Sample Student Theses For Project II

Here is a list of first-draft theses from my spring 2013 students.

Lack of time is a huge factor for the reason students plagiarize in any type of composition paper.

Source use in each discipline is greatly affected by an individual’s particular discipline. This should be taken into account when teaching, reading and grading material in reference to source use.

Patchwriting is the result of poor education when dealing with sources.

Students don’t choose biased sources because they don’t know they are biased, as McClure argues, but because they lack the ability to disregard their personal views when researching a topic, and this leads to poor source selection and insufficient analysis.

Students’ struggles with source use stem from their not being interested in the topic. Lack of interest makes it difficult for them to read and understand these sources as well as to adequately paraphrase these sources.

Students patchwrite not because they don’t understand the material but because they are insecure about using their own voice in academic writing.

Patchwriting does occur when writers don’t understand the source, but it is not, as Howard argues, a step towards understanding the source. Patchwriting and copying, when self- gain is involved, is wrong.

Students resort to plagiarism in source-based assignments because they panic when they’re unable to find the sources they need. Plagiarism is a result of bad research skills.

The difficulty of research is not always fully acknowledged by instructors, who don’t give students enough help, and students, who don’t give themselves enough time.

Students patchwrite and make up sources because they can do so and get a good grade. Teachers never bother checking every single student’s sources because it is too time-consuming. If you can get a B with doing the least amount of work, why not?

Research is difficult and students need to ask for help from their instructors.

How much time it takes to read academic source and find the ones that fit the project.

If students had more freedom when comes to topic choice, then the interest and composition of the student will improve.

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