Hilary Edwards’s GSW 1110

• Plagiarism ranges anywhere between using the actually words of another to using just a few words, to paraphrasing the words into their own words.
• One should over cite instead of under cite, to be safe.
• Never copy a paper off of the internet to turn in.
• There are many different things that fall under academic honesty not just plagiarism.  A few others would be cheating, and fabricating.
• One should never cheat.
• This would include having a person rephrase sentences, write an entire paper or even just looking off of someone’s paper.
• Fabricating is also unacceptable.  This means making up false facts or even statistics to place in ones writing.
• If one has already written a paper for another class and would like to use that in their GSW class or any other class for that matter make sure that they ask permission from both professors.
• Same goes for if one wants to use a paper from high school, they need to ask permission from the professors first.
• The best thing to do if one is not for sure is to ask the professor or another well educated person for help.  A good place would be the writing center.

I am choosing to write about how plagiarism-detection tools are beneficial in schools.  I believe that they are used to prevent students from even having the thought of cheating and that with the internet being a good place for them to just look up and print out a paper, these tools make students think first.  If every student has to submit their paper to a plagiarism-detection website they are more likely to think about what they are writing, which will help them in the future.  I personally do not know how students can cheat and not feel guilty about doing so.  I have cheated before in a class where I had to write about a history question and I did not feel good about myself.  I think that since teachers have these devices at their finger tips that they should use them.  By using them they can detect if there are students who are struggling and need help.  This will really be beneficial to teachers someday because the internet has become a fall back for many students that don’t even take the time to think about the project.  If teachers say that they are going to have the students submit to one of these detection devices then most students will actually take the time to think about the project and do their best on it.  Then by getting a good grade on their paper they feel really good about themselves, which helps build their image of themselves. 

                I plan on talking to other students here at the university and see how they view the issue, and what their ideas are on the topic.  I also plan to do a little research on the internet to see if there are any newspapers, magazine articles, or studies on the issue.  I also, think that it would be beneficial to talk to some parents about the issue and see where they stand.  With all of this information I plan on organizing it and using the information that is going to help show my point of view the best and what is going to reach students.

Growing Up Online, represents an “Arguing Position” video because it clearly states a position on how teenagers have become very dependent on the social aspects of the internet and that it is dangerous for them.  Just by reading the title of the video, one can come to the conclusion that it is about how children have become so dependent on the internet.  Then they give some statistics about the approximate percentage of teenagers that use the internet and they explain why teenagers go to the social parts of the internet.  They say that teenagers use facebook and myspace to complain about authorities and just to connect with others.  Through this video they show that teenagers use spark notes a lot on the internet, instead of reading the actual book.  Most teachers see this as cheating and now are having students complete their essays in class and/or submit them to turn it in website, which points out phrase and spots that have been taken from other places.  Throughout the first half of the video, it gives example of why using these types of sites can be harmful by telling the story of a young lady who felt like she had no friends , so she made a page of herself and placed graphic pictures of herself on it and eventually started to make more friends.  This made her feel very good about herself until she got caught.  By using examples like this one, we can see that teenagers who are using the internet may be getting into trouble or abusing what it was actually created for.  This video shows what teens think about this issue and how they are dealing with it, but then it goes back to the other side of things and explains once again the harm that the internet can bring.  The video does a good job of arguing a position on how the internet is becoming very harmful to the nation’s youth.

• Newspaper articles
• Quotes from parents
• Quotes from doctors who have voice their opinion in articles
• Books
• Internet sources
• Statistics
• Magazine articles
• Compare to the old days
• Studies that have been done over the issue
• Giving an example of the issue at hand
• Personal experience

We use supports when writing about a position.  They are very important because they help demonstrate your point of view without placing strains on the other side.  By using supports you argument becomes clearer and also gets people interested in your point of view.  With using supports we see what the actual harm behind issues that one would not normally know, which makes people think about their side in the issue at hand.  Supports are needed to show evidence of the side that you are arguing.  An example of that would be using statistics to show how many teenagers have had an abortion, compared to the ones who have not.  One could use this point in a paper disputing abortion.   Also, another example would be sexually transmitted diseases and showing that to the younger generation to prevent them from having sex.  Supports are used in everyday life.  They may not have to deal with trying to persuade someone on an issue, but they are also used to persuade what we want to eat, drink, watch, ect.  Not only are supports used to help prove a point, but they are also used everyday day to persuade the people in the universe on products, problems, and worldly issues.

The revision strategy that I am choosing is to have as many people as I can read my essay because I believe that this will give me a good stand on what I need to look at and things that I may need to make more clear.  I know that this is going to help me make my draft even better because everyone has a different idea of what they think needs to be improve.  So if one person misses something then the next might catch it.

To start revising I plan on taking the notes from peer review and using them to start revising my essay.  These notes are going to help me look at what is confusing and unclear and make those areas clear and concise.  Also they are going to help me get the conclusion of my essay into perspective and explain my belief in more detail.  I plan on getting some more feedback from a couple other people, and compare their comments with the others to see it they said the same thing, then I can decide why they each person think that and decide on whether I should keep it or not.  After that I plan on going through the revising content and organization checklist.  This contains check the purpose, thesis, audience, structure, paragraphs and visuals.  By checking these in the essay I can make sure that my essay matches the requirements of a “This I Believe” essay.  By checking all of my paragraphs I can make sure that each paragraph doesn’t contain too much, too little information or information that does not pertain to the subject.  Also by checking these paragraphs I can make sure that the thesis of my paper fits throughout the whole essay and makes since as well.  I feel by doing these things to revise my essay will make it top quality.