Plagiarism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Plagiarism - Essay Example In simple terms, the use of another person’s work without giving due acknowledge to the source constitutes plagiarism. The first step towards avoiding plagiarism is to admit that adhering to the strategies for avoiding plagiarism makes a person no less of a great writer. The following paragraphs of the essay are used to lay out how students can strategized their writing to avoid cases and instances of plagiarism in a wake of an era when plagiarism is gaining more and prominence throughout universities in the world. Strategies for avoiding Plagiarism One of the first strategies to avoiding plagiarism is to identify the appropriate mechanism instituted in the selection of a group of words belonging to another person. By academic provisions, a student is expected to either paraphrase a group of words belonging to another person or bring quotation marks when the words are taken verbatim (University of Michigan’s Scholarly Publishing Office, 2006). ... An example can be cited with the same example above to read as ‘plagiarism remains a critical component of academic dishonesty’. From the structure of the paraphrased sentence, it can be seen that the central theme of the original message is maintained while keeping about the same number of words. It is in light of this that the Durkin University (2012) states that â€Å"a paraphrase is the rephrasing of a short passage from a text, in about the same number of words.† The next strategy to paraphrasing and using quotations is much related to paraphrasing and using quotation and this has to do with using in-text citation. In-text citation simply refers to a provision whereby the writer states the name of the original owner of any quotation or paraphrase made Durkin University (2012). In most jurisdictions, it is expected that the writer will also state the date of publication of the said source. The general idea behind in-text citation is therefore for the writer to state the name of original owner and the date of publication. However, depending on the referencing format or style being used by the writer, there are difference ways in which in-text citations will be made. Some of the referencing styles are APA, Harvard and Oxford. It is very important for a student who wants to avoid problems with plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty to have a fairer idea of how to use in-text citation for the different referencing styles. In a typical APA referencing style, a write who indicates the name of original owner and date before the quotation or paraphrase will be expected to write the surname of the owner and put the date in parenthesis. Example is Gardener (2011). If the source is an institution, it is expected that the

