Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Plagiarism

Today I had a discussion with my master student. It is interesting to note that he was very concerned about plagiarism and he actually did some readings on plagiarism. He even mentioned that students should know what is plagiarism and how to avoid plagiarism. He also share with me an open source software (Viper) which can be used to detect whether your writing contain any plagiarism (Type I only).

In academic, plagiarism is a very serious offence. Base on Academic Policy, students maybe expelled if they are found to submit a plagiarized work as their own. Academics also need to write and publish our research work. There may not be a written rules on publication guidelines but as academics we should have an academic integrity.

According to Dr Barnbaum, there are five types of plagiarism:
Type I: Copy & Paste
Type II: Word Switch
Type III: Style
Type IV: Metaphor
Type V: Idea
Most of us are more familiar with Type I: Copy n Paste and are not aware of the other types. For more detail description and examples, refer to Dr Barnbaum page.

The following list some references on the different type of plagiarism:
Dr. C. Barnbaum, Plagiarism, A Student's Guide to Recognizing It and Avoiding It, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Valdosta State University.
Sue Ann Brainard, Plagiarism Workshop, Milne Library, SUNY Geneseo
Academic Integrity Tutorial, New York University

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

A Trip to Shah Alam

On Monday I drove from Jitra to Shah Alam to attend my student's PhD Defense Proposal. It was a 5-hours drive and it rain half of the way. I planned to meet my student, A before his presentation on Tuesday but unfortunately his handphone was off and only reply my SMS late evening with an excuse that he is not well and was sleeping ..... hhmmm. I also schedule a meeting with my other PhD student, R, again no luck she is also not well.

Anyway, I was there when A presented his proposal and later we went through his proposal again to make the necessary corrections based on the comments made by the panel. I asked him to sent me his corrections in a couple of weeks.

It was nice to meet friends in Shah Alam. Almost everybody ask me "Seronok ke kat Perlis" It is a difficult question but my famous answer is "Bolehla". It is just a matter of adjusting to new environment and new friends. One thing is obvious no more traffic jam and toll.

I left Shah Alam at about 2 pm and reach Jitra about 7pm