Hi everybody!
I hope you spent a wonderful Easter with your family and friends because now it is time to come back to our blog course!
During our last computer lesson we reflected on how to respect Intellectual Propriety Rights avoiding plagiarism, and on the concept of Copyright as a way to protect the form and the content of a literary, scientific and artistic work.
We focused especially on the concept of Creative Commons in relation to pictures and videos that we commonly insert on our blog, and now I feel more confident and safer when I use a picture from the Web.
As far as the academic sphere is concerned, I had already found the concept of plagiarism during my university career. Indeed, when I wrote my BA thesis, I had to attribute words, ideas and opinions that were not mine to the original source. As now I have to face another important step in my academic career, that is my final dissertation, I feel that I need to know more about this issue.
I searched on the Web and I found some interesting websites about plagiarism with suggestions on how to avoid it successfully.
- In Plagiarism I learnt that the first step is to put within quotation marks everything that comes directly from another person’s actual spoken or written words especially when taking notes. Another possible choice is to paraphrase concepts, being sure that you are not just rearranging or replacing a few words. Consequently, you need to cite what the source is, as for example a book, an article, an interview, etc..
- In Cite Source - avoiding plagiarism - paraphrasing I learnt some common citation formats, such as footnotes, endnotes and in-text citations for longer papers; and some general rules about citing materials from websites. Moreover, it suggests when a writer don't need to cite, that is for common knowledge and for facts or ideas that you, yourself, established.
- In Introduction I found a well-detailed description of re-writing techniques in your own words, and quotation’s techniques in order to show what part is copied and where it is copied from.
It provides us with a variety of examples about how to express someone else's opinion, and includes a Self Test too in order to identify how much you understood about the issue.
You can find more information about this issue on the websites I saved in Delicious.
See you soon,
Anna
Hi dear Anna!
RispondiEliminaIt's really late but....Happy Easter!!!
I found your blog post interesting and well-structured thanks to the use of bullet points (I love them!). I visit the websites you suggested and I think they are really useful. If you want some more information you can find it in my blog post about plagiarism. I think that these materials we found are really important not only for our final thesis but for every kind of paper or search we are required to write.
From a grammatical point of view I have some suggestions:
Hi everybody!
I hope you spent a wonderful Easter with your family and friends (you don't need the comma before 'because') because now IT (I put the subject to the verb)is time to come back to our blog course!
During our last computer lesson we reflected on how to respect Intellectual Propriety Rights and avoid plagiarism, and ON (I think that you can simplify the sentence in this way. Remember that 'think' needs the preposition 'about' and to avoid the use of 'could' ;-) ) the concept of Copyright AS A WAY TO protect the form and the content of a literally, scientific and artistic work (I think that in this way the concept is more clear).
We focused especially on the concept of Creative Commons in relation to pictures and videos that we commonly insert on our blog, and now I feel more confident and safer when I USE (I think that the expression 'take a picture' conveys more the act of photographing with a camera)a picture from the Web.
As far as the academic sphere is concerned, I had already found (I think you can use the simple 'to find' instead of 'to find out') the concept of plagiarism DURING MY UNIVERSITY CAREER (I decided to split the sentence into two part because according to me it was too long). INDEED, when I wrote my thesis for my three-year Bachelor degree, I had to attribute words, ideas and opinions that were not mine to the original source. As now I have to face another important step in my academic career, that is my final dissertation, I feel that I need to know more about this issue.
I searched on the Web and I found some interesting websites ABOUT (it gives more the idea of a topic)plagiarism (here I erased the comma because I don't think you need it) with suggestions on how to avoid it successfully (here I change the word order).
*
In Plagiarism I LEARNED (here you missed a letter ;-) ) that the first step is to put WITHIN quotation MARKS ( I think that in this way the sentence is clearer)everything that comes directly from another person’s actual spoken or written words especially when taking notes. ANOTHER POSSIBLE CHOICE IS TO (here I use the nominal structure) paraphrase CONCEPTS, being sure that you are not just rearranging or replacing a few words. Consequently, you need to cite what the source is, for example (if you use 'for example' the word 'as' is not necessary)a book, an article, an interview, etc..
