SNL Writing in Savannah, GA

The SNL Writing Program has been invited to present at the 2017 Student Success in Writing Conference. The conference, organized by the Georgia Southern University Department of Writing and Linguistics, has provided a forum for educators to discuss student success in writing since 1999. SNL Writing will be adding to the conversation by discussing the unique considerations that go into designing a writing curriculum for adult students. 

Writing Group Open Mic next week!

Writers Guild, a multigenre writing group for the entire DePaul community, will be holding their quarterly open mic event, Aloud!, on Wednesday, February 15th.

See below for details and be sure to email SNLwriting@depaul.edu if you are interested in joining a writing group at DePaul.

Aloud! 
Wednesday, February 15th
7-9 p.m. (open mic sign-up starts at 7 p.m.)
SAC 212, Lincoln Park Campus
Featured Reader: Michael Van Kerckhove

SNL Writing is Going to Scotland

The SNL Writing Program has been invited to present at the International Higher Education Teaching & Learning Association (HETL) Conference in Paisley, Scotland at the end of June. The conference theme is Creating Inclusion and Diversity in Higher Education, which is an impulse at the very core of SNL. The Writing Program’s presentation “Designing a Writing Program that Meets the Needs of the Adult Student” will explore how SNL uses its writing classes and student outreach programs to address the needs of our unique student body.

SNL Writing Boot Camps - Winter Quarter

SNL Writing Boot Camps are a great opportunity for SNL students to get one-on-one assistance from an SNL faculty member to complete writing assignments. Boot Camps have been scheduled for all campuses.

For more information contact: SNLwriting@depaul.edu

Session Dates:                                                Location: 

Saturday, February 18, 9:00am-1:00pm         O’Hare Campus, 8770 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Lab 204 

Saturday, February 25, 9:00am-1:00pm         Naperville Campus 150 W. Warrenville Rd., Lab 104 

Saturday March 4, 9:00 am-1:00pm               Loop Campus, Daley Bldg., 14 E. Jackson, Lab 1325 

Thursday, March 9, 5:30pm-9:00pm               Loop Campus, Daley Bldg., 14 E. Jackson, Lab 1326 

Learning How to Email

The email sits in my box, and I read it multiple times: "What did I miss in class?" There is no subject. There is no signature. The address itself reads cutsienickname124@aol.com. And I am at a loss for what to say because I do not know who sent the message.

It is an email I seem only to receive when I am teaching multiple courses and keeping track of a few dozen students. My knee-jerk response is to send a snarky email. Yet I calm myself and remember that writing email is a genre. If a student has never been taught the rules, then they will not know how to structure a message clearly.

Thankfully, Colorado State University and Loyola University have created tools to help students learn how to email with clarity.

Email (Writing@CSU)

https://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=44

Email Etiquette (Loyola University)

http://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/writing/loyolaowldocuments/Email%20Etiquette.pdf

Rooting Out Plagiarism

by Nicholas Hayes

As we walked home in the rain, my partner who is an art teacher told me about a student who had submitted an image which had been downloaded from the internet as an original work. It was an uncomfortable situation because the student had enough foresight to crop out the original artist’s signature. When asked confronted with the original image, the student responded with explanation that they were told they could submit photographs. If taken at face value, that vexing reply hits at the cross purposes instructors and students face when discussing unoriginal material. I want to clutch my metaphorical pearls and scream, “Stop, plagiarist, stop.” A fitting response for a crime etymologically linked to kidnapping (“Plagiary”). But such outrage is disingenuous since plagiarism is often linked to student misunderstanding or poor assignment design.

Before we start ringing the tocsin of righteousness, we have to have a clear understanding of what plagiarism is. For example, we might think of Turnitin as a plagiarism detection tool. But this is a concept the company seems to avoid in favor of the concept of unoriginality. In part this is due to a current understanding that plagiarism must be deliberate. Sloppiness or lack of ability to use citations should not be judged with the same severity as intentional dishonesty (“Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism”). Ultimately, a machine can compare similarities in language, but it cannot determine out intent. Even instructors as sensitive, informed readers can struggle to do this. Unoriginality emerges from either a position of ignorance or from an inability to manage time. We at SNL whose students are so often returning after years of not being in the academic sphere are typically sensitive to those concerns on a psychological level. We must also be sensitive to these on a work product level. Students may have problems remembering how to cite or how being able to balance so many new tasks.

