Research+&+Responsibility

=**Do research - don't steal or cheat.**=

Try this [|research tutorial](especially helpful as college prep in upper division classes)

1. Do your own reading.
Most assignments in our English classes require you to read stories, books, poems, and articles. Yes, to actually read them. It may be tempting to find someone else - a friend, a website - who has done a reading and described it - summarized it. But to read any of these as a substitute for YOUR OWN READING is getting further away from, not closer to, the class goals. If you do //not read// a book, the only thing you will learn is //how not to read a book//.

2. Ask your own questions.
Class discussions, journals, and papers revolve around inquiry. This means that //your// questions are valuable. They are more valuable than questions you may find online, because they mean something to //you//. I never want to see you using questions that were found online, unless we were specifically assigned to locate such questions. In order to ask your own questions, you must do your own reading.

3. Write your own papers.
Even one single sentence, taken from a web site and paraphrased - turned into your own words - is stealing, according to copyright law. using anyone else's idea without giving her/him credit for the idea is a violation of the law. It is also a violation of the commandment "You shall not steal." It is an infraction of the school honor code. Avoid even the //appearance// of sin in this issue. Write only //your own// papers and journal entries. Don't even //look up// anything about what we are reading without specifically getting permission from me to do so. This protects you from the appearance of wrongdoing. Occasionally we will be assigned a specific research project for which it is necessary to find information about a topic related to our reading. In such cases, meticulously document your sources. We have a Diigo class account that allows you to save and bookmark and highlight passages on websites. Mention in your paper or journal entry exactly who said and where you found your quote about the topic. This will protect you and preserve the integrity of your paper, as well as give credit where credit is due - to the person who did the actual research and thinking that led to the material being posted on the internet (or written in a book) in the first place. The Bible says "Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no'. It means not to make false promises, but to let your word be trustworthy. When you place your name on a paper and receive a grade for doing the work, you are claiming to have done that work yourself. under no circumstances is it acceptable to place your name on a paper when even one sentence was written by another person. In every such case, you //must// credit the originator of the idea. you may refer to our class discussions, to your notes, to a student who spoke; but it is seldom at all helpful to even cite a generic website (e.g., Sparknotes) because it is not a reliable source of information. Reliable sources of information, unlike Wikipedia, or 1-2-3-Help! are written by individuals with names, or by organizations with reputations to uphold, such as a university research branch, or a daily national paper such as //The New York Times//.

**4. Do your own thinking.**
This can be difficult work. But you can do it. Working together in class, and alone at home, little by little, it is possible to succeed and improve. There are great rewards for reading, writing, and thinking on your own. You develop a sense of independence, start to realize that you can challenge yourself to think even more deeply, read even more difficult works, and write even longer and more thoughtful papers. You will sooner be able to live out the scriptural command to "take every thought captive to Christ", and to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind". God has given us a wonderful gift in the brain we each have. Learn to use it well, and you will be able to serve him better. Obedience is better than sacrifice. When God made Adam and pronounced him "Very Good", Adam began to name every animal he saw. The act of using language to describe life took some thinking. So, even when //you// are looking for the right words to use to enter a discussion, write a paper, or think silently, you are engaged in a "very good" type of activity that human beings were intended for. Sometimes literature is called one of the "humanities" - the areas of study that make us human.

Reading, Asking, Writing, and Thinking.
What should we do when these habits are still being formed? Maybe you have some solutions; I can suggest one today. It may be helpful for our class to divide into study groups by study habits. What would that look like?

** Good Sites to Look into Literature ( ** going beyond wikipedia)
 * ~ Hyperlink to the site ||~ Description of site ||