Last week, my cousins asked me if they could do some research works in our house for their term paper. I told them there's no problem with me as long as it is for their studies. We really don't have a lot of research materials like books but we do have an internet and its web of limitless information... How lucky can they get considering that they can even have term papers for free.
Back then, in my high school days, when we had term papers especially in our English subject, we were bound to do our research work in our library and worse, if we couldn't find our topic there, we had to go to our city library. You just can imagine the hassle we've been through back in those days. We had computers in those times but we just used it for its program (specifically the "MS Word") and the internet wasn't that accessible nor was it widely used yet, unlike today.Even during my college years, when we were doing our feasibility studies in my course, the internet could had been a great help... with just a few clicks and the right keywords to the browser, information would come rushing on your screen without any sweat.
The only challenge nowadays is how to consolidate the needed information and transform it to an excellent term paper. Well, you can still find the needed help if you go to the right websites but they too can only do so much... your work still depends on how you use this information to come up with an original piece of work you can actually explain and defend to your professor.
But be it then or now, I guess the real aim of term papers or any homework for that matter, besides having good grades is to develop your resourcefulness in finding information about the topic being provided and what matters most is you learned something from doing it. Yahweh bless.
Yep, it is about learning something, hoping that something wasn't that they can get term papers done for them on the net! he he he
ReplyDeleteI've always thrown caution at the internet. There is a lot of information out there on any given subject--but I find it to be a more daunting task to sift through the sites with VALID information as so many of the websites on ANY given topic have erroneous information. I'm sure it is getting better--but there could be nothing worse than defending a position to your professor that was based on false premises!! YIKES!! In some regards--a combination of internet, and library material would be best to make sure the internet has it right to begin with!! Cheers, Jenn.
ReplyDeleteAs a new college graduate (eons ago!), Ralph, I found myself in conversation with a guy who asked me, "What did you go to college for?" I was offended. "What do you mean, 'What did I go to college for?' What an obnoxious question," I thought to myself. Then he gave his answer which went more or less like this: "You went to college to learn how to process information." As I go through life, processing information, Ralph, I can't help but hear that guy's voice over and over again. So true! Your point is SPOT ON.
ReplyDeleteBut having an internet makes student more lazy. They just copy paste what they see first. There's no better way that go to the library to get what you need why you combat on the fierce librarian. :)
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