Assessment Methods Essay Example for Free

Assessment Methods Essay What is assessment? Black and William (1998) declare that the term assessment is generally used to refer to all activities teachers use to help students learn and to gauge student progress. There are many different forms of assessment, however they can generally be divided into two main categories; formative and summative which can be formal or informal. Formative assessment focuses on the gap between where a learner is in their learning, and where they need to be. Marshall (2006) states that formative assessment gives you more flexibility, your assessments can focus on the individual needs of your learners. Formative assessment is usually carried out during the learning process and is a form of giving feedback to the learner, in order for them to understand how they are progressing and to identify areas that may require further attention and what they need to do to achieve the learning outcome. Summative Assessment on the other hand tends to be a formal measuring of the learning and focuses on the achievements of the learner at a particular time. This could be at the end of a term or at the end of a particular program of study. It is generally used to identify if the learner has achieved a level of competence and/or knowledge. Summative assessments can take the form of test, exams Practical, oral or written, the individual is usually given a score which can result in a pass or fail. Assessments can be Objective or Subjective. When assessments are objective, the questions asked have a single correct answer; these questions can take the form of multiple choice or true and false answers. When assessments are subjective, the questions asked may have more than one answer and can take the form of a written response such as an essay. There are also criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessments. A criteria-referenced assessment measures what a learner can actually do (their competence) and it is measured against a set standard, an example of this is the current driving test. Whereas, norm-measured assessment compares learners one against each other, an example being the IQ test. As a teacher in my teaching practice I use a variety of assessment processes. I use criteria based formative assessment in the skills-based Basic First Aid course; learners are expected to be able to perform effective CPR and to be deemed competent they are measured against a set criteria defined by the Resuscitation council and Health Safety Executive regulations. I use observation to measure whether they meet these criteria. However the assessment required for the First Aid at Work course, which is more in depth, requires a summative assessment, which takes the form of objective questioning to ascertain if the learner has gained clearly defined knowledge base and a practical skill test to ascertain if the learner is able to perform effective first aid. This assessment is a defined pass or fail. All learners on our NVQ program are measured by performance criteria which define the context for assessment laid down by the accrediting bodies, and both formative and summative criteria-based assessments are used. This allows the assessor to give students feedback on their development and on areas that may require further attention and also to observe when they have reached occupational competency. All assessment processes must first start with an initial assessment. Black and William (1998) suggest that this initial assessment (for learning) focuses on the gap between where a learner is in their learning, and where they need to be. This assessment is a good starting point to discover what skills your learner has and to direct them to the next stage. I carry out an initial assessment on candidates undertaking NVQ training. This is used as a tool to develop an individual learning plan for them. During this assessment process we would ask the candidates to complete different forms and questionnaires in order to gather the information for their plan. This would include a numeracy and literacy test to judge their level of skills and to ascertain if they will need to be referred for extra help and a learning styles questionnaire so that we can tailor any training towards their preferred learning style. Initial assessment can also be used informally at the beginning of a course as a tool to establish learners existing knowledge and expectations. This information can be used to bias the teaching towards the needs of the learners and also focus the learning towards the learners’ expectations. Other types of assessment can be used to judge whether a learner has made progress such as self-assessment. This is where the student reflects upon their own progress and assesses their own development and achievements made during their learning journey; or it can be a peer-assessment, where the learners peers (who are on the same learning journey) assess the learners developments and achievements through observation of their practice during the journey; or third party, which is where another person not on the learning journey, assesses the learners progress by examining how they have put the knowledge/ skills they have learnt into practice, (these would be a supervisor or manager). Assessment can occur in a number of ways including observation, watching and evaluating the learners progress which works well for practical skills-based courses; written questions to gain an understanding of the learners knowledge in their own words, although this can discriminate against those whose written English skills are less developed; Multiple Choice questionnaires, again this is to assess their understanding of the taught material, and ensures equal opportunities for everyone as it is suitable for those who may be concerned about their writing / spelling or who may be nervous. Please see assignment 8. 3. 6 record keeping in regard to assessment record keeping. REFERENCES Black, Paul, William, Dylan (October 1998). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. Phi Beta Kappan. Available at http://www. pdkintl. org/kappan/kbla9810. htm. Marshall B. (2006) Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector BTEC Level 3 Edexcel Limited London (page 81) Wikipedia (2009) Assessment (online) available at http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Assessment accessed on 11/12 Oct 09Ã'Ž

A Liberal Arts Education :: essays research papers

A Liberal Arts Education   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A liberal arts education provides students with a broad spectrum of information enabling them to expand knowledge and to advance society in a positive direction. This universal education provides a strong foundation of knowledge in many subjects. The students can observe the strengths and capabilities, as well as the limitations of each field of study. This allows the students to find connections between diverse fields of study, to explore them, and to discover new theories, thoughts, or inventions. It allows the students to investigate areas of intrigue and create new fields of study by blending subjects that compliment each other. With these new inventions, discoveries, ideas, and new methods of problem solving, society will advance in a positive direction. Standards of living will rise with these inventions and discoveries, making society more productive and more capable of controlling its surroundings. New thoughts and theories will give insight to those who desire meaning and understanding of concepts. A liberal arts education provides a strong foundation of knowledge in many fields and subjects allowing students to create new theories, inventions, and connections between fields. With this foundation, great thinkers can build and expand from what others have learned rather than wasting time and effort on what has already been discovered. While it is true that the factual information about each subject is very important, the most useful tool liberal arts students can possess is the knowledge of the strengths and capabilities of each individual field, as well as the weaknesses and restrictions. With this knowledge, the students can mesh attributes of different subjects to formulate new and more brilliant concepts; the brilliance being a function of the strengths and compatibility of the chosen subjects. As in mixing colors, a new color can only be created by mixing different colors. The brilliance of this new color depends on the shades and hues of the colors used to create it. The same is true for education. The resulting idea or innovation is a function of the aptness and compatibility of the subjects meshed to create it. For example, the invention of the transistor, one of the most important electronic devices, was developed by a team of research specialists. Specialized mathematicians, scientists, physicists, and engineers all worked together to find a quicker, more efficient way to process the overload of telephone calls. The leaders of this research team had to be highly educated in every one of those fields of study, as well as language. They had to practically translate the technical terms of each field to the other team members so each one understood the A Liberal Arts Education :: essays research papers A Liberal Arts Education   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A liberal arts education provides students with a broad spectrum of information enabling them to expand knowledge and to advance society in a positive direction. This universal education provides a strong foundation of knowledge in many subjects. The students can observe the strengths and capabilities, as well as the limitations of each field of study. This allows the students to find connections between diverse fields of study, to explore them, and to discover new theories, thoughts, or inventions. It allows the students to investigate areas of intrigue and create new fields of study by blending subjects that compliment each other. With these new inventions, discoveries, ideas, and new methods of problem solving, society will advance in a positive direction. Standards of living will rise with these inventions and discoveries, making society more productive and more capable of controlling its surroundings. New thoughts and theories will give insight to those who desire meaning and understanding of concepts. A liberal arts education provides a strong foundation of knowledge in many fields and subjects allowing students to create new theories, inventions, and connections between fields. With this foundation, great thinkers can build and expand from what others have learned rather than wasting time and effort on what has already been discovered. While it is true that the factual information about each subject is very important, the most useful tool liberal arts students can possess is the knowledge of the strengths and capabilities of each individual field, as well as the weaknesses and restrictions. With this knowledge, the students can mesh attributes of different subjects to formulate new and more brilliant concepts; the brilliance being a function of the strengths and compatibility of the chosen subjects. As in mixing colors, a new color can only be created by mixing different colors. The brilliance of this new color depends on the shades and hues of the colors used to create it. The same is true for education. The resulting idea or innovation is a function of the aptness and compatibility of the subjects meshed to create it. For example, the invention of the transistor, one of the most important electronic devices, was developed by a team of research specialists. Specialized mathematicians, scientists, physicists, and engineers all worked together to find a quicker, more efficient way to process the overload of telephone calls. The leaders of this research team had to be highly educated in every one of those fields of study, as well as language. They had to practically translate the technical terms of each field to the other team members so each one understood the

