SideLines, March 2005
Help is needed to encourage research writers to make active use of our forums. Anyone can help by mentioning this site to writers they know, or by posting notices about the site on university noticeboards (any city, any country). Copies of notices prepared for this purpose can be obtained by contacting Peter Matthews at the email address below.
Thank you.
Peter Matthews email: info (at) researchco-op (dot) co.nz
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
SideLines, February 2005
Research writing conferenceA Conference on Research Writing in Japan was held at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, 15-16th March, 2003. The conference report, a fully edited book published by the museum, can be obtained for free by contacting Peter Matthews at the email address below.
See http://www.researchco-op.net/conference.html for details about the conference and publication.
Peter Matthews email: info (at) researchco-op (dot) co.nz
Photo: an 11th C. Syriac text (Wikimedia Commons, 2005). Maybe the maker needed a layout editor.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
SideLines, November 2004
Training needed for PhD supervisors?
How is it possible for PhD students to submit entire pages of text that is obviously not their own, that is from no acknowledged source, and that can be easily located on the internet? How can PhD supervisors let their students devalue their own work, and make this kind of mistake? There is not just a knowledge divide in the world, but also a divide in how to report knowledge, in basic writing skills, and in attitudes towards previous texts and their authors. Perhaps, for some writers, it is an honour to be quoted at all, even without acknowledgement, and perhaps some people believe it is a right to bestow such an honour on others. Or is it no honour at all, and no right at all, from any perspective, no matter how philosophical or relativist one tries to be?
These are questions I direct to any students, teachers, and research writers who may be reading this column. If you have an opinion on the matter, or experience to report, please contact me. In my role as an occasional PhD examiner, I need moral support. I would also like to report back to this Cooperative on what I learn from this call for the Defense of Good Writing and Self Respect.
How is it possible for PhD students to submit entire pages of text that is obviously not their own, that is from no acknowledged source, and that can be easily located on the internet? How can PhD supervisors let their students devalue their own work, and make this kind of mistake? There is not just a knowledge divide in the world, but also a divide in how to report knowledge, in basic writing skills, and in attitudes towards previous texts and their authors. Perhaps, for some writers, it is an honour to be quoted at all, even without acknowledgement, and perhaps some people believe it is a right to bestow such an honour on others. Or is it no honour at all, and no right at all, from any perspective, no matter how philosophical or relativist one tries to be?
These are questions I direct to any students, teachers, and research writers who may be reading this column. If you have an opinion on the matter, or experience to report, please contact me. In my role as an occasional PhD examiner, I need moral support. I would also like to report back to this Cooperative on what I learn from this call for the Defense of Good Writing and Self Respect.
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