Blog 6: Brainstorming for Long Essay 2

Blog 5: plans for revising Long essay 1

I was a little stuck on how i was going to elaborate on my first long essay. I wasn't sure how to go about finishing it because there are so many small sub-stories that intertwine with my main story and i was also feeling a little fuzzy about the details of what i already had written. After meeting with Dr. Chandler, i was able to organize my thoughts a little better and we came up with some good ideas for how to add more detail to my story.

• For my revision, I plan on describing the group of guys in my story more in depth. What they were known for at school and other people's reactions to them

• There were a few scenes i had spoke about with Dr. Chandler like a time i saw him the cafeteria that i plan on describing more so the reader can imagine things better. I will describe the look of my surroundings and the way I felt that day. 

• Something that Dr. Chandler also suggested that i really plan to work on, is a timeline. The small draft i have up is one small story of a few. The stories are spaced out over the course of a few years and initially, i didn't know if i should or even how to incorporate them in my draft without going off topic or being all over the place. Dr. Chandler suggested I make a kind of timeline out of my story and put these small stories together in chronological order and connect them to one another. I like this idea a lot and that's something i plan to work on for this story as it'll change the whole feel of it. 

Blog Post #24 Full Draft of Final Proj.

Plagiarism steadily seems to be on the rise as students today have unlimited access to the web and know their way around it. They have the luxury of typing into a search engine exactly what they’re looking for and finding countless papers up for sale, or summaries written by professionals analyzing and giving a shortened version of the finest literature. Over the years, we’ve all been told by our teachers that plagiarism is wrong and that committing such an act can lead to severe consequences. But now that we are living in an age where the web is literally at our fingertips all the time, can it be that the web helps today’s students to develop better researching skills? How do the students feel about plagiarism and its guidelines?  In an effort to dig deeper into the true definition of plagiarism, I’ll be investigating how students today really feel about it through discourse analysis, and even what positive skills they may have picked up from relying on the use of the web.

                        Over the past few years, there have been quite a few studies that have taken a closer look into the reasons students feel compelled to plagiarize. In most of these studies, teachers were asked about times they've had to deal with their students cheating, samples were examined and scholars were interviewed on their thoughts about plagiarism and why it seems to be such a big issue. In the article, “It wasn’t me, was it?” Plagiarism and the Web” By Dànielle DeVoss and Annette C. Rosati, a few stories about plagiarism and either the students confusion on the term or lack of confidence in their own work were examined from the faculty member’s perspective. But what do the students think about plagiarism and why they seem to be doing it more and more? Regardless of the findings in these studies, there aren’t any researchers who have looked through the lens of a student who is actually committing these acts. Based on an in-depth interview conducted by myself, this study will focus on how students really feel about plagiarism, and why they think their peers (and themselves) are so compelled to use the web for "help", through their own perspective.

Plagiarism in a Digital Age

 Because of the many complexities that accompany plagiarism, researchers try to look at several angles and analyze different stories to come up with a reason why.  In “It wasn’t me, was it?” Plagiarism and the Web” By Dànielle DeVoss and Annette C. Rosati , plagiarism is scrutinized in comparison to modern day issues where the internet serves as the main source of students’ academic dishonesty. Both teachers believe that new research spaces, such as the internet, has led to deeper complexities when it comes to plagiarism. They share several stories on their experiences as teachers and dealing with students who have committed acts of plagiarism, and share their ideas on tools that they believe will help their students to do more appropriate research with and without the use of the internet.

            In Annette Rosati’s story, her Intro-to-Literature student’s didn’t seem to quite understand what fell under plagiarism and what didn’t. After her efforts to teach plagiarism in depth in the beginning of the school year, she tells a story about a time she read through various papers on the infamous “King Lear” that all seemed just as familiar as the last. Out of curiosity, Rosati searched the web for whatever came up for “King Lear” and discovered three of her students had downloaded previously written papers straight off the web and handed them in as their own. In the next class, she asked those three people (without calling them out) to turn themselves in during her office hours if they wanted to save their grades. To Rosati’s surprise, a student who was not suspected of plagiarism came to her office asking if it was him. She asked him why he might have thought this, and he explained that he used Cliff Notes to gain a clearer understanding of the text. Rosati told him that was not plagiarism and he was free to go. But to her surprise, a total of 14 other students stood outside of her door.

            In the article, they also give us several reasons as to why they believe students plagiarize. Some of those reasons include a lack of confidence in their work, a lack of understanding the assignment, according to DeVoss and Rosati, some students may even commit plagiarism by not properly citing their sources. The reasons range from complicated to simple, such as students solely focusing on the amount of quotes and sources in their papers that they forget to incorporate their original ideas, and students simply wanting to free up time to work on an assignment for another class they may feel more obligated to.

Methods

This study focuses solely on a student’s perspective of plagiarism and the use of web for extra help. In order to dig deeper into the student’s thoughts on the subject, I conducted a short series of interviews with specific questions about my subject’s writing process and how he uses the web to formulate his papers, what he does when it comes to paraphrasing, how it helps him gather data and even how the web is used to help his looming ideas flourish into something more analytical. I recorded and transcribed my primary interview and based on my findings, decided to give a follow up interview in which I recorded and transcribed as well in order to learn more about his personal experiences when it comes to plagiarism. In addition to taking into account what my participant blatantly said his views were on plagiarism, I used discourse analysis to interpret deeper how the student feels about his (and his opinion on his peers) experiences with academic dishonesty.

Analysis of transcripts

            The interview conducted was between me and a fellow college student, J, who has survived his entire college career up to this point without ever being found guilty or even accused of plagiarism.  During the course of the first interview I was able to see how J used laughter to make different meanings. J was very honest with his answers, even when it came to the questions that revealed a bit more of his academic character. I began to notice a pattern of laughter in his more thorough answer. After analyzing my interview transcript, I’ll show you how my participant uses laughter to make different meanings.

            J and I dove right into the first interview after some very brief small talk. I asked him how he gets ready to write a big paper and he said:

          “ J: Well the first thing I usually do is write down the directions again. I like to be able to reference what I'm really being asked to do in the paper so I don't fall off track. Then I would start outlining some main points I want to get across in the paragraphs following my introduction and I go from there, really.

B: Okay, sounds really similar to what I do! So when you're done with your outline and you start to actually write your paper, when do you think it's a good idea to paraphrase?

J: I actually paraphrase a lot. I think it's always a good time for paraphrasing! (laughs) It definitely helps to add in some extra info to your paper instead of just your own made up ideas, and I think it helps because it makes your paper look a lot more accurate.”

When asked about his overall writing process, J was very stern in the beginning of his answer. There was no hesitation as he explained his usual sequence of planning. In this excerpt, J’s laugh indicated hesitation in his answer. The laugh was more nervous than of something humorous. Culturally, paraphrasing isn’t really a writing technique that is favored amongst teachers and professors, there really aren’t any set of rules as to what paraphrasing is and the concept can get a little fuzzy for most students. J is giving the impression that paraphrasing helps to mask the body of a paper by giving it a better appearance. The use of his laughter here, led me to believe J was nervous and even unsure of whether his answer was culturally acceptable or not.

