Use with caution: Turnitin.com :: plagiarism detection software

Use with caution: Turnitin.com by Valerie Balester, Executive Director We were informed this past summer by Instructional Technology Services that students should not include identifying information on work submitted to Turnitin.com. ITS is concerned about reservations expressed by the U.S. Department of Education regarding student privacy and FERPA regulations. However, some professionals within the field of composition instruction have other concerns: plagiarism detection software like Turnitin does more damage, many of us fear, than violating privacy. One of the most influential professional organizations in composition, the Conference on College Communication and Composition (CCCC), for example, suggests that plagiarism detection software â€Å"undermines students’ authority over the uses of their own writing† (http://ccccip.org/files/CCCC-IP-PDS-Statement-final.pdf). Why, you might ask, should we care? After all, student writing is just practice writing, and it doesn’t really count for anything. It’s not like our writing, by which we make our bread and butter. But when we treat student writing as inconsequential, so do students, and the result is the careless, poorly written drivel that we have been trying to obliterate with W courses. Students who do not feel pride of ownership and control over their work will not give it the time and attention it needs to be excellent. Beyond this basic concern is the atmosphere plagiarism software detection programs can create, the expectation that students will cheat, that they are basically dishonest in their work. This atmosphere undermines trust and make writing even more distasteful. It’s just another trap, another hurdle to jump before graduation. Students are encouraged to see writing for college as a game rather than as an integral part of their education. We don’t want that. The CCCC also worries that programs like Turnitin will make college faculty complacent by shifting responsibility for detecting plagiarism onto technology. It’s only a matter of time before students learn to beat the software. I have personally tested it with my students, asking them to cheat; many of their transgressions went undetected by Turnitin. Students who run originality reports that come out clean may still have made mistakes, but if they rely too heavily on the report, they will not know it. After all, learning citation properly is far more than learning a set of rules, a style, the correct placement of commas and capital letters. Learning citation is first and foremost learning how a discipline creates and disseminates knowledge. It is subtle, takes many years to master, and is the mark of a professional.

Eye Donation

EYE DONATION- A NOBLE ACT, WITH AN ADDED RESPONSIBILITY – S BALACHANDRAN, CGM, SBT I am just watching the 200th episode of the Surya TV’s popular programme â€Å"Deal or No Deal† featuring film star Mukhesh with Sri Kochouseph, promoter and CEO of V-Guard group and Rev. Father Chirammel. It seems more than a concidence that when I sat down to pen my thoughts on Organ donation, specially Eye-donation, this episode is playing on my Television set.More than his entrepreneurial skill and management acumen Sri Kochouseph has been a personality for whom I have immense admiration on account of his rare humanitarian act a few years back when he donated a kidney for a needy patient and thus gave a new meaning and dimension to the much sullied and murky field of organ donation. Rev Father Chirammel was the person who prompted Sri Kochouseph to do this noble act. I am sure, the act of Sri Kochouseph would have sent out a message that one can be a donor of an organ without a ny fear of one’s own health and as a pure act of philanthropy.I am sure more and more people , healthy people, would come forward to be donors without any monetary consideration. This reminds me of the supreme act of compassion shown by the doctor-couple fromTrichy a few years back. Their only son, was fatally involved in a motor accident on the Chennai highway. The parents rushed to the spot on hearing the news, only to see their only child, a son who they thiught would continue their noble profession, was in an almost critical state, with all symptoms ofan impending brain death.The couple were flooded with phone calls from friends who offered the best of treatment if the boy could be brought to Chennai. Fully equipped ambulance was ready to carry out the job. The couple with prayers on their lips and dwindling hope in their hearts, accompanied the injured son in the vehicle, on its one hour journey. But the boy couldnot complete the journey and his brain switched off enrout e. That was a moment when any parent would stop behaving rationally or with balance.Yet it was the mother who held her mind and suggested to her husband that they hurry with the body to the nearest best hospital, so that all the vital organs of the body could be salvaged and donated to needy persons. The husband did the rest by phoning up his friends anout their decision and requesting them to make arrangements for the extraction of the vital organs from their son’s body and arranging to locate needy recepients .Cutting the long story short, today, this doctor-parents live with the satisfaction of their son still living through the four lives whom he saved in his death. The celstial level of their magnanimity is fit to be lauded in golden words. It is special persons like Sri Kochouseph and the doctors who inspire me. Of the ever increasing throng of persons needing oirgan transplants, it is the persons with Corneal blindness, who toip the list.I rememebr having read that in India there are over 5 milion persons with this type of blindness, which can be cured if they can get suitable donors, in time. The easiest part of eye donation is that the donor can pledge to donate his eyes and the actual donation needs to be done only on the death of the donor. Having been a compulsive, voluntary blood donor ever since I reached the age of 19, I was much pained, when, in 2002 I was advised that I could no longer donate blood since I was hypertensive.I had to cry a halt to my unbroken saga of 62 blood donations for 31 years. It was then that I decided to donate my eyes on my death. The only prayer I have today is that my eyes should be worthy of use at that time. This adds a major responsibility on me to keep my self safe from ailments that would affect the usability of my eyes. If my daily prayers include a wish to protect me from debilitating ailments, it is more to protect my eyes for whoever the recepient could be†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.

U.s. Federal Acquisition Regulation - 1243 Words

A contract has been awarded under competitive negotiated procedures and an unsuccessful offeror wanted to know why they were not the winner. The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) provides an approach to this issue by offering an organized correspondence with the unsuccessful offeror and the government. An unsuccessful offeror may submit a request to the contracting officer for clarification on why they did not win the award. This request is called a debriefing. The debriefing provides feedback from the government on the unsuccessful offeror’s proposal explaining the process in depth as to why they were not selected. Only certain information is shared and will vary depending on whether the debriefing is conducted prior to or after†¦show more content†¦(FAR 15.505) Submitting a timely request for a Preaward Debriefing is essential if the offeror wants to make certain that the debriefing will take place. If an offeror submits a request for a debriefing within the three day window, the Government should conduct the debriefing within five days after an offeror’s request. When the offeror delivers a timely request for a debriefing, the Government must propose a scheduled debriefing date in writing and have the offeror acknowledge the requested debriefing date immediately. If the debriefing date is unavailable for the offeror and they request a later time, the original debriefing date must be acknowledged by the offeror in writing and the request for a later date, such as after the award is announced. In the delayed Pre-award Debriefing (after award), it must include all of the information normally provided in the second type of debriefing, a Postaward Debriefing. (Marine Corps Specific). Postaward Debriefings are conducted after notification of award and the offeror’s request for the Postaward Debriefing must be received by the Government within three days after the date on which the offeror received notification of the contract award. It is ideal for the debriefing to occur within five days after receipt of the written request, including offerors who requested the delayed Preaward Debriefing. A Postaward Debriefing may also be conducted orally, in writing,Show MoreRelatedA Discussion Of Administrative Law Essay1181 Words   |  5 PagesA Discussion of Administrative Law Congress and the state legislature pass laws that align to the U.S. Constitution. However, the laws enacted are general provisions that do not explain how they should be utilized. Consequently, federal, state, and local agencies must define the policies and regulations of the statutes. The rules and regulations established by the agency are known as administrative laws (Walsh, Maniotis, Kemerer, 2014). 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