To help re-conceptualize the issue of unoriginality, Turnitin identifies ten main patterns. Two of the most prevalent and pernicious are called Clone and CTRL -C. The Clone pattern is what we might think of as traditional plagiarism in which a student submits another person’s work as their own (“Plagiarism Spectrum”). This is a pattern that could be considered Academic Dishonesty. Students may intentionally plagiarize for many reasons: fear of failure, fear of risks, inability to manage time, assumption of the lack of importance of academic expectations (“Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism”). Finding this type of pattern is distressing. But if found in an early draft, it provides an opportunity for a deeper conversation. CTRL-C is the key command (shortcut) on most computers for copying a section of text. This pattern of unoriginality is when a large amount of unaltered text from a single source has been inserted into a student’s paper (“Plagiarism Spectrum”). Although this can be frustrating, it often indicates a lack of understanding of how to synthesize, summarize and cite.

Finding these errors, sometimes prompts even the most even-keeled of us to suspect malfeasance somewhere. Blaming the students is the easiest strategy. We can frame them as untrustworthy or lazy in their academic practice. Once we begin to understand that student unoriginality often the results from a lack of understanding or knowledge, we can turn our ire to the student’s last writing instructor. Yet learning is an iterative process, and academic rigor is something that must be reinforced across the curriculum for students to succeed.

When students submit unoriginal writing, it is not a situation without fault. Sometimes the other actors are partially culpable, and sometimes we have to look at our own classroom policies. Classes that stress performance factors like grades over mastery of the subject and have rigid deadlines can create environments in which unoriginal writing may seem like a pragmatic solution (Stephens and Chu). Even that old, familiar assignment that we have kept in the class for decades might contribute to the problem. Assignments that do not require unique approaches and specialized course knowledge may create a situation where students may feel justified in responding with unoriginal content (“Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism”).

Understanding why students might submit unoriginal writing does not prevent it from happening. But it does suggest a variety of solutions to address it. The first is to provide students with a variety of tools to prevent from straying into error. Consider requiring students to submit assignments to the D2L drop box, and turning on Turnitin so they can see the Originality report (for more information check out this link). You may also consider including a list of writing resources on your assignment guidelines. SNL Writing suggests using this template. You may want to refresh yourself on DePaul’s Academic IntegrityPolicy, learn more about the current thinking about unoriginal writing (for more information check out this link), and re-design your assignments to require original thinking. Enrolling in SNL Writing’s Teaching with Writing can help you rethink your assignments since it presents many creative solutions that require unique responses from students. Most importantly, you and your students have many support structures in place to help prevent unoriginal writing.

Works Cited

 

“Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices.” Council of Writing Program Administrators, Jan. 2003, http://wpacouncil.org/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf

“Plagiary, adj. and n.” Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/144942?. Accessed 30 Jan 2017.

“The Plagiarism Spectrum.” Turnitin. Turnitin, http://turnitin.com/assets/en_us/media/plagiarism_spectrum.php.  Accessed 6 Dec. 2016.

Stephens, Jason and Jason Chu. “Why Students Plagiarize.” Turnitin, 10 June 2014, http://go.turnitin.com/l/45292/2014-06-10/2xm1. Accessed 6 Dec. 2016.

Writing Showcase: Call for Student Work

The gray winter weather can seem endless.  Yet the green shoots of spring will eventually arrive, and then the city’s gardens and parks will dazzle us with their brilliant blossoms and blooms.  When that happens, I hope we can all take a few moments to stand in awe of nature.

Our students have a similar ability to awe us. Their dedication and talent can result in some amazing works. SNL Writing hopes that you will encourage your students to submit their outstanding work (academic essays, creative writing, poems, stories, APs, ILPs, Capstone projects, and Digication ePortfolios) to the 2016-2017 Writing Showcase.

For every submission, a new flower will be added to the tree in the lobby of the SNL Offices (suite 1400, 14. E. Jackson.) All submitters will be invited to show how their writing has blossomed at the Writing Showcase Live event on April 20, 2017. Writing Showcase winners will be recognized at the annual SNL Spring Awards Luncheon.

Encourage your students to submit their best work! Application forms can be found at http://snl.depaul.edu/student-resources/writing/pages/default.aspx  under the Writing Events menu.

The deadline for submissions is April 1, 2017