            The interview continued to flow and J told me how he cites some of his sources. After explaining his logic for citing some things and leaving out others, I asked him how he avoids plagiarism altogether. His answer started with, “Well, I never copy and paste. (laughs)” It is very common throughout the student culture to believe that as long as you’re not copying material word for word, plagiarism isn’t being committed. This belief is controversial, as not copying word for word would lead to paraphrasing. J’s use of laughter after that statement indicates that he doesn’t fully believe himself and it was almost funny to him. The use of “well” in this sentence, gives the impression that not copy and pasting was good enough, in terms of not committing plagiarism.

            I proceeded to ask him one of the core questions for my interview:

“B: Do you think a lot of your peers reference the internet a lot when writing different kinds of papers to help them out with ideas?

J: Yeah for sure. There are soooooo many sites out there that can help out with ideas. I don't really see it as plagiarizing though and I don't think a lot of students do either. Like for example, it's a lot easier to do this with literature classes or pys classes, or things where it's a lot of just recapping. You can ask people online what they think and get a whole bunch of ideas and play off that. Or put your own spin on things that have already been discussed online. Message boards are a great place for this, or even yahoo answers or just some sites that professors don't really like us using (giggles). Not only is it easy but it's almost like a tool if you have writers block.”

             This time, by saying “or just some sites that professors don't really like us using” J creates a genre of sites that professors prefer their students not use for reliable information. Laughing afterwards, shows he doesn’t take that genre seriously, and also implies that students may just use them anyway.

   “B: Would you ever add these sites to your work cited page? or are these some of the sites you'd paraphrase on and just leave unknown?

J: yeah these i'd  just leave those out (laughs). I feel like once a professor sees those names on a paper, it's automatically trash.”

            In the excerpt above, not only does J’s laughter indicate that he knows leaving these sites out contribute to committing plagiarism, but the sentence that follows helps to confirm this belief. J “feels” that these sites will discredit his work. The word “trash” is a strong here, because no student wants to consider their work as garbage. Knowing that his efforts may be overlooked due to the name of a site, and not wanting his work to be “trash”, he deliberately leaves those sites out of his paper and knows this is a part of plagiarism. Clearly, he knows it’s wrong, but he’s also being very practical about his grades and kind of doesn’t care if that involves doing something that may or may not even be considered plagarism.

            J’s practicality really sets the tone for his last outburst of laughter in the next excerpt:

“B: So you're willing to take the risk so you aren't embarrassed?

J: Ummmm... It's not really about being embarrassed, I just wouldn't want to do it over because the professor thinks the info is useless. But when they don't know I get the grade. (laughs)”

It is clear that in the end, J’s laughter derives from being able to get one over on his professor and get his grade without getting caught for plagiarism. J thinks it’s funny because it’s he seems to think it is obvious this is what students do in order to please their professor. Of course, he did not say this so bluntly. But the use of laughter in his language helps to mask this serious issue into one that isn’t such a big deal.   

            In my follow up interview, I wanted to find out if students feel they need to rely on the internet or have they just learned an effective way to incorporate the use of the web in their writing process? 

B: …. So last time, I remember you said that a lot of sites “help” you with ideas and you even mentioned using the internet and paraphrasing was almost like a “tool” for writers block. Do you think you can tell me about some of the ways that using the internet has helped you positively in expanding your papers?

J: Positively like in what sense? 

B: What has it taught you? Like since you referred to it as a tool last time, What kind of skills have you picked up from it?

J: Uhhh….. Ok, I would say that while i’m surfing the web for new things to put in my paper, or like while I’m on forums or asking questions on Answers (hahaha) I think over time I learned just what to ask the other people im talking to online. Or I learned what to type into my search and which links to click on to find what I really need. Basically I feel like im getting better info because I’m asking things we didn’t go over in class or that’s not in plain sight in the book we read or something. A lot of times you can ask your professor these things but they are kinda vague because they never want to GIVE you the answer. Which I mean I get it but sometimes it’s good to see all the different responses you get, all of them right and you can pick which ones you want to draw your own ideas off. Does that make sense? (laughs)

            My data clearly shows that this student is fully aware of the negative stigma that comes along with using the web loosely to gather valid information, but it also shows how this student, and probably others, feel the internet helps contribute to their writing process in several ways. J feels that by endlessly searching the web and deeming some things and appropriate and others as not, he is learning how to identify validity in his sources in comparison to sites he considers to contain nothing with strong facts. In addition, he also feels that he is digging deeper into the assignment outside of the classroom, furthering his own knowledge on the subject, by searching for answers to questions that derive from the newfound information he is stumbling upon while using the web for help. These skills are skills that can be very beneficial to so many students in and outside of the classroom. Things only seem to get fuzzy when it comes to the definition of plagiarism, that is seemingly subject to change from teacher to institution.

            J describes plagiarism, just how most students (or anyone) would describe plagiarism. He says, “I would define plagiarism as.... taking another person's complete work or even a piece of it word for word and claiming it as your own, original idea. That is definitely plagiarism.” In the article “It wasn’t me, was it?” Plagiarism and the Web” By Dànielle DeVoss and Annette C. Rosati, unfortunately, we are never really given a definition as to what plagiarism even is. Although Rosati explains that she teaches her class the ins and outs of plagiarism, she never defines it for us.

Limitations of the Study

The limitations of my study include the fact that I only interviewed one student out of the many students out there. Due to time and the length of research required for my paper, I was not able to gather more data as it may have exceeded the requirements. If I was able to, I would interview more students from a variety of majors and even different class levels (freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors) and maybe even see how the ideas and thoughts on plagiarism vary between educational experience.

Conclusion

To conclude, the perspective of plagiarism to students is a lot different from that of the teacher’s. Having a closer look into the student’s mind shows us how students actually learn a lot useful skills from using the web for help. We are also better able to see how tech savvy students have a fuzzy understanding of what plagiarism is and long for some knowledge on how to use the internet’s sources efficiently while still being “safe” from cheating. In the future, further research should include seeking out effective tactics on teaching plagiarism, using the web to better help develop research skills, and possibly rethinking the criteria for plagiarism altogether so that it is more specific and up to date with the times.

Blog Post #23 Conclusion Draft

To conclude, the perspective of plagiarism to students is a lot different from that of the teacher’s. Having a closer look into the student’s mind shows us how students actually learn a lot useful skills from using the web for help. We are also better able to see how tech savvy students have a fuzzy understanding of what plagiarism is and long for some knowledge on how to use the internet’s sources efficiently while still being “safe” from cheating. In the future, further research should include seeking out effective tactics on teaching plagiarism, using the web to better help develop research skills, and possibly rethinking the criteria for plagiarism altogether so that it is more specific and up to date with the times.

Blog Post 22.5......Follow up interview

I decided to do a follow up interview and finally, after my participant and I had to keep pushing back dates and he cancelled a few times we were able to do one! I'm happy with the outcome so I thought I would transcribe it and share here as some more data work (also since I plan to incorporate this into my final project, I needed it transcribe it to pick apart some of the excerpts)

B: Hey! how’ve you been?

J: Good! Sorry for cancelling the other day there’s just mad work to be done. I’m really just trying to hang in there for the last few weeks of class.