Gender Studies :: essays research papers

Gender Studies My decision to take the extracts from literary discourse to illustrate the differences between the male and female manner of writing was dictated by the fact that it is more interesting to search for such differences in this very discourse, then in scientific or newspaper, where there are strict rules of how to write (non-personal narration, non-emotiveness, usage of terms; laconic phrases, etc.) In literary discourse one may write whatever one wishes. (Jane Austen. Pride Prejudice) After a week spent in professions of love and schemes of felicity, Mr Collins was called from his amiable Charlotte by the arrival of Saturday. The pain of separation, might be alleviated on his side, by preparations for the reception of his bride; as he had reason to hope, that shortly after his next return into the Hertfordshire, the day would be fixed that was to make him the happiest of men. He took leave of his relations at Longbourn with as much solemnity as before; wished his fair cousins health and happiness again, and promised their father another letter for thanks. (F. Scott Fitzgelald. Tender is the Night) Rosemary had another dinner date, a birthday party for a member of the company. Dick ran into a Collis Clay in the lobby, but he wanted to dine alone and pretended an engagement at the Excelsior. He drank a cocktail with Collis and his vague dissatisfaction crystallized as impatience – he no longer had an excuse for playing truant to the clinic. This was less an infatuation than a romantic memory. Nicole was his girl – too often he was sick at heart about her, yet she was his girl. Time with Rosemary was self-indulgence – time with Collis was nothing plus nothing. Already from the structure of the passage it is visible which passage was written by a woman and which by a man. Austen writes the events without any consequence, together with her thoughts and comments, whereas Fitzgerald, by contrast, enumerates the events in strict consecutive order. In addition, Austen uses more emotional and subjective adjectives to describe people and their state. It was counted that the female author uses verbs almost half less then the male author does (7:13). In the domain of punctuation, the gender differences are the most conspicuous: Jane Austen tends to the idiosyncratic usage of semi-columns; she does not use dashes in the given passage, whereas F. Scott Fitzgelald uses three dashes (as the indicator of reason-result understanding of events; ٭he prefers to explain the human behavior using a dash) and not a single semi-column.

