I'll probably avoid it just because the resultant mark is still agreeable to my standards, if it were any lower I would most certainly pursue this further.

 

[Faint]

Had my interview/exam for admission to the University of Cambridge. All pretty hardcore; 20 minutes of logic questions and then a 40 minute essay on a typical 'no right or wrong answer' moral dilemma. Interviews dealt heavily with very open questions and I was forced to make apparent contradictions once or twice. All in all I think I fucked it up and I don't get the decision until January. Heh, anyway its not everyday you get to discuss fatalism with two tutors in the second oldest university in the english speaking world :|

 

[The Ozzman]

Fuck a bunch of that

 

[Death Aflame]

It seems I did better than I expected in The Vikings course, I managed to pull out an 85 on the final which helped to boost my mark just barely into the B+ category with a 78.

 

[cookiecutter]

Congrats!

 

[MasterOLightning]

I finished up with finals yesterday. My jazz class was painfully easy, since it was intended for people with no musical background. Sociology of the Armed Forces was also rather easy, since there were just two equally weighted multiple choice tests and no papers. I spent the most time on my Ethical Problems class. The papers were all pretty interesting. I had to write about the death penalty, sexual morality, and for the final I picked abortion, justifiable punishment, and gambling (in regards to social justice) out of the choices for the final paper. I'm going to be puzzled if I don't get straight As. The philosophy course was largely for non-majors, so the papers don't have to be as airtight.

It's good to be done. This was an easy quarter though. I think I rarely had to to more than 5 hours a week, and normally 0-2. I am so good at exploiting the system, not doing work, and taking the easiest classes acceptable.

 

[Ender Rises]

I really should be studying.

Nah.

 

[skeptik]

I could understand that if I was writing about a film for a philosophy class or some other non film analysis related field. However, this was for a comm studies class, a field that makes examining media a huge part of its focus. The professor even used the terms 'diegetic' and 'nondiegetic' to talk about sound within films, both words derive directly from the root 'diegesis'. In my mind I shouldn't have to define a term if it is one the professor already makes reference to. Moreover, self-reflexive is term which should be apparent to anyone who has read anything English or Film Studies related. I may have not explained the term itself, but I did give a fully developed example of its use within the context of a particular film, followed by the sentence beginning with "This self-reflexivity...". If the term is still vague and unknown to the professor or any reader at this point they should either put an end to their career or quit school immediately.

The only place I could see defining one's terms being absolutely necessary is if an entirely new term is being postulated and utilized throughout the same paper. Otherwise, well used academic terminology should not be the grounds for a complaint of a paper in an academic setting.

I am still considering taking it up with him, but I'll probably avoid it just because the resultant mark is still agreeable to my standards, if it were any lower I would most certainly pursue this further.

The safest thing is to always define your terms unless the professor tells you otherwise. Papers are often intended for an assumed audience of ignorance, and that's how some professors look at your paper.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I finished my last art-related final yesterday, going in to critique them today and to get my portfolio for the class reviewed...I'll probably end up with a B or A. I don't think I got any Cs this semester, which rules because if I get less than a 3.0 GPA, I lose my scholarship for tuition (1500 bucks a year).

 

[The Ozzman]

I wish tuition when I was in school was only 1500 bucks a semester

it was more like 12-13,000

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Yeah, but "fees" here are 7000 a year. Talk about retarded.

 

[The Ozzman]

Yeah, in total I think I paid 30K a year, but 10K of that was scholarship money, so I only had to pay 20K a year.

EDIT: I only paid 11K and change last year for a semester of classes. I didn't live on campus, so I saved at least 2500 dollars in fees.

 

[cookiecutter]

IIRC my tuition + fees is around 20k, which my parents are paying. I also got a 500 dollar check from my town for good grades. For Canadian students here it's like 5k, and they complain about it

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

You're lucky your parents can afford to pay, my parents only pay half my fees each semester because that's all they can do while still maintaining our house. Gay.

 

[cookiecutter]

I do realize I am pretty fortunate and so I have tried very hard not to waste my opportunity.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]