*
In Cite Source - avoiding plagiarism - paraphrasing I learnD some common citation formats, such as footnoteS, endnoteS AND in-text citations for longer papers (here I think that by using plurals you make the sentence more general); and SOME (I put the word 'some' in order to create a parallel with what you wrote in the first part of the sentence) general rules ABOUT (in this way you give more the idea of an issue) citing materials from websites. Moreover, (I put the comma after the conjunction) it SUGGESTS (in this way it is simpler)when a writer don't NEED (here the verb 'need' fits better)to cite, that is for common knowledge and for facts or ideas that you, yourself, established (here I think you can use simple past).
*
In Introduction I found a well-detailed description of re-writing techniques in your own words, and quotation’s techniques in order to show what PART is copied and where it is copied FROM (I think that in this way it is clearer).
It provides us with a variety of examples ABOUT how to express SOMEONE ELSE'S opinion, and includes a Self Test too (you don't need the comma before 'in order to') in order to identify how much you have understood ABOUT THE ISSUE (I think that in this way it is clearer).
You can find more information about this issue on the websites I saved in Delicious.
See you soon,
Anna
I'm not sure that all my corrections are right and some of them are only suggestions deriving from my way of thinking and of reasoning ;-)
Elisabetta
ERRATA CORRIGE ;-)
RispondiEliminaI was preparing the dinner thinking about my suggestions and I realized that the simple past of 'learn' can be both 'learnt and learned'. So, you don't make a typing error but you were right or even better we are both right ;-)
Elisabetta
Hi Anna!
RispondiEliminaI've just read your blog post! I think you wrote a well structure message. I was easily able to find an introduction where you say hello to everybody and wrote a general thought about Easter, a central body where you developed the main subject of your post, that is plagiarism, and a conclusion with your greetings and an invitation to retrieve more information about the subject by means of the sites you found and saved. With particular reference to the body of your message, I like the fact you divided it into two parts: in the former you wrote about what you learnt in class while in the latter you explained what you learnt by yourself.
Now I'd like to analyse with you some points of your posts that I consider to be mistakes (it's obvious that I'm not always sure, so be critical towards my suggestions!).
- In the first sentence you put a comma before 'because', but 'because' is a subordinator, and subordinators are never preceded by a comma.
- In the same sentence you forgot to put the subject and you wrote "now is time ..." instead of "now it's time". I'm sure that this is a mistake due to distraction because I'm convinced that you well know the old rule that in English there must always be a subject - be it impersonal or not.
- You wrote "I could think...". In my opinion this is a mistake, and you should have written "I was able to think...". Don't you remember the difference between 'can' and "to be able to' when they're used in the past and in affirmative sentences?While 'could' is used to indicate general abilities, such as in the independent clause 'I could swim', was/were able to refer to a particular situation.
- The English verb for the Italian "riflettere" is "to think about" or "to reflect upon", and not "to think on".
- 'Literally' is an adverb, and not an adjective. I think the adjective you want here is 'literary'.
- In the sentence "it provides information about what a write don't have.." you forgot the 's' of the third person!I'm sure this mistake is due to distraction, too.
- In the sentence "I searche on the Web ..., with suggestions..." I wouldn't have put a comma.
- You put a comma before 'in order to', and I think it's not needed.
I'd also like to give you some suggestions:
- Instead of writing "when I wrote my thesis for my three-year Bachelor degree", I'd have symplified: "when I wrote my BA thesis". Try to symplify language as mush as possible since English is a reader responsible language. I'm trying to do it, as well.
- In the sentence "As I now have to..." you used 'as' as a synonymous of 'because' and 'since', and this is perfectly correct. However, I think it's better to use 'because' and 'since' when you have to explain the cause of an event since the conjunction 'as' has a lot of meanings and can be ambiguous.
I really hope that this feedback will be useful for you - as I think yours will be for me!
See you soon,
Michela