B: Yeah I know exactly how you feel, but at least this is it for you YAY hahaha (laughter)

J: (laughs) I know! It’s so surreal, you’ll get there soon though.

B: Hopefully. (laughs) I know you’re super busy but I like really do appreciate you coming out for this last interview. So let’s just get started…. So last time, I remember you said that a lot of sites “help” you with ideas and you even mentioned using the internet and paraphrasing was almost like a “tool” for writers block. Do you think you can tell me about some of the ways that using the internet has helped you positively in expanding your papers?

J: Positively like in what sense?        

B: Like what has it taught you? Like since you referred to it as a tool last time, What kind of skills have you picked up from it?

J: UHHHH….. Ok, I would say that while i’m surfing the web for new things to put in my paper, or like while I’m on forums or asking questions on answers (I believe my participant was referring to Yahoo! answers here)  (hahaha) I think over time I learned just what to ask the other people im talking to online. Or I learned what to type into my search and which links to click on to find what I really need. Basically I feel like im getting better info because I’m asking things we didn’t go over in class or that’s not in plain sight in the book we read or something. A lot of times you can ask your professor these things but they are kinda vague because they never want to GIVE you the answer. Which I mean I get it but sometimes it’s good to see all the different responses you get, all of them right and you can pick which ones you want to draw your own ideas off. Does that make sense? (laughs)

B: Ok yeah makes perfect sense, I never really noticed but you’re totally right. Sometimes I get confused when professors are vague because they don’t wanna do the work for you. So these forums and stuff give you a bunch of examples then, right? From people who may know the subject and have their own ideas?

J: Yeah exactly it’s just a bunch of examples in my eyes. I mean, after surfing the web for a while you can see that some of those people just get their answers from other sites and and you can see who has actually put thought into their answer. Because the ones that just copy and paste are pasting things that are the first to pop up when you start your search. And no one wants to use the obvious one (laughs).

B: Okay so do you think your professor can’t see if you put thought into your answer then as well, just like you can see some people online clearly don’t?

J: well I never said I don’t put thought into my answers. I def put a lot of thought into it, I just sometimes draw from those who may be more critical thinkers on the subject. But I deff think they get my own creative juices flowing too you know like when you’re in class and someone raises their hand and has an awesome answer. I can’t write that in my notebook and use it later? Of course I can. But it was just said not written so no one will ever know (laughs)

B: Got cha. So let me ask you, do you take plagiarism seriously at all?

J: yeah of course why else would I go through all the trouble of surfing the web high and low for things that come out of people’s heads instead of things that come from an encyclopedia? (laughs)But no seriously I mean I think it’s serious, but at the same time I think it’s just a really big way of life today. The internet and talking to other people about things at all times, really using ALL your sources. If you have a health concern you don’t call your dr anymore you go on webmd and see if other people had the same syptoms. (laughs)

B: hahahaha that’s soooo true! I LIVE on webmd, I’m a little hypochondriac (laughs). But yeah you’re so right, awesome answers by the way haha…. So does this mean you feel that The guidelines for what constitutes as plagiarism should change? Be updated somehow? In what kinda ways?

J: Oh yeah hahaha (laughs) if only that could’ve happened before I graduated. (laughs)  It would be really cool if the plagiarism gods out there updated things or got more specific  (we both laugh). Or even if we had someone who uses the internet themselves but was like an expert at the rules and knew how to reach us to use it without it being “cheating” because I’m sure there’s a way. Not sure if it’s what I’ve been doing (laughs) but there deff has to be a right way and I think someone should teach that instead of making us scared of the internet all together, because I mean we’re GONNA use it…oh unless we use the library database or something. (laughs)

B:Right, I think that would be an awesome idea. Make up more aware on the ways we could avoid plagiarism and still use all our sources out there even if they are so “credible” right?

J: Right like show us how to navigate safely because the internet shouldn’t just seem like it’s totally off limits, and that’s how it feels a lot of the time.

B: So do you think that students are unaware of what plagiarism even is? Why or why not?

J: yeah I do and I think some professors don’t even ko what it is (laughs) because how can I be wrong in class A but in class B it’s okay? I personally think no one REALLY KNOWS what it is, just don’t copy and paste (laughs)

B: haha! okay. Well I think that will wrap it up honestly, I think I got all the data I need. Youv’e been a reall awesome participant thanks soooo much!!!

J: (laughs) No problem it was fun. I never really knew I thought all these things till you asked me anyways hahaha

Blog Post #22

In the last class, I tried to read more into my article. I officially decided to use the "It wasn't me, was it?" article Dr. Chandler suggested to me.


I also came up with a little outline on how I want to set up my final project and tried to really focus on what I would incorporate in the discussion and findings part since it seems to hold the most weight (60-70% of the paper) some points I am exploring are:

• How I used discourse analysis to interpret how the student feels about plagiarism. I used this for my short analysis project and think I have a lot of good information and based on some of the new info I have from my follow up interview I am excited to expand this!
• I also think that I would like to talk about how my information is more valid because my subject felt more comfortable disclosing things with a fellow student.                                                                     

I'm just not sure of the last point would have a lot of information for me to expand on and feel a little stuck on some more findings I can incorporate. I re-read the article in class, and I also did a follow up interview this past weekend. I would love some suggestions on where else I could take this project.                                                           \

Blog Post 21 -Brainstorming/Some things I did in class

Today in class, I tried to really think about what my focus would be on because there are so many aspects to plagiarism. I also worked with Dr. chandler to try and open up my intro. Here is some brainstorming for my project on things like the intro and some possible points for a body:

• For my intro, I want to try and add in the fact that my participant may expose more on how he may use the internet to help him with work because we are both students. What's different about my research and the research I've seen, is that my research is conducted by peer to peer making things more comfortable to discuss.
• Dr. Chandler gave me a great idea of adding in how I used discourse analysis to interpret how he really feels about plagiarism
• We also said  he's text savvy 
• I am also reconsidering using my short analysis info in my big project. *Although I was really happy with my short analysis project, I wasn't so sure I wanted that to be my main focus for our big project. Now I feel I can use it as a main point in figuring how "students really feel about plagiarism".

Blog Post 20

Statement of focus: In my study on plagiarism, I want to focus on what students really think about plagiarism, (I guess in terms of how serious it is to them, and if they think it's made a bigger deal than it should be? idk... just some thoughts to make it less broad) and what compels them  to use the web for "help".

-I want to get this information through the students perspective since articles I've read have been strictly through the eyes of the educator and their guesses on why students reference the internet so much. There are some pieces of my current interview transcript that I feel can really help support this focus, but more so, have helped me to realize I want to ask my participant more precise questions so that I'm better able to support my focus. I think this excerpt is really good so far in doing this:

"B: I see. Why do you think students are compelled to do this though? Do you think students don't have a good writing process that works for them?

J: That could definitely be a possibility. I think a lot of us students are expected to know how to come up with all these great ideas, or expected to know how to write a good paper. I'm a psychology major and my first few years I had a bunch of just general English classes and almost every professor had different expectations and had different ideas on what was right and what wasn't. Coming out of high school, not everything I was taught was acceptable but I didn't know that. There just wasn't anything I had learned in between to bridge that gap on learning how to write a GOOD paper that met all the right guidelines you know what I mean? So I just had to wing it depending on who was grading my paper. And when I could use the internet I did, without hesitation. But I wouldn't say I was cheating though."

