Literature, Class 12: Period 3, Thursday, December 4

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

"Welcome back," Miss Bennet smiled, placing a basket filled with candy onto her desk. "And welcome back to our usual classroom; I hope you haven't been pining for it terribly, since we haven't been here in a while. Last week, of course, you were all enjoying an American holiday, and the week before that, we were in the school library.

"As you recall, two weeks ago, I assigned all of you research papers, though I left the topic and the implementation largely to your own discretion. That was perhaps more difficult for you in certain ways. It is always easier to pick a topic from a pre-approved list, when one is presented, than to narrow one down from any possible thing in the world. I provided lists of suggestions, in light of that. I intended the lists to serve as encouragement, for any who were unable to think of something appropriate themselves, but I did not intend for you to be limited by them. I do hope you found a topic that interested you, to some degree. And I assure you, I am eagerly looking forward to reading all of your papers. Which I will assume are completed, as none of you came to my office this week to ask for extensions." There was a teasing smile to go with this.

"Now. Why did I ask you to write papers? The first, and obvious answer to that, is that I'm a terrible, heartless teacher who wished to be sure that you were properly suffering over your holiday. Moreover: I wished to show you the basic process involved. Doing library research, for one, and then gathering your thoughts into a coherent structure. The ability to find information when it is needed, and the ability to express one's thoughts clearly: these are both skills which I imagine you will need later in life. Perhaps even later in your school career. For those of you very familiar with the art of paper-writing, this was perhaps a review, but I do not believe it was a waste of your time. At least, I hope that it was not. The very act of writing a paper, over and again, means that each time it will become easier. Each time you will learn ways to express yourself more clearly, or discover helpful strategies in basic research. If any of you have lingering concerns about your paper-writing experiences, I do encourage you to speak with me, either after class or in my office hours next week.

"There is one concept in particular which I only touched on last class that I feel deserves more emphasis. That would be the importance of citing all of the works one uses, whether a direct quote or general ideas. I asked you to cite all of your works last week, but I did not dwell on the reasoning. Everything one states in a paper is considered one's own work; the arguments and insights are attributable to the paper's author. Research allows one to collate ideas from experts in the field, and use those works to shape one's assertions. However, we must always tread carefully, in that regard. Lifting the other person's words intact is intellectually dishonest. It states, implicitly, that you were the one who devised that particular phrasing, who had the idea that led to its shaping. It is a form of lying, and one which, if discovered, will discredit your work from having any authority or credibility. Simply put: your thoughts cannot be trusted if it is unclear which are yours, and which are someone else's which have been removed from their original context.

"There is an easy solution to this. For one, if you must borrow a particular phrase or sentence from a work, place quote marks around it, and afterwards, indicate what the source material is. This shows that one is not trying to imply that those words are original. Further, always be sure to include a bibliography with research papers that you write. The bibliography should list all of the works that one consulted on the topic, quoted or not. A bibliography gives credit where it is due, and shows the proper respect to the other authors and researchers whose works were of assistance.

"Moving on," Miss Bennet said, "I asked you, two weeks prior, to select a text from the library to read, for today. You were not required to read all of your work, though you were very welcome to, and I hope that you progressed at least far enough to complete the first chapter. I would like to discuss those works today: what you read, why you selected that work, and what impressions you have of it. I hope, for each of you, that you were satisfied with the title that you chose, but I assure you, you may safely state otherwise if that was the case.

"Lastly." Miss Bennet gestured to the basket. "This candy was found hiding in all of my slippers, this morning. I would not be offended were you to turn your noses up at shoe-candy, but I assure you it is all safely wrapped. Should any of you like to indulge, do feel free."

(I humbly apologize once more for lateness.)

Comments

Sign In [LIT-12]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Like you hate technology and everything it stands for.

Re: Sign In [LIT-12]

[bad-nose-job.livejournal.com]

Penelope Wilhern

During the Lecture [LIT-12]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Take notes, or pass them if you are discreet. Eat some of the moddable candy that Miss Bennet has brought to class.

Re: During the Lecture [LIT-12]

[bad-nose-job.livejournal.com]

Penelope took notes, but had no one to discreetly send notes too. Not that she ever would.

Re: During the Lecture [LIT-12]

[pyroliz.livejournal.com]

Liz took down notes.

Re: During the Lecture [LIT-12]

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Chad, as usual, was taking a lot of notes in Japanese for ease. He definitely got his notebooks full in his classes.

Re: During the Lecture [LIT-12]

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka took careful notes, and also carefully took FAR more than his share of candy.

Re: During the Lecture [LIT-12]

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

Marco was so proud of remembering there was a paper due, that he figured he deserved a nap.

Re: During the Lecture [LIT-12]

[carsexual]

Sam took notes and ate candy. More of the latter than the former.

