writing

Would You Buy a White Paper? Last WWYD?

As you know, we have been doing short vignettes-“What Would You Do?”-all semester.  A survey sent to BU faulty about “dishonesty among students” got me thinking about the ability to buy papers on the Internet.  I surfed to samedayessay.com .  The following transcript is verbatim.  I only changed the name of the customer service rep a I worried she would potentially face some retribution.

Interesting points:

• The company claims they sell papers to be guides only.  I did not see the disclaimer anywhere.
• The cost to do my white paper assignment seemed around $425.
• Maria thought it was sad how many “lazy” students would use the service, but she seemed to suggest it was more acceptable for students also working or with other extenuating circumstances.
• I posed as a student for awhile.
• I left spelling errors in for accuracy.

Now online: Please leave your question here and one of our agents will attend to you shortly.

Customer Service

Hi there! Thank you for your interest in our services! Our friendly 24/7 support would be happy to answer any questions. Feel free to ask!

 

You (click to change)

so, I give you a topic and you can produce a 15 page research paper?

You are currently being served by
Maria

 

Maria

hi

You (click to change)

howdy

 

Customer Support

Hi there! Our friendly support reps are online, feel free to chat with us if you need assistance =)

  Continue reading →

The Shortest Post… Six Word Memoirs

Brevity can be the kind of constraint that produces creativity.  For your next post, I want you to do this fun exercise: write your life memoir (actual or aspirational) in six words. No more, no less.

This is inspired by a book of famous people’s six word memoirs.  Like Stephen Colbert’s :”Well, I thought it was funny.”  Or singer Aimee Mann: “Couldn’t cope, so I wrote songs.”

To write yours, open this post, and add yours to the list (this way we can see all of them easily).  Like so:

Jordi: “Jesting while jousting the stubborn world.”  Also: “I don’t have time for assholes.”

Dana: “I am woman, hear me roar”

Derek: “Past experiences are ones never lost”

Joey: “Strike while the iron is hot.”

Catherine: “She killed him, I’ll kill her.”

Caitlin: “I wanted to do it all.”

Jenna: “I am wandering, but not lost.”

Patrick: “Only the strong will survive life.”

Amanda: “Self-discipline and karma get me places.”

Lauren M: “Living to learn and discover myself.”

Alyssa: “I did, I want, I will.”

Lauren D: “Why not? Just go for it.”

Ben: “Sometimes lazy, sometimes working, always scheming.”

Beth: “Believed she could, so she did”

Ryan: “Who am I? Well, I am…”

Titles of Second Papers (for easy ref)

“Employers Creative Use of Facebook” by Amanda

“Costs of Being Costco” by Caitlin

Finding Gold Mines of Info- Blog Prompt 8- Cited Ref Searches

Cited Reference Searches.

As Brody explained, the works cited of an article, case or book is a view BACKWARDS in time to what the author used.

A cited ref search is a look FORWARD.  It can be a very powerful and targeted search based on what you know is a good source.  The idea is to look at a piece of knowledge and see, from its point of publication, FORWARD, who else cited it.

Several tools can do this.  All are reachable here at the LIT page for management.

ABI/INFORM is one.

Google Scholar is another.

Web of Knowledge is the third, and perhaps the most sophisticated.

The differences are primarily around which databases it searches for references.  The second is the presence of BOOKS.  Only Google Scholar does books.

FOR NEXT WEEK,

1)      Take a “piece of knowledge” we have used or referenced and

2)       Do a cited reference search on it to find a

3)      New item that is useful to you.

4)      Briefly describe the new item. Continue reading →

TV Fun… Blgo Prompt for Blog 7 (pre-spring break)

Here is what the BC came up with on Friday.  Enjoy!  PS- if you are feeling like learning some tech skills, I recall I have had students use the VLC media player, an open source media player, which was good at extracting clips from DVDs at least.  Even if you are clipping copy-righted material, I think you are covered under the fair use clause for education.

For this week’s blog post please select a TV episode of your choosing and relate it to either management or business. We will give a reward to the most interesting post. This entails choosing an episode that on the surface seems to have little relation to business or management, but that you analyze in a way that clearly connects the show to our subject matter.

Reward: Choose one week where you only have to complete half of the homework questions for FULL credit!!

Boring post example: Connecting an episode of The Office to business or BGS topics

Exciting post example: Connecting Paranormal State to business or BGS topics.

on Behalf of BC,
Jordi

You want me to do what??

From an early age, I can remember my English courses preaching on the importance of sticking to MLA format, having a few drafts before turing in a final one, and spending countless hours preparing such a report. But now I keep hearing this blogging word floating around. Do you mean to tell me I can speak my mind without having to follow a set of guidelines? Interesting.

Blogging has become one of the most dominant forces on the Internet since its inception in the late 1990’s. The sky is the limit for self-proclaimed bloggers and blogging as a whole, as this whole new aspect to idea sharing and social-media is still very early in development.

When first hearing about blogging, it never really interested me as I figured it was more geared toward those Geek Squad guys over at Best Buy. Little did I know, blogging is one of the most used tools by intellectuals and students of my age. Now that I am a member of this class, I have to admit, this is my first time as a “blogger”. Now that you know about the relationship between myself and blogging, let’s take a closer look into the role that blogging plays in education.

As I pointed to earlier, blogging is an excellent writing tool that can be utilized essentially at any location with WIFI and a compatible device. This is obviously a major advantage over standard writing methods that require MLA format, as is commonplace. Moreover, blogging creates a port for writers to express their thoughts on a much more frequent and informal basis. In a way, it makes writing not so much a task but rather an engaging experience that taps into a wide variety of audiences rather than just a professor. Finally, blogging can be an excellent tool for tweaking and strengthening one’s writing abilities. Students required to blog every week in addition to formal writing requirements are bound to be ahead of those students who just engage in formal writing requirements.

On the other hand, blogging can inspire one to abandon all those years of English courses and MLA format. It could also be seen as a source of unwanted rebellion and anarchy. Another downside of blogging is the fact that bloggers can potentially defame anyone or anything. Furthermore, because of the massive size of blogging it would seemingly go unnoticed. To be concise, blogging can spread the wrong kind of message about expressing one’s self. But then again that can also be an upside to blogging. All in all, I believe that blogging is a positive writing utensil when utilized correctly and in the right context. Some people are greatly opposed to it. But how could they be when we pride ourselves on being American and “free”.

Blogging in writing and education – the convergence of technology in the classroom

With the advent of technology and the large audience one can gain by sharing their thoughts on the Internet, it’s no wonder there are millions of blogs in cyberspace on any subject one could be interested in.  Blogging has given people a voice who may have not had an audience to share their voice with before.  Blogging also allows gifted writers and storytellers, as well as those with certain media connections, to provide unadulterated information to the public.  In fact, blogging has become so popular, and more importantly influential, that blogs with large audiences (high traffic volume) stand to make money through advertisements, and partnerships, among other things.  Blogging has given a voice to everyone who desires one, and with technology transforming the way we communicate (e.g. iPhone, cloud computing, etc.), blogs can be maintained and altered in seconds from a mobile device or tablet.  Because education is such a hot topic in today’s society, its no wonder blogging, among many other technologies, has invaded the classroom.   Continue reading →