Pre-University: Lab 12 (Plagiarism quiz)

As most of you know, plagiarism is an important concept in American society, including in academics. If you are discovered copying another person’s work without giving credit in the proper way, it will be taken very seriously. It is considered stealing, even if you did it by mistake.

In class we have talked about how to avoid plagiarism, but at the end of the semester I thought it would be good to talk about it again. If you don’t have very much experience writing using other sources, sometimes it is hard to recognize if you are plagiarizing.

To practice, you can take a quiz, located here.

1. Read the information on Indiana University’s plagiarism policy.

2. Then go to the bottom of the page and “Click here to take a short quiz.”

3. Take the quiz. There are ten questions. Read each sample on the left, then decide if the student’s work on the right is plagiarism, and why.

4. As you take the quiz, write down the results. The options for each question are:

_____ No.

_____ Yes, because it quotes another person’s actual words, either oral or written; and it is not appropriately acknowledged.

_____ Yes, because it paraphrases another person’s words, either oral or written; and it is not appropriately acknowledged.

_____ Yes, because it uses another person’s idea, opinion, or theory; and it is not properly acknowledged.

_____ Yes, because it borrows facts, statistics, or other illustrative material, unless the information is common knowledge; and it is not properly acknowledged.

Answers:

Item 1: ________________________________________________________

Item 2 ________________________________________________________

Item 3 ________________________________________________________

Item 4: ________________________________________________________

Item 5: ________________________________________________________

Item 6: ________________________________________________________

Item 7: ________________________________________________________

Item 8: ________________________________________________________

Item 9: ________________________________________________________

Item 10: ________________________________________________________

 

5. Bring your quiz answers to class on Thursday (not Friday).

Pre-University: Essay types

There are many types of essays you may be asked to write in academic and non-academic settings. These are some that will appear on your test next week.
Arguing or Opinion – the writer argues for his view of a controversial subject. Newspaper editorials are often this type of essay.
Descriptive – describes a person, place, or thing.
Informative – a simple essay that gives the reader information about a topic. An expository essay tells how to do something.
Narrative – tells a story. Often organized chronologically.
Personal – the writer describes his personal thoughts and feelings about a subject, usually using personal experiences to support them.
Compare/contrast – outlines the similarities and differences between two things.

Types of Essays and Student Samples

Pre-University: Lab 11 (Poetry)

Your lab for this week is described here.

As an example, here is a poem I would like to share, along with my explanation of why I chose it.

“Let Evening Come”
by Jane Kenyon

Let the light of late afternoon
shine through the chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing
as a woman takes up her needles
and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
in long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn.

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
Let the wind die down. Let the shed
go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop
in the oats, to air in the lung
let evening come.

Let it come, as it will, and don’t
be afraid. God does not leave us
comfortless, so let evening come.

I love this poem because I am attracted to evening light, and Jane Kenyon has described evening vividly here. She uses common images like a barn, a chirping cricket, knitting needles, and a bucket of oats to develop a strong sense of place. When I read it, I feel like I’m there on a farm, watching the evening light slip over all the familiar objects around me. Kenyon also evokes the feeling of inevitability and sadness we sometimes have when evening comes, but leaves us with a comforting word.

Grammar: Comparatives and Superlatives

Some students were asking for more information on the rules for forming superlative adjectives. When do you use “most ______” and when do you use “_____est”?

This page may be helpful:   Forming comparative and superlative adjectives

Podcasts for English listening practice

Some students have asked about listening practice that can be done outside of class. One opportunity these days is “podcasts” – audio files like radio programs or lessons that are made available regularly to download to your computer. Most can be put on your mp3 player to listen to anywhere.

Here are some podcasts I recommend. I found them all through iTunes, but some have stopped updating, so you must go to the website.

English as a Second Language Podcast – a slow, easy dialogue or other listening exercise. The podcast also explains vocabulary, idioms, and culture notes. The website has transcripts, written vocabulary, and other notes available for people who register.

English Through Stories for intermediate and advanced learners of English. Each podcast is a part of a “soap opera” or continuing drama story. After the story, the podcast also discusses vocabulary from the story. On the website, you can read along with the story if you want to, but I recommend listening alone first. There are twelve episodes to listen to and read.

ESL Business News – “International business news read in slow, clear English.” This podcast has stopped updating, but there are five issues available for you to listen to.

Fun English Lessons – “A fun and interesting ESL podcast for intermediate to advanced students who want to learn useful vocabulary and culture. Two Canadian brothers discuss all kinds of topics and explain clearly any new vocabulary and phrases.” You can listen to these online, and there are transcripts and culture notes available for the dialogs so you can read as well as listen.

Grammar Challenge – “Improve your English grammar with the BBC. Each week we challenge an English language student on an area of the English language such as verb forms, tenses, prepositions and pronunciation. Listen to a short presentation on the topic then try to answer the questions. The programmes are recorded on location in an English language classroom. Each episode lasts for six minutes and is made available every Friday.” The website has written information about the grammar in the conversations and the challenge.

Learning English with CBC Manitoba – “…weekly English as an Additional Language (EAL) lessons based on CBC Manitoba radio stories.” There are written lessons for students to download. This is a more advanced English lesson that would be good for Intermediate and Pre-University students. To subscribe, go to the CBC podcast page and find Learning English. Note: the news, culture and situations in these lessons will be related to Canadian life.

English for All (AETN, television channel 3) – This is a TV program to help adults learn English. It has simple language and everyday situations. It plays Fridays at 5:30 a.m. & Mondays 5:00 a.m. (repeat of Friday’s episode), so you may need to record it if you can.

For some general news listening, I recommend http://www.npr.org/. There is a wide variety of stories and programs available for listening online every day on many subjects. For listening practice, try following this procedure:

1. Read any information about the story – title, pictures, summary.
2. Listen ot the story.
3. Try to answer the question: what is this story about? (Main idea – you don’t have to understand all the details.)
4. Listen again.
5. Pretend you are talking to or writing an email to a friend. Summarize the story for your friend.

NPR: Story of the Day – one news story, about 5 to 10 minutes long, is selected each day. You will hear clear American English at a normal, everyday pace and sometimes with regional accents.

Addition: Free Audiobooks and free audiobooks by women authors at Girliebooks

(Information updated 13 June 2009)

Pre-University: essay exam practice

If you would like to practice with the types of essay prompts that are given on many writing exams, here are some resources:

10 Tips for the TOEFL Essay

TOEFL Writing Topics 

More TOEFL Writing Topics (this is a nice, printable .pdf)

International Celebration Day

Announcement: On Tuesday, November 12, an international celebration will be held in the student center from 10 am. to 2 p.m. This is not a required event, but it is interesting and fun. See more information here:

International Celebration Day

Also note the information at the bottom of the page about the Interfaith Dialogue Lunch. This event is free, but they have limited space, so you need to fill out an application by Wednesday or Thursday of this week (Nov 7) – the deadline was extended.