Blog Post 19 -Introduction

So far, this is what I have come up with for an introduction. I am not sure if I am making a clear focus when I say I want to know how students really feel about plagiarism because it seems kind of broad. The introduction is still in the works...

"Plagiarism steadily seems to be on the rise as students today have unlimited access to the web and know their way around it. Many researchers have tried to dig deeper into the reasons why students feel compelled to plagiarize. In most of these studies, teachers were asked about times they've had to deal with their students cheating, samples were examined and scholars were interviewed on their thoughts about plagiarism and why it seems to be such a big issue today. But what do the students think about plagiarism and why they seem to be doing it more and more? In my study, I want to focus on how students really feel about plagiarism, and why they think their peers (and themselves) are compelled to use the web for "help". I have conducted and interview with a college student who has a lot of his on thoughts on the matter. "


This past weekend I was also supposed to do a follow up interview with my participant but he had to cancel. We have rescheduled for Tonight, so I am hoping after asking him some new questions I can make my focus more clear and tweak my intro a little bit.

Blog Post #18 Memos

After reading a bit more of the article I am thinking of using, "It wasn't me, was it? Plagiarism and the Web" for my big project, and reading my transcript again, I am thinking that my project could focus on how students are often compelled to plagiarize in hopes of being "correct" (?) and meeting the requirements of their assignments in it's entirety.... In the article, there was a part that really spoke to me. It said:


"Asking a student to create original ideas encourages plagiarism in the sense that students often feel the need to consult sources for help. How many new insights are readily available for readers of King Lear, for example? We ask students not just for their insights, but for their original ideas, ideas that must also—in some instances—be “correct.”

Based on the excerpt below from my transcript, I feel my participant is confirming this idea but also referencing using the web as a "tool"....


 "B: Do you think a lot of your peers reference the internet a lot when writing different kinds of papers to help them out with ideas?

J: Yeah for sure. There are soooooo many sites out there that can help out with ideas. I don't really see it as plagiarizing though and I don't think a lot of students do either. Like for example, it's a lot easier to do this with literature classes or pys classes, or things where it's a lot of just recapping. You can ask people online what they think and get a whole bunch of ideas and play off that. Or put your own spin on things that have already been discussed online. Message boards are a great place for this, or even yahoo answers or just some sites that professors don't really like us using (giggles). Not only is it easy but it's almost like a tool if you have writers block."


I am just not sure if I am bringing up a point that isn't brought up in my article like the assignment calls for. I still think I should still be doing this from the perspective of the student, but unclear on whether or not the central focus has changed, based on the new info in my article.
My original statement of purpose was:

• The purpose of my study is to learn how students really feel about plagiarism, and to learn whether or not they feel they possess the proper skills to execute a paper successfully, in a timely matter without having to rely on the internet as a shortcut. I am exploring this through the students perspective.

Blog Post 17

Some of the questions I came up with in my new research plans are as follows:

1. Do students rely on the internet or have they just learned an effective way to incorporate the use of the internet in their writing process?
2. Do they still consider this plagiarism? 
3. Do students feel the guidelines to what plagiarism is should be altered or somehow updated?

•  For question one, I picked this section in my transcript:

 "B: Do you think a lot of your peers reference the internet a lot when writing different kinds of papers to help them out with ideas?

J: Yeah for sure. There are soooooo many sites out there that can help out with ideas. I don't really see it as plagiarizing though and I don't think a lot of students do either. Like for example, it's a lot easier to do this with literature classes or pys classes, or things where it's a lot of just recapping. You can ask people online what they think and get a whole bunch of ideas and play off that. Or put your own spin on things that have already been discussed online. Message boards are a great place for this, or even yahoo answers or just some sites that professors don't really like us using (giggles). Not only is it easy but it's almost like a tool if you have writers block."

-Here, I feel my participant is almost referring to him and his peers use of the internet to help them write papers as almost a part of their writing process. I'm not sure if he is RELYING on the internet or if he has adapted a new way of using it effectively by getting feedback from possibly other students who are online and seeking the same help.

• In the case of question 2, I'm not quite sure I have any data that helps to answer this question. This is something I plan to bring up in my short follow up interview.
• For question 3, I would ask a little more about it in my follow up interview, but I could also see that I can find part of my answer in this section of my transcript:

"B: I see. Why do you think students are compelled to do this though? Do you think students don't have a good writing process that works for them?

J: That could definitely be a possibility. I think a lot of us students are expected to know how to come up with all these great ideas, or expected to know how to write a good paper. I'm a psychology major and my first few years I had a bunch of just general English classes and almost every professor had different expectations and had different ideas on what was right and what wasn't. Coming out of high school, not everything I was taught was acceptable but I didn't know that. There just wasn't anything I had learned in between to bridge that gap on learning how to write a GOOD paper that met all the right guidelines you know what I mean? So I just had to wing it depending on who was grading my paper. And when I could use the internet I did, without hesitation. But I wouldn't say I was cheating though."

-In this section, I feel my participant is partially answering my question by saying "There just wasn't anything I had learned in between to bridge that gap on learning how to write a GOOD paper that met all the right guidelines..." & "almost every professor had different expectations and had different ideas on what was right and what wasn't. Coming out of high school, not everything I was taught was acceptable but I didn't know that." I feel like he is expressing the complications within plagiarism and how the level of importance changes from professor to professor so he must "wing it" which would lead him to always change the criteria for what exactly plagiarism is.

Blog Post 16

Statement of purpose (what you hope to show/discover):

• The purpose of my study is to learn how students really feel about plagiarism, and to learn whether or not they feel they possess the proper skills to execute a paper successfully, in a timely matter without having to rely on the internet as a shortcut. I am exploring this through the students perspective.

Detailed statement of your research question(s): you should write questions that you can "ask" of your data.

• What I'd ask myself about my data is: Do students rely on the internet or have they just learned an effective way to incorporate the use of the internet in their writing process? Do they still consider this plagiarism? I feel my data shows how students (or a student) feel the internet may help contribute to their writing process in several ways. My participant describes plagiarism, just how most students (or anyone) would describe plagiarism. This led me to ask: Do students feel the guidelines to what plagiarism is should be altered or somehow updated? My data has me wondering if maybe, although students have a clear idea of the definition of plagiarism, do they agree? Just like in my short analysis project, I asked myself what the pattern of laughter may be about when my participant gets more in depth with my topic (plagiarism). In my data, I also saw a connection with how my participants talks about plagiarism and the assumptions and stigma on plagiarism. The connection I saw goes back to the laughter recorded throughout my interview. What I learned about my participants clear directness and then becoming indirect, was that J (my participant) was probably making sure he was being culturally appropriate.

 

List of the information you need to gather: list any additional "data" you will need to complete your project (do you need to: do follow up interviews?  an observation?  look at some writing samples?  etc?)

• I am thinking I may do a very short follow up interview, and maybe even ask to see some written samples, or ask my participant to show me some of his planning process? Not sure if that would take me off topic though.