Article Review Essay

Conducting their study as the transitional funding attached to the peace process in Northern Ireland is reaching its end, the authors examine the role of aid in conflict resolution particularly with regards to intangible outcomes such as identity formation. The idea behind this funding is that it reduces economic disparities between the conflicting groups and that the economic growth started by this funding will continue into the future. These funds come from the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), which addressed unemployment and poverty in Republican / Loyalist communities; the Peace I funds, which promoted social inclusion, cross-community contact, and economic development; and the Peace II funds (ended in 2006), which had similar goals to Peace I but targeted local, grassroots (nongovernmental) organizations. The authors also consider the role of external agencies as they intervene in ethnopolitical conflict and the importance of community development in the peace process. The authors are careful to note that economic aid is not a magic cure for conflict as this aid, if improperly administered, can at times heighten underlying conflicts. Indeed, in Northern Ireland, the approach has had mixed results. In designing their study, the authors took both a qualitative and quantitative approach. For the qualitative portion, the authors interviewed 98 community leaders, civil servants, and development officers from Belfast, Londonderry/Derry, and the Border region (Northern Ireland). These interviews consisted of semi-structured questions, including those attached to the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale: â€Å"What are your best wishes and hopes for your personal future? What are your worst fears and worries about your personal future? What are your best wishes and hopes for the future of your country? What are your worst fears and worries about the future of your country? † (page 166). The quantitative data was drawn from the summer 2006 Northern Ireland Public Opining Survey. The sample consisted of 1,023 adults representative of Northern Ireland’s adult population. The study as a whole was designed to look at the respondents hopes and fears about Northern Ireland’s future. Through the inclusion of qualitative data, the authors hoped to demarginalize voices that are often not heard in the official discourses of the peace process. This study yielded numerous tantalizing findings. First, the authors found that more Nationalists than Unionists imagine a future where conflicting groups are able to perceive a sense of shared community. Second, the authors found differences based on gender: more females than males saw the opportunity for building new relationships amongst communities in the future. Third, the authors found two common fears / concerns that extend across religions, genders, and ages: the fear that violence in changing the social fabric of Northern Ireland and the belief that politicians are disingenuous and not interested in serving the needs of their constituency. Fourth, the authors found that more Nationalists than Unionists saw the modernization of the economy and the political structure as means by which to support the peace process. Finally, the authors found that younger adults were more concerned about the potential failure of the peace process and the economy than older adults The authors consider numerous theories about identity formation. In designing their study, they took into consideration geographic differences in identity formation: i. e. Londonderry/Derry vs. Belfast and urban vs. rural locations. They also consider how the Irish view immigration and the infiltration of outside values. In general, this article is not convincing. Its primary strength is the detailed background to the conflicts in Northern Ireland, with a focus on the economic causes and effects of this conflict. This strength does not mitigate the effects of the article’s numerous weaknesses. First, the authors do not explicitly state their hypothesis. While exploratory studies such as this one can potentially reveal valuable information, the authors nowhere state the reasons behind the study. When questions such as identity formation are being explored, the readers need to know the authors’ relationship to the issue. For example, are the authors somehow involved in this ethnopolitical conflict? Or, are they looking at it from the perspective of an outsider? If they are outsiders, does their perspective have a bearing on how the respondents answer their questions? Second, the authors explicitly state that they wish to demarginalize those voices that are not typically heard in the official peace process discourse. However, in selecting the respondents for the qualitative portion of the study, the authors chose community leaders, civil servants, and development officers. It would seem that these are precisely the voices that are heard in the official discourse. Readers are left to wonder why the authors did not include a more representative sample of the population of Northern Ireland for this portion of the study. Third, this does not seem to be a study that was designed specifically to answer certain questions. As noted, the authors nowhere state a hypothesis. For the reader, it appears that the quantitative and qualitative data seems to have been mixed together ad hoc. In other words, the study does not seem to be designed to fit a specific question. Rather, the authors appear to have attempted to answer questions based on the information they had at hand. Fourth, as the basis for this study was largely to examine economic role of the peace process, it seems like a gross oversight that the authors did not provide data on their respondents’ demographics. In the discussion section, the authors indicate that they collected background demographic information (political party, religious views, age, gender, socioeconomic status) on the respondents, but this information was not included in the results section and does not appear to have been considered in any significant way. Finally, the analysis of the qualitative data seems a bit lacking. It would perhaps have been stronger to indentify the common themes and subthemes of the responses, rather than using the responses as illustrative examples. Because of these specific weakness as well as the authors’ failure to mention the limitations of their study and to provide specific recommendations for how their results can be used to generate future studies and/or to impact the peace process, this article is not convincing.

