Tag Archives: Forum

Forum

Advice welcome!

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I’m hoping to get advice on three points, all intersecting with EE and engineering writing and pedagogy.

First, the EE TAs are going to be trained next year (by me), and while I have a good idea of my plans, I’d like some input. What did you wish you knew when you started teaching? Now that some of you are faculty, you might have an even more urgent message about that, but anyone who was a struggling, hard-working, responsible TA probably wishes they’d been given a few ideas to work with. What are they??

Second, the School of Engineering has asked Writing Programs to teach first-year composition courses directed specifically at students who have entered as engineering majors. The one and only section (so far) of English 3E is this Fall, and we have some constraints on what we achieve in there, but I’d be interested to hear what you’d include in that class. The two new areas to be emphasized, in addition to what we already teach about college composition, are “the visual display of information” and “exposition/description” (contrast that with “argument” and you might get a sense of what it means and why it’s useful for engineers). I don’t want to focus just on engineering-related topics (engineering majors get enough engineering classes!), but I want to make sure that the course offers a helpful bridge between other disciplines, writing, and engineering. Any thoughts?

And third, I need to write on this website more often, so I’d be interested in hearing what topics you have questions about (or what stories or ideas you’d be interested in sharing here!). I will try to write a few posts in advance, so that there will be a more regular posting during the busy Fall quarter.

Thanks, in advance, for your help.

Forum, intellectual property and plagiarism, Writers on Writing

Mixed Messages on Plagiarism

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By Dr. Sarah Gibson

I don’t want to be a downer…but the thing that has been on my mind lately regarding academic writing is plagiarism. I found a paper back in 2012 that plagiarized one of my papers. I guess it was not particularly egregious–they didn’t steal my data and try to pass it off as their own, but they did paraphrase (very poorly, like replacing a few words with synonyms while keeping the sentence structure) several sentences and paragraphs of mine without citing me. In doing so they essentially stole my ideas. I followed the IEEE guidelines for reporting plagiarism, but to my disappointment the editor of the journal that published the offending paper “disagreed” with me that this case constituted plagiarism, and went so far as to say that, if anything, I should be happy that the authors agreed with my arguments! I thought, am I taking crazy pills? So I showed it to the director of the UCLA Graduate Writing Center who also showed it to the director of UCLA Writing Programs,  both of whom agreed that this was textbook plagiarism. At the time, I was wrapping up my PhD, getting ready for my defense, and looking for a job, so I didn’t have time to pursue it further. But it has always been in the back of my mind, so last November I decided to bring up the issue again with the new editor of the same journal. He sent the case to the journal’s Plagiarism Committee, but they refused to hear my case because they said that my complaint had not changed and had already been addressed by the previous editor.

Needless to say, I’m furious. All my life (well, since middle school, probably), all my teachers have put the Fear of God in me about plagiarism, warning me that it is a crime so serious that it could get me kicked out of school, ruin my career, or worse. As such, I’ve taken great pains in my own writing to give proper credit where credit is due, and to be very careful when paraphrasing (even when I am giving proper credit!). So when I am wronged, at the very least I would expect IEEE to have my back. It is so unbelievable to me that they won’t stand up for me–won’t defend the very idea of intellectual property (wrong term?) at all.

One thing that both Directors did point out was how every country/culture (I know you hate slashes! but I used one anyway!) has a different idea about what constitutes plagiarism vs. “common knowledge”, and that this makes the issue much more complicated, since the papers are being written by authors from all across the world, and even the journal editors and IEEE committee members are from all different cultures.

The main purpose of this post is to express my shock and disappointment at this event. But if you have any suggestions for how to proceed, I would love to hear them. I do have a couple more ideas: (1) contact the editor of the plagiarized journal (rather than the plagiarizing journal). This is not IEEE protocol, but maybe they would have my back? (2) Find an IEEE fellow to write a letter on my behalf. (3) Go to the press with a scathing expose.

 

 

Forum, Writers on Writing

Your writing process

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What is your writing process?

When and where do you like to write, and why?

What sort of on-going writing to do you, as you think and do research?

How do you know that it’s time to start writing a more formal article (a conference paper or journal article)?

How do you prepare to write?

What do you work on first?

As you’ve gotten more experience, what are the most important things you’ve learned about writing or your particular writing process?

Forum, Introductions: Plans and Hopes

You’ve arrived! To work!

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Some of you have signed up, and now the fun (work?) can begin!

I’d love to have you write a short post that (re)introduces yourself to (me/) us.

Did you end up publishing the article you wrote in EE 295? What was the process like after your final version in that class? What have you worked on since then? What wisdom have you gleaned from your experiences? What has been you experience collaborating with others (outside of EE, in your lab, or with reviewers and journal editors). Choose one topic or touch on all them, and others.

You can write your post as if you are just writing me a personal email OR as you want it posted. (Let me know which it is!) I’d like to hear how you are doing, and knowing more about your experiences will help me fashion this site to your interests. It will also let me know what kinds of expertise we have here, in this virtual collaborative space. Your post can remain forever in the draft stage (that is, unpublished), as we communicate back and forth on it, or it (or some of it) can eventually become a short article on the site (only if you are for that, of course!)

In short, you can remain as private as you want. You can just communicate with me via drafts. You can communicate to our small group of UCLA EE PhD candidates and graduates with posts that have password protection. Or you can choose to communicate to the whole world (who is not really looking, to tell you the truth) via public posts. Since all your writing has to go through me to get posted, I’ll need to be told what how you want it treated when I read it.

Eager to hear from you,

Dana

Introductions: Plans and Hopes

An initial dedicated registration period

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I’m sending out queries to my past EE students, asking if they want to join the site.

If you register, then I can send you a password, and you can start writing “posts.” These do not need to be short essays, as mine tend to be. They can be questions, topics for discussion, and other requests or ideas. I will review them, and then put them up. They do not go up immediately,  so if you want to send me a message in the post about how you want to be identified (or not) on the website, or any other message, that will work. You can also say if you want the post public (anyone can read it) or more private (I think this means for contributors only).

If you are someone other than a past student of mine, you can start the registration process, and then (at that time) I will communicate with you about your interest in the site. The site is mainly intended for past students who might want some private collaboration, but at the mome

Forum

Forums

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Forums fail me.  I’m bothered by the messy trees of influence, or the linear scroll through ideas that are not linearly connected.

But I  want this to be a site that lets us interact.  Describing real experiences can both let the describer process and learn from them and also help others prepare for those experiences. Just as important is the fact that this site can become the very thing that you require, as you clarify what you need from it, as you contribute to it, demand from it, and challenge it.

So, at least for now, forum comments will look like posts, and they will be tagged with “Forum.” As we get more topics,  they will be named something more specific than that.   Other management options are, of course, always on the table. That is,  they are not impossible; we can continue to discuss them and make changes.

If you  want to pose a topic for discussion, please create a post and begin the conversation. (You will need to register and have me send you a password before you can do this.)

Where should you publish? Here!

Let the discussion begin!