 

A preliminary list of sources (if you need a research essay => let me know.  Send what you have found so far and give me a detailed idea of what you are looking for)

Discussion of any additional data you will need to collect + how you will collect it

 

• Ill probably collect more data by just doing a follow up interview

Blog Post #15 -Short Analysis Project

Every day we are faced with situations that are a lot more serious than the next. There are countless “gray areas” in life that may be a little difficult for us to comment on with a straight forward and honest answer. We all have different ways in which we handle discussing these tough topics. Everyone has their own tactic, (sometimes unknowingly) unique to their language that helps them get through some of the more uncomfortable conversations they may find themselves in. In an interview between myself, B, and my participant, J, I was able to see some of his tactics in getting around the more challenging questions that came along with my interview.

            In my interview, I asked a series of questions in hopes to find out what students really think about plagiarism. My participant, J, was very honest with his answers, even when it came to the questions that revealed a bit more of his academic character. Or was he? I began to notice a pattern of laughter in his more detailed answers to some of my most serious questions. After analyzing my interview transcript, a total of five times was recorded in correlation to a serious question and some giggles within the answer I received. I want to focus on my participant’s use of laughter in his language and how I believe it is used to make light of a topic far from comical.

            J and I dove right into the interview after some very brief small talk. When asked about his overall writing process, J was very stern in his answer. There was no hesitation as he explained his usual sequence of planning. I followed up by asking him when he thinks it’s a good idea to paraphrase. This is where the pattern begins. The beginning of J’s answer to that was, “I actually paraphrase a lot. I think it's always a good time for paraphrasing! (laughs)” Here, J’s laugh indicated  hesitation in his answer. What was so funny about what he just said? The laugh was more nervous than of something humorous. Culturally, paraphrasing is one of those “gray areas” I mentioned earlier. The use of his laughter at this very moment led me to believe J was a bit nervous and even unsure of whether his answer was culturally acceptable or not. So to make light of the situation, a little chuckle was inserted. I smiled, he continued on to say, “It definitely helps to add in some extra info to your paper instead of just your own made up ideas, and I think it helps because it makes your paper look a lot more accurate.” The use of the word “look” also stood out to me. By using the word “look”, J is giving the impression that paraphrasing helps to mask the body of a paper by giving it a better appearance.

            The interview continued to flow and J told me how he cites some of his sources. After explaining his logic for citing some things and leaving out others, I asked him how he avoids plagiarism altogether. His answer started with, “Well, I never copy and paste. (laughs)” Here I noticed the pattern of laughter continuing on. It is very common throughout the student culture to believe that as long as you’re not copying material word for word, plagiarism isn’t being committed. This belief is controversial, as not copying word for word would lead to paraphrasing. J’s use of laughter after that statement indicates that he doesn’t fully believe himself and it was almost funny to him. The word “well” also stood out to me. The use of “well” in this sentence, gives the impression that not copy and pasting was good enough, in terms of not committing plagiarism.

            It wasn’t long before the pattern of laughter continued to develop, J gave me his definition of plagiarism and I proceeded to ask him one of the core questions for my interview. I asked him if he thought his peers used the internet as a crutch to help develop their ideas when writing. J’s answer started off with him sounding very sure of himself, “Yeah, for sure” was the first sentence he used. It was short and sweet, and straight to the point with no hesitation in his voice. J told me that a lot of students like to use websites that offer things like message boards and chat rooms to get ideas from others, live and online. Then he said, “Message boards are a great place for this, or even yahoo answers or just some sites that professors don't really like us using (giggles).”  J’s use of laughter here was a bit different from his use of laughter in the previous excerpts. This time, the laughter used in his language did not seem to come from nervousness, or to be cunning, but he just didn’t seem to take the idea too seriously. By saying “or just some sites that professors don't really like us using” J creates a genre of sites that professors prefer their students not use for reliable information. Laughing afterwards, shows he doesn’t take that genre seriously, and also implies that students may just use them anyway.

            J uses laughter to give the feel of the situation at hand a little twist twice more. I asked him if he’d ever add the sites “professors don’t really like us to use” to his works cited page. J said, “yeah these I’d just leave those out (laughs). I feel like once a professor sees those names on a paper, it's automatically trash.” Not only does his laughter indicate that he knows leaving these sites out contribute to committing plagiarism, but the sentence that follows helps to confirm this belief. J “feels” that these sites will discredit his work. The word “trash” is a strong one because no student wants to consider their work as garbage. Knowing that his efforts may be overlooked due to the name of a site, and not wanting his work to be “trash”, he deliberately leaves those sites out of his paper and knows this is a part of plagiarism. That’s why he laughs at the thought of just leaving them out.

            This sets the tone for J’s final outburst of laughter. I finally asked J if he did this because he wanted to avoid embarrassment, his response to that was, “Ummmm... It's not really about being embarrassed; I just wouldn't want to do it over because the professor thinks the info is useless. But when they don't know I get the grade. (laughs)” It is clear that in the end, J’s laughter derives from being able to get one over on his professor and get his grade without getting caught for plagiarism. Of course, he did not say this so bluntly. But the use of laughter in his language helps to mask this serious issue into one that isn’t such a big deal. 

            I don’t think J realized what he was doing, as he was doing it. Our interview flowed very naturally. Laughter was such a strong pattern and it was used in a series of ways. It was used in conjunction with nervousness. It was used unknowingly when he didn’t take things serious. And it was used as almost a relief when he knew he was getting away with something that could possibly hurt his entire college career.

Blog Post #12

Interview Transcript

B: Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for allowing me to interview you!

J: No problem, I'm glad to help out another student.

B: You're graduating this spring right?

J: Yup, and it couldn't come any sooner!

(we both laugh)

B: I feel you on that. Urgh I can't wait till I graduate. CONGRATS in advance.... Okay, so let's just get started.... in what ways would you describe your writing process? Like how do you get ready to start a big paper?

J: Well the first thing I usually do is write down the directions again. I like to be able to reference what I'm really being asked to do in the paper so I don't fall off track. Then I would start outlining some main points I want to get across in the paragraphs following my introduction and I go from there, really.

B: Okay, sounds really similar to what I do! So when you're done with your outline and you start to actually write your paper, when do you think it's a good idea to paraphrase?

J: I actually paraphrase a lot. I think it's always a good time for paraphrasing! (laughs) It definitely helps to add in some extra info to your paper instead of just your own made up ideas, and I think it helps because it makes your paper look a lot more accurate.

B: What do you mean by "accurate"?

J: I mean, it helps with the facts on what you're writing on. Instead of just pulling fluff out of the air you can use your sources and just rephrase them to how you like. It's a great technique in my eyes.

B: Gotcha! Do you cite your sources after all your paraphrasing?

J: I usually have a works cited page at the end, but I don't cite it within my paper. I feel like it messes up the flow or sometimes, there are just such small sentences or random info I throw in there that I don't really feel I need to cite it all. Unless it's something real specific that I can't paraphrase. In that case i'll add in where it's from.

B: Okay, so in what ways do you try to avoid plagiarism?

J: Well I never copy and paste. (laughs) I never write things word for word, and I always try and cite the most important pieces of information. Especially when it comes to things like statistics, or if I'm using really specific data from a study or something.

B: Okay, cool. So, how would you define plagiarism in a nut shell?

J: I would define plagiarism as.... taking another person's complete work or even a piece of it word for word and claiming it as your own, original idea. That is definitely plagiarism.

