Posts by Deborah
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You should all go and read Chris' excellent post now:
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Damn! I can no longer find the newspaper in which was reported, breathlessly, the murder of the Tamagotchi by the washing machine. It also had an interview (of me, about cooking) and advertisements (for a soft toy minding service). And a somewhat forlorn request for story ideas. It had a very wide circulation, to New Plymouth, Wellington, Auckland, and Adelaide.
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Ahem.... I don't have a monopoly on the name "Deborah" and it's an awfully common name among women in their forties and fifties, but seeing as I've been around here since the beginning, using "Deborah" as my handle, I wonder, please, when people are addressing comments back to other Deborahs, could you please take a little care to distinguish them from me? Please. Say like, "Deborah C" for Deborah Coddington.
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if I started a PA book club, would anybody come? We'd have to meet in the ether, alas, but the good news is, no bookings or babysitting required, and nobody has to vacuum up the crumbs afterward.
Or wipe up any spilled wine... I'll come, as long as it's not a teetotal group.
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My copy of Wuthering Heights is in near mint condition. All those dreary people, and ghosties, living dreary brutish lives.
We had a wonderful English teacher in 7th form, who advised us never to marry for love, and never to read Jude the Obscure. So I haven't. Read Jude the Obscure, that is.
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Actually, what Jolisa said on the radio was that (from memory, hope I'm not being misleading) is that she talked to other historical writers and they said no, what you do is do your reading, and then make sure those texts are off your desk before you start writing, specifically so you don't use the exact same words, but put them in your own.
This is exactly the advice I give to my students. Read the books and article, take notes, even write down quotable bits if you like. But when you're ready to start writing, put everything aside, and try to explain it all in your own words. That demonstrates to me that you, as in you, the person who is writing the essay, not just some vague second person substitute for "one," really really really* understands the ideas. And if they must resort to quoting, then it must be properly referenced, and the surrounding text must still demonstrate to me that they actually understand what they are talking about, that it's their thinking on the page, not just some careful cutting and pasting. The capacity to explain difficult ideas in their own words does separate the good from the not so good students, and it's one of the ways that students can demonstrate their capacity for original thought.
(*That's used up my quota of "really" for the next 3 hours and 26 minutes.)
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@Jackie - Thank you!
Having had a look at the particular examples of unattributed quoting, they're textbook cases of plagiarism, exactly the sort of things we tell our students not to do. I can see me using the article for teaching purposes in the next few years.
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I have my Listener here, but I will read it tomorrow morning and savour it.
Of course, some of us don't have ready access to The Listener, so if anyone happened to be able to scan and e-mail the pages, why, that would be a very good thing.
('Though as it happens, my SO is making a flying trip (literally) to Auckland this coming week, so if I remind him loudly enough, he may pick up a copy for me.)
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Yes... but usually there's a process, and they get a second chance, but if they stuff up on the second chance, then they get penalised.
It's an odd feeling, when you're reading an essay, and something doesn't quite seem right. The language changes subtly, or sometimes not so subtly. The most obvious ones are where everything suddenly becomes grammatically correct. I'm sure there are cases of "extensive unattributed quoting" that I've missed, but I've picked up a few too, via that prickly feeling and google.
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I'm so sorry about your father's death, Jolisa.