Inventing the University

I find that Inventing the university an intriguing article. It discuss the difficulty of students trying to fit into the subject of the class. The student may have the same idea as a teacher, but the student is unable to express it in academic language. I find that students have an easier time learning facts then learning how to think critically.

I find it difficult to understand in keeping the language consistent throughout the essay. Since, I find that it is perception on what language belong to the rest of its context. There seems to be difculty in how to choose the corrects words to type.

It assumes that the basic writer is a remedial english student. This would explain why the voice of the author doesn't match what it is suppose to be for the crowd. I also find that writers may not be aware of their audience when they are writing to them. Teachers should try to go over more about writing to the appropriate audience.

I find the text difficult to read for the most part. The writer abruptly shifts to an essay to provide an example for him. I wonder whether it would of been better for him to add in examples more fluently. I had to reread some of the sections for me to understand the point of the essay.

Chapter 3 of My Word!

I agree with Blum's definition of performance and authentic self. Performance self is more about the goal, by whatever means is necessary, while Authentic self focus on originiality. The two of them are vague and can mean a variety of things. A performance self is more likely to plagiarize due to the lack of identifying who is the author. The performance self is what led to the creation of wikipedia, where the people do not get themselves credit.

I believe that I am more of an Authenthic self because I am more focus on my own thoughts then how it looks like for others. However, i believe that people are a mixture between authenthic and performance self. It is unlikely to be purely one thing, since personality tends to go back and forth between original and borrowing others words.I believe that a lot of students are more like performance self because their main goal is to get good grades.

I believe that the shift between authentic self to performance self should be reflected in the school. Since, teachers are more likely to be authentic self,while students are more likely to be performance self causes a conflict between the two. Due to technology, students look to be more about borrowing words, which causes the teachers to condemn them of plagiarism. I wonder what would happen when the students become teachers in the future, which will cause the teachers to be more of a performance self. I wonder what this would be for the students, it would probably have the school more lenient on the students habits, unless students shift back to authentic self.

I agree with Blum's quote of The performance self is more prone to cheat and plagiarize than the authentic self. . .For a performance self, intellectual property is a quaint yet meaningless notion." Since, the teachers are of authenthic self, obviously they would think that the students with a performance self to be cheaters. It is a matter of style. The students simply fall into the category of what teachers believe to be plagiarism, when it is simply a matter of habit for the performance self. The performance self is more likely to borrow words for their goal sense they have a less firm sense of self.

chapter 2 of my word

I find that this chapter of My word quite interesting. It takes different stances on plagiarism by taking quotes from the people they have interviewed. It has answered my question on the first account of plagiarism seems to have taken place in Germany. The chapters questions what is original and defines intertexuality.

I am disappointed that there was no clear definition of plagiarism. As one of the interviewer remarked" plagiarism may be taking two or three words coincidentally. chapter points out that identically in a sentence." I do not see the schools expect us to not plagiarize, when it is not clearly defined, which makes everyone have their own subjective view on plagiarism. Since plagiarism is generally asking another person's work or idea, to avoid it you must be original. However, as the book has pointed out that everyone is influence by other people's ideas. Also, everything would eventually be classified as public domain, once enough time has passed.

It is intriguing on how people quote in normal conversation compared to the standards expect students to write. I understand that we do not quote in our normal conversation because it would be too much of a hassle and that it would kill the joke by interrupting the context that is in. In both Instant messaging and writing, it is common to quote something that is obscure, unlike common knowledge. What is determined as common knowledge is determined by what the writer perceives what his audience should already know.

I never thought that footnotes were any important. Now, I understand that it is a way for a person to check on their sources. I wonder if footnotes are better or more effective then quotations, but most likely that each are good for certain purposes. There are plenty of ways to cite your sources, but I find it disappointing that it's either too complicated or most students just don't know how to cite properly. When I embed quotes into an essay, I am not too confident that I had done it correctly.

Essay

What I think an essay is a literary work that deals with answering with a topic question. High school essays consist five paragraphs, which I find boring and tedious. The formula for an essay does need require the five paragraphs, but are taught strictly throughout middle and high school. I find that essays are more interesting, if it is done in a move creative way.