B: Do you think a lot of your peers reference the internet a lot when writing different kinds of papers to help them out with ideas?

J: Yeah for sure. There are soooooo many sites out there that can help out with ideas. I don't really see it as plagiarizing though and I don't think a lot of students do either. Like for example, it's a lot easier to do this with literature classes or pys classes, or things where it's a lot of just recapping. You can ask people online what they think and get a whole bunch of ideas and play off that. Or put your own spin on things that have already been discussed online. Message boards are a great place for this, or even yahoo answers or just some sites that professors don't really like us using (giggles). Not only is it easy but it's almost like a tool if you have writers block.

B: I see. Why do you think students are compelled to do this though? Do you think students don't have a good writing process that works for them?

J: That could definitely be a possibility. I think a lot of us students are expected to know how to come up with all these great ideas, or expected to know how to write a good paper. I'm a psychology major and my first few years I had a bunch of just general English classes and almost every professor had different expectations and had different ideas on what was right and what wasn't. Coming out of high school, not everything I was taught was acceptable but I didn't know that. There just wasn't anything I had learned in between to bridge that gap on learning how to write a GOOD paper that met all the right guidelines you know what I mean? So I just had to wing it depending on who was grading my paper. And when I could use the internet I did, without hesitation. But I wouldn't say I was cheating though.

B: Okay, so you mentioned some sites like yahoo answers, and some message boards. Sites that professors "don't like us using"... What other sites can you add to that list?

J: Yahoo Answers, Wikipedia, Sparknotes. Sites like that that are made to make things easier for us.

B: Would you ever add these sites to your work cited page? or are these some of the sites you'd paraphrase on and just leave unknown?

J: yeah these i'd  just leave those out (laughs). I feel like once a professor sees those names on a paper, it's automatically trash.

B: So you're willing to take the risk so you aren't embarrassed?

J: Ummmm... It's not really about being embarrassed, I just wouldn't want to do it over because the professor thinks the info is useless. But when they don't know I get the grade. (laughs)

B: Can you tell me of any times you've been caught/accused of plagiarizing or anyone else you may know?

J: There was a time where the professor was really disappointed in another student for plagiarizing. That student had pieces in their paper that were exactly on the internet. He basically told us not to let it happen to us and all that. But I mean she used things word for word.

B: So basically that's all you've ever known a person to get into trouble for? Word for word copying? Correct?

J: Yeah, I still haven't met a person who got an F for paraphrasing. I'm about to graduate and have done fine. Haven't ran into any trouble and I always do it and don't always site the crappy sites either. I guess it just doesn't hold much importance. That's my impression.

B: Okay, so here's what it comes down to....do you think your papers are set up in a way that makes plagiarizing difficult or easy?

J: Easy. Hands down. I haven't really had many papers if any that challenged me to the point where there was NO info found on my topic online. It could just be that you can find anything on the internet these days, or it could just be that it isn't formulated to be challenging enough. I haven't always needed it, but it's always there.

B: What's always there?

J: Information online is always there at our disposal.

B:Okay. Cool. That really covers it....You had some great answers!! Thanks so much, again.

J: No problem, it was fun.

Blog Post #11

Purpose of study: The purpose of my study is to learn how students really feel about plagiarism, and to learn whether or not they feel they possess the proper skills to execute a paper successfully, in a timely matter without having to rely on the internet as a shortcut.

• Can you describe your writing process for me?
• When do you think it's a good idea to paraphrase?
• In what ways do you try to avoid plagiarism?
• How would you define plagiarism?
• Do you believe a lot of students tend to reference the internet a lot when writing a paper?
• Why/why not?
• Do you use the internet as a crutch to help you find ideas, or elaborate on current ideas when writing a paper?
• If so, do you feel you have to cite where you got that idea from, even if you aren't quoting something?
• If not, do you feel your assignments are set up in a way that makes plagiarism too difficult or just plain unnecessary?
• Do you feel you are expected to already have the skills for a successful writing process?
• What do you do to prepare for a paper that requires outside sources using the internet?
• Do you find yourself not giving credit to sites that some professors find less credible such as wiki, cliffnotes, sparknotes, etc?
• Besides being lazy, what reasons would you give for the rise in plagiarism?
• Do you Think mother students plagiarize without realizing it?
• How do you think most of your peers tackle their papers?

Blog Post #10

One story I can think of is a time when I was having a conversation with a friend about our classes and all the work we had coming up. I was telling her about all the papers I had to write and she was telling me about her heavy workload. Somewhere in the conversation she said that papers were really easy to do. Her reason for papers being easy wasn't because she enjoyed writing, or because she had come up with an awesome writing process that works for her, but because its so easy to paraphrase. She didn't see anything wrong with it because she said "I never copy things WORD FOR WORD, but it's okay to use the thesaurus feature and make it your own.". I imagine this is a common story when it comes to student's thoughts on plagiarism, and that many students do this and feel this way. I especially think this is true for students who aren't writing or english majors because they probably don't have many classes that have lessons on coming up with your own writing process or properly citing your sources. I really didn't dwell on this conversation much, but it's something I remember because I wish I would've told her that was a form of plagiarism, just for future reference, since she seemed so oblivious. To her, she thought other students were just clueless on how EASY it was to write a good paper.

Blog Post #9

 Interview protocol for your project

• How would you define plagiarism?
• Do you believe a lot of students tend to reference the internet a lot when writing a paper?
• Why/why not?

Do you use the internet as a crutch to help you find ideas, or elaborate on current ideas when writing a paper?

If so, do you feel you have to cite where you got that idea from, even if you aren't quoting something?

If not, do you feel your assignments are set up in a way that makes plagiarism too difficult or just plain unnecessary?

Do you feel you are expected to already have the skills for a successful writing process?

What do you do to prepare for a paper that requires outside sources using the internet?

Do you find yourself not giving credit to sites that some professors find less credible such as wiki, cliffnotes, sparknotes, etc?

Besides being lazy, what reasons would you give for the rise in plagiarism?

Do you Think mother students plagiarize without realizing it?

How do you think most of your peers tackle their papers?

Blog Post #8

Statement of Purpose:

• I'm doing a research project on plagiarism. I hope to discover if students use the internet as a crutch when writing papers and what they feel is the underlying reason for that.

A more detailed statement:

•  I want to really see if maybe students unintentionally plagiarize because they lack techniques that help them with their writing process or if they think their assignments make it too easy to use information online and just change it around.  I mainly want to focus on what students think plagiarism actually is, how students may plagiarize unintentionally, and why they really think it happens.

A preliminary list of sources:

• So far I have one article that explains all the things I am trying to discover but from the professors perspective. I feel this article is enough for me to help organize my study but in terms of the students perspective so my research is almost the other side of theirs. I also have about 3 subjects who I plan to interview, a former student, and two current students. All different majors.

My Plan for gathering your information :

• I will be studying students, current students, or recent graduates who have taken a variety of classes that required writing papers. I decided that it doesn't have to be all English majors since there are many other majors that require written work. As I mentioned in my statement, I want to  see what they think plagiarism actually is, how they may plagiarize unintentionally, and why they really think it happens. I plan to collect my information from my subjects at a mutual meeting place, such as a coffee shop or maybe even at their homes so they are more comfortable. So far I have 3 subjects but I want to have at least 5 to collect my data and compare. The method I plan on using is strictly interviewing since I don't really see any other way to gather my info for this!