The Imposition of Democracy in Iraq essays

The Imposition of Democracy in Iraq essays In the wake of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the world is faced with an arduous task. After the removal of a totalitarian regime that has suppressed the Iraqi people for decades, a new government must be created in Iraq. This task is a difficult one for several reasons, but perhaps the largest is because of the challenge that is present in attempting to instill democracy in a nation which has never truly experienced it, and thus has no existing infrastructure which has the capacity to support democracy. Not only this, but one must take into account that the Iraqi people have no concept for an identity as a free, democratic nation. After being repressed for such a substantial amount of time, they will most likely face great difficulty in discovering ways to best utilize their freedom for the prosperity of the people of Iraq. Nevertheless, one must hope that a democratic system will be able to survive and prosper. Despite the initial difficulties which may arise, a democracy is the best co urse of action because it will create an economically sound environment in the long run. The economy will bloom under a non-authoritarian rule. Democracy will let the free market do its work, and with the guidance of political institutions, create a nation which is prosperous and free. Freedom and democracy have historically depended upon the strength of the bourgeoisie (merchant middle class) within a given society. According to Barrington Moore, a strong bourgeoisie has been extremely pivotal in the creation of successful democratic systems. Moore uses three categories of criteria to classify the strength of the bourgeoisie in a society (Moore 1966). The first depends upon the form of commercial agriculture a nation uses. Currently, Iraqs system of commercial agriculture (post-Saddam) is market-based, which according to Moore is conducive to democracy. Next Moore looks at the strength (commercial impulse/interests) of the bourgeoisie. In Iraq, t...

The Definition of Inflection

The Definition of Inflection Definition of Inflection The change in the form of a word to indicate a change in its grammatical usage. In both English and Spanish, a noun can be inflected to indicate a change in number (that is, to indicate whether it is singular or plural) or gender (although changes in gender are unusual in English). In both languages,  conjugation  is the inflection of verbs to indicate tense, mood,  and  person. In Spanish, adjectives are inflected to indicate gender and number. The inflection can take the form of a prefix,  a suffix, a change in the word ending or beginning, or a change in the way the word root is formed. (In both English and Spanish, prefixes arent used for inflection, although they can change the meanings of words.)  In both languages, the suffix and changed word ending are the most common inflections. For example, both languages typically add an -s or -es to indicate that a word is plural, and Spanish frequently changes word endings to indicate gender. Similarly, both languages can add a suffix or change the word ending to indicate verb tenses (although English does so only for the past tense). In both languages, changes in the root word are also used in some irregular verbs. For example, the difference in tense can be seen in changing I go to I went, the same as the corresponding Spanish term,  voy,  changes to  fui  to indicate the change in tense. Greek and Russian are examples of highly inflected languages. Spanish is moderately inflected, more so than English, but not as much as Greek or Russian. Chinese is an example of a language that has little inflection. In general, word order tends to be more important in languages that have more inflection. You can see how this plays out in English and Spanish: Spanish, the more inflected language, also requires more attention to word order. There is also a second meaning for inflection. It can refer to how words are stressed or given tone. For example, a question is often inflected in raising the tone at the end of a sentence. Inflection is known as either inflexià ³n  (change of voice) or flexià ³n (grammatical change) in Spanish. Examples of Inflection Inflected differences are shown in boldface: Tengo un coche rojo. Tengo dos coches rojos. (I have a red  car. I have two red  cars.) Pablo es actor. Ana es actriz. (Pablo is an actor. Ana is an actress.) Samuel es abogado. Katarina es abogada. (Samuel is a lawyer. Katarina is a lawyer.) Abre la ventana. Le gusta ventanear. (She is opening the window. She likes being by the window.) Soy rico. Si fuera rico, comprarà ­a otro coche. (I am rich. If I were rich, I would buy another car.) Como  carne. Comà ­ la carne. (I eat meat. I ate the meat.) La mujer est  feliz. Las mujeres estn felices. (The woman is happy. The women are happy.) Corre cada dà ­a. Le gusta correr. (He ru ns daily. He likes running.)