Re: During the Lecture [LIT-12]

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

There was far more candy on Anemone's desk than could possibly be healthy. That didn't stop her, however, as she absentmindedly kept eating more treats as she took notes.

Hand In Your Paper [LIT-12]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

With some small idea of topic, how long (or short) it is, how well you believe your character has done.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-12]

[withoutverona]

Romeo handed in a well-written (if somewhat overwritten) paper on Marie Antoinette's last days that went slightly over the page limit. It was A work, A- if Miss Bennet marked down for convoluted language.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-12]

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka handed in a rather... interesting paper on the Watergate scandal. It was more conversational than professional in tone, the author obviously felt it was far more important to be entertaining than informative, and its sentences fluctuated wildly between elegantly poetic and crudely direct. Phrases like "Deep Throat" and "Tricky Dick" were given far more attention than they deserved.

Depending on how amused Miss Bennet was, the factual content and structure could put the paper anywhere from a C- to a B+.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-12]

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

Peyton had written a well-researched and documented paper about the music industry. It just made the page requirement.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-12]

[senor-chado.livejournal.com]

Chad's report had ended up being a pretty lengthly exploration of the rock movement of the late-sixties into the seventies. Lengthly in that it was very detailed and informative. What it lacked in the entertainment factor of writing style is made up for in digression. It should gain high marks if Miss Bennet was looking for facts, much less if she was expecting a greatly interesting read that didn't go on and on and on.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-12]

[morpherboy.livejournal.com]

Marco handed in something that was probably written the night before with ample use of Spark notes. Somewhere, thought poked through, but it was quickly squashed under run on sentences and missing commas. If Ms. Bennet was feeling nice, it would maybe be worth a C-. Maybe. Probably more like a D or an F.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-12]

[gameknowsgame.livejournal.com]

Blair handed in a paper about the history of Ivy League schools and why Yale was the best of them.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-12]

[bad-nose-job.livejournal.com]

Penelope turned in a well written paper, her subject curses. The history behind the first. How, where, and when they evolved and by whom. She pressed fact against fiction and her words were well written, her paper possibly just slightly over the page requirement. But more than anything, she described her opinion against what she researched. It was important to her and the sensitivity of that came across strongly on her paper.

Re: Hand In Your Paper [LIT-12]

[stylin-wizard.livejournal.com]

Alex handed in a paper having to do with magic and how, used everyday, could be beneficial to said user. Seeing as it was something she enjoyed, the paper happened to be somewhat well written, with some grammatical errors.

All in all, it would probably be considered B work.

Discussion #1: Your Papers [LIT-12]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

What did you choose for your topic? Why? What did you learn while completing this assignment? Have you written papers for previous classes? Have you done library research, either for previous classes or for your own information? Did you encounter unexpected difficulties?

Re: Discussion #1: Your Papers [LIT-12]

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"This was the first paper thing I've had to write like this," Sokka told her. "I picked Watergate, because I like water... but it wasn't at all about water. It was still pretty interesting, though."

Discussion #2: Citing One's Works [LIT-12]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Did you quote other works in your paper? If so, did you cite them properly? (Miss Bennet takes full responsibility for not emphasizing the importance of doing so, last class, and thus, will not hold you responsible if you did not.) Have you ever had your own ideas and words taken by someone else and claimed as their own? If so, how did you react?

Re: Discussion #2: Citing One's Works [LIT-12]

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka grimaced. "Uhh... I used lots of quotes? And I put them in quotes? But I didn't really say where each one came from. I listed all the books at the back, though -- that's good enough, right?"

Discussion #3: The Books You Selected [LIT-12]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Which book did you check out from the library, two weeks ago? Why did you select that title? How far did you progress in it? (It is perfectly all right to have not finished the book, Miss Bennet would like to assure you.) Did you enjoy the work, or was it not to your liking? What was the basic plot?

Re: Discussion #3: The Books You Selected [LIT-12]

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"I picked this book by Tom Clancy because I liked the picture on the cover," Sokka told her. "And it was AWESOME! There's this guy, and some terrorists, and he saves the day, and stuff blows up!"

Speak to the TAs [LIT-12]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

Ask if they had shoes full of candy this morning.

Re: Speak to the TAs [LIT-12]

[wanna-be-lucas.livejournal.com]

Lucas had no candy. He was just glad he had a shirt after last night.

Speak to Miss Bennet [LIT-12]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

For she is here.

OOC [LIT-12]

[clevermsbennet.livejournal.com]

First, I managed to kill Firefox 3.0 so badly that it won't even start in Safe Mode. Then my laptop cord finally died. Then I discovered that all my laptop can do, in PowerSaver mode, is continuously crash. Then OfficeDepot lied to me on the phone about what sorts of power cords they had in stock. Today is fired.

Re: OOC [LIT-12]

[new-to-liirness.livejournal.com]

... *WINCE* I'm sorry. So VERY sorry.