Blog Post #7

In the last class, we were asked to interview another classmate for about 7 minutes. The topic of discussion was Valentine's Day! Before jumping into the interview, we had talked about some ways to "break the ice". Being that I had never spoken to my partner, Nagerrah, I thought I'd incorporate some of the points given in class. With that being said, I decided that my opening questions would be asking her where she was from and how old she was. I quickly mapped out a few other questions in reference to V-day:

• What did you do this past Valentine's Day?
• What were your thoughts on V-day growing up?
• How do you feel about it now that you're older?

One thing I noticed right away, was that my "ice-breaker" question in the beginning, asking  her where she was from, was kind of irrelevant. Although I think it's a good tactic, in this particular discussion, I don't think it played well into what we were talking about and left me kind of jumping from her hometown to what she did on Valentine's day without a smoother transition. One didn't really have anything to do with the other and I realized that I could've came up with another type of question that would set the mood for what we were talking about better. I think next time, I will just go with the flow on a question to break the ice with something pertaining to the subject a bit more. As the interview progressed and I got into my core questions, I didn't really feel much tension between us. I think Nagerrah and I had a good chemistry although we had never met, which was a big plus because that put us at ease a bit more. Our interview was definitely on the conversational side, I feel it got that way when she started to bring up points that helped me to create questions in my head that I hadn't wrote down before. For example, when she told me she went shopping with her aunts and cousins, I automatically thought to ask her if their shopping trip was in tribute of Valentines Day. That wasn't something I was planning to ask, but it made sense to add that in. After that I thought i'd get some of her thoughts about V-day growing up. It was during this answer that I felt our interview really shift into conversation mode! She talked about how she was always excited to hand out Valentines to the class as a kid. This was great because I was then able to relate to my interviewee, I felt this helped the flow of conversation because of that "me too!" moment where we both briefly shared our similarities as kids. My last question was how her view on V-day has changed from her youth, and naturally it is a lot different than being excited to hand out valentines to the class. Although I personally felt it was a good "'ender" kind of question, I noticed we hadn't reached 7 minutes yet! This is when I realized I got stuck. I was stuck because I looked at my paper and my questions were over, and I couldn't come up with another one on a whim because that last question ended things for us. Overall, I thought it was a really cool experience. I never interviewed someone before and now I think I have a better feel for it and what to improve on and what to leave out. I think instead of writing down a bunch of questions to go by I can add in idea bubbles too. This way, when I reach the end of my list, I have some ideas on where I'd like the convo to go and can randomly form questions from that instead of feeling cut off.

Blog Post #6

My topic for our research project is going to be plagiarism (I have yet to come up with a more concentrated title for it). I am currently taking a writing studies course, and read an article on plagiarism and it's role in writing studies that really grabbed my interest. In the article, I was introduced to several new ideas as to why plagiarism is so prevalent in a large number of student's work. The only thing was, that the article didn't have much information on the students perspective when it came to committed acts of plagiarism (both unintentionally and intentionally).


What I'm planning to make my central focus for this is, what student's think is the underlying reason for unintentional plagiarism.. I already know (or at least I assume) that many students would sum it up to laziness, and the convenience of the internet. However, I plan to formulate some questions to really see if students feel they need to use the internet and other sources as a crutch to help them get through an assignment. Maybe they lack a brain-storming technique that works for them or that genre of writing, or maybe the assignments given lack encouragement to really elaborate on the subject matter, leaving students stuck.

So far, I plan to interview a handful of college students (non Kean University students, in case they somehow violate the school's plagiarism guidelines) Some of the questions I've come up with are:

• How would you define plagiarism?
• Do you use the internet as a crutch to help you find ideas, or elaborate on current ideas when writing a paper?
• If so, do you feel you have to cite where you got that idea from, even if you aren't quoting something?
• If not, do you feel your assignments are set up in a way that makes plagiarism too difficult or just plain unnecessary?
• Do you feel you are expected to already have the skills for a successful writing process?
• Do you find yourself not giving credit to sites that some professors find less credible such as wiki, cliffnotes, sparknotes, etc?
• Besides being lazy, what reasons would you give for the rise in plagiarism?

 I was also thinking of incorporating some questions about their writing process, to see if they make drafts or even if they take it back to grade school and use webs. "How do you build on your ideas?" etc. But I'm not sure if this would run me off track a bit, or if this sort of back information would help my focus.

The questions I came up with are still subject to change. I may add some or just delete some completely. In the end, I really just want to learn what students feel are the reasons they refer to  websites more so DURING the writing process. Not just using the internet and sites because they are required to have sources to back up claims, but for the extra stuff, the stuff that no one asked them to use the internet for. I haven't decided if I want to keep this within English majors, or if I want to open it up to several majors and their unique forms of writing. On the practical side of things, I know a lot more people from different majors other than English that don't attend Kean. Most of the English majors I know are all my peers here at the university. I'm not too sure which way would be better in collecting information yet.

Blog Post #5

In our class last week, we discussed ethnography in depth and then we played it all out and experienced it firsthand with an ethnographical activity.

Jottings

• Holly
• Met Amanda
• Ariana - Eng 3005
• Groups
• Nervous body language
• Standing still
• Confusion
• Met Gigi
• Professor knows all names

Headnotes
 I first met Holly who sits to my left, followed by Amanda who I believe sits to Holly's left. I learned that Ariana and I both currently take the same Writing Studies course! Everyone started to form groups and clusters. Many people's body language gave off a nervous/awkward vibe. After all the moving around, it seemed that once everyone found a comfortable group, they stuck with it and started to just stand around. Many students seemed a bit confused, not really knowing exactly what they should say to the next student (More so at the beginning of the experiment). One of the last people I met was Gigi. Professor Chandler seemed to break the ice by knowing everyone and even introducing some people to one another.



Things I remembered later

• I remembered how the sound of everyone's voice and the flow of conversation seemed to be in flux. At first it was quiet, then it got a little noisy but soon after it died down and was pretty quiet again.
• I also remembered a majority of the class being on their phones. Using it to take their notes, and I realized how I didn't notice anyone with a notebook, or maybe wasn't paying attention to that factor.
• At first, everyone was spread out, making it harder to communicate since we were all standing in the exact spots we sit in. Slowly but surely, everyone migrated to the middle of the room and got really close together just before groups started forming.
• I also remembered that I had completely forgot to jot down smaller details to help me remember bigger pictures.

