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Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This post contains a bit of an odd argument which ought to be bhighlighted. It cites with approval G. Kim Blank in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Let's kill the term paper. "Does anyone ever need to write essays at work or carry out a task without access to information or colleagues?" asks Alastair Creelman. OK, let's say no. Then what do we need? "The way forward, according to Blank, lies in reading, discussing and summarising examples of good academic writing." OK, welll I can agree with that. But, that's a term paper! They're not fiction, you know. They're not random ungrounded flights of fancy and opinion. Term papers are supposed to put together some summaries of well-written academic articles in such a way as to produce an inference or observation from them.Related: Utne Reader on why essays are so boring these days.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Nov 04, 2024 3:10 p.m.

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