Field Notes

We all just stood there, everyone's eyes bouncing back and forth contemplating who to meet for the first time. "Introduce yourselves to someone you haven't met yet!" were the initial instructions given to the class about our ethnography activity. At first, Professor Chandler seemed to notice the tension so she urged us to branch out into the open space of the class and start talking. We slowly made our way out of our isles and the first girl I introduced myself to was Holly. I immediately noticed her long hair and as I learned her name, it rang a bell in my head as I've read and enjoyed her blogs since the beginning of the course! After meeting Holly, I didn't move around much as we formed a mini group with Jessica, who I speak to every class, and a new girl I met, Ariana. Ariana was really friendly and she broke the ice by letting me know we are currently in the same writing studies class. Our little group stuck together for a short while, sharing some of our observations about the rest of the class around us. I noticed that while even our small group was talking, we were all steadily trying to record any significant observations in our phones. I heard professor Chandler mention "clusters" forming and then heard her say it was time to move around some more. Our little group ventured off to meet new people. As I budged forward to branch off, the room seemed to be at a sudden stand still. Now that everyone was asked to leave their new comfort zones, it seemed the initial tension was back. Arms were folded, and faces of uncertainty, and awkwardness were all around the room. The energy was in constant flux, the noise level would rise and drop. As I moved towards the back of the class, I could hear professor Chandler introducing people by name, maybe as a tactic to break the ice between other classmates. The last girl I met was Gigi, she was in the back of the room and had on black glasses. We introduced ourselves and then asked me what I did before class. We briefly spoke about it, it was a lot different of an approach from the other conversations I had during the whole activity. Before I knew it, the professor told us we could all have a seat. I said bye to Gigi and sat down to discover I hadn't really recorded much in my phone after all.



-This activity was really interesting. Learning about ethnography, discussing it in such depth and reading over the field note examples, made me feel putting it in action wouldn't be too hard. I thought the logic behind jotting and experiencing things first hand, putting myself in the scenario, made perfect sense and didn't think for a second how hard it could get. Once I was actually in that position to jot down things as I went along and met new people, I discovered how hard it could be not just to multitask, but to pull meaningful information from what I was observing. There are so many things going on at once, all the other students talking, body language, even silence, I found myself conflicted on what to actually note. Should I write down EVERYTHING? And if I did, would I actually be paying attention enough to even know what my jottings meant once I sat down and reviewed them? I'm super interested to see how I can better organize my thoughts, or what strategies we are introduced to, to help make our jottings have more significance.

Blog Post #4

How is Professor Chandlers class a discourse community? (As per Swales model)

1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.
In English 3029, all students have a set of common goals. The ultimate goal is to pass the class with a high grade and complete a successful research paper. Also, all students are English majors, so we all have a common goal of getting our degree in the same major.

2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.

Within English 3029, students communicate with: •email •blogs •group interaction and collaboration •Handouts such as a calendar and syllabus

3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.

Within the English 3029 classroom, students use the conversation and lesson to engage with one other on the particular topic. It is in the classroom which students provide the most feedback and information to one another.

4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.

In English 3029, students collaborate with one another providing feedback to one another and feedback to and from Professor Chandler. Also, as stated above under statement two, the students within English 3029 communicate in various mediums aside from face to face communication.

**NOTE: This discourse requirement can go either way in being a discourse community. Students have a more direct line of communication with the professor rather than among themselves. Why this is seems to be unknown because their are opportunities where students can communicate with one another outside of the classroom. Each personal blog as well as the "hub" blog has a comments section where other students can comment and make conversation. Although this never or rarely happens, most students still look at other students blog to see what they have written but fail to leave a comment, opinion, or feedback. Such observations could make this class on the verge of not yet being a discourse community.

5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.
English 3029 is a research analysis class which requires a large range of technical terms. Without knowing the meaning of terms such as research, analysis, rhetoric, and language analysis an "outsider" or "non student" of the classroom would be lost. Most students go into English 3029 not knowing any terms but because of the classrooms discourse, each student learns the specific lexis in order to conduct and understand the shared common goal of a successful research paper.

6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.

This is also a requirement that could go either way. The members are only in the class because it is a major requirement in order to graduate. Towards the end of the semester, each member of the class will know all the content and be almost experts in the field of research analysis. I believe this requirement is not fully developed yet to be a discourse community.

**NOTE: Also, the community of English 3029 is constantly changing members. The members of the classroom community are not the same from semester to semester. The only thing that stays constant within the community is Professor Chandler. She is like the "hub" to the class providing the right information to each student form semester to semester. She gives the members of the classroom the correct knowledge in order to understand the content of the course. Most students go directly to the "hub" instead of consulting each other as members of the group. Once again, it is little observations like this that could make English 3029 on the verge of being an actual discourse community.
Overall, I think the class DOES have the potential to be a discourse community. I just think we are still in the growing stage of getting to know one another and our personal beliefs. As the semester goes on I can see our class flourishing into more student to student interaction rather then each student connected directly to the hub.
***THESE OBSERVATIONS ARE FROM MYSELF AS WELL AS GROUP MEMBERS BRENDA AND JESSICA. Our observations are not a definite conclusion. ***

Blog #3

In class I was introduced to some new terms, as well as some terms I've heard before but never really thought about in depth. Discourse was one of those terms. What I understood was our language in use, and even patterns in the way that we talk. A brand new word for me was, lexis. A lexis is specific language within a discourse, and that there are also different perspectives within that discourse. We also talked about genres, which is like a category for something, so different perspectives within a discourse could also be because it's a different genre. Genres have their own characteristics. Cultural Knowledge was new to me. It is being part of a group that also shares the same beliefs, or even just prior knowledge in particular parts of culture.

Blog Post #2

1. The Shaggy dog Stories were really entertaining for me. When each story was coming to an end, I wondered what the next punch line was going to be. One feature that I think was a large part of the stories being humorous, was the randomness of the story itself! For example, in story 1, about the friars, I was so confused at first. Not because it was hard to read, but because I had no idea what I was reading. In my mind I kept thinking "Whats the point?" with no idea that it was going to have such a clever punch-line in the end. I feel this added to the humor because once you got through the story you're left with a little giggle, not only because of its cleverness but because of the "oh now I get it!" feeling.
2. My favorite of all the Shaggy Dog Stories was the last one about the lawyer and his Czechoslovakian friend. In order to "get" the joke in the end, "Would you believe a lawyer who told you the Czech was in the male?", one would need to be aware of the stigma on lawyers being dishonest prior to reading this. You would also need to know that "Czech" sounds just like "check" and "male" sounds just like "mail" and then connect that to literally not trusting a lawyer when he says a check is in the mail. Basically, the audience for these stories would have to have prior knowledge on homonyms and even some stereotypes (like the stereotype on dishonest lawyers
3. I think that the Shaggy Dog Stories can connect to other written forms such as magazine headlines. we always see a play on words on the cover of magazines that catch our attention and pull up in. Sometimes those headlines are catchy punch-lines in the beginning rather than in the end (like in the Shaggy Dog Stories) that make us want to know more about the story that follows and how it can be connected to something so clever and cute. Another written form I thought of was a comic book, or some kind of illustration. For example, when reading the 3rd story about the string who couldn't find anyone to serve him a cold beer, I envisioned a cartoon. I could see this being in a newspaper or something rather than just in a written story form that we read it in.
4. A pattern I noticed throughout the stories was they were all in the form of a joke. Instead of a typical story were characters are introduced, or a back story is given, these just start off abruptly and then progress until you are left guessing what the punch-line may be. For example the 2nd story about the panda the first sentence is "A giant panda escaped from the Zoo in New York". I can almost hear this in the tone of a joke. Then the problem progresses and we have no idea where this is going because it makes no sense why the panda is killing everyone until the punch-line is delivered in the end.