1. MUCH ADO ABOUT
NERDY THINGS
Amanda Folk
Village Freshman Seminar
9-20-12

2. MUCH ADO ABOUT CRITICAL THINKING
 Stockholm producti on company Day 4 fooled por tions of the tech world last
week into believing that Apple Inc. was working on an odd -shaped screw --
an ef for t to show how quickly people are to believe anything they find
online.
 Day4, as the Swedish producti on company is called, said it was disturbed
by how ready people were to believe anything they read on the Web these
days, especially because they can easily check tech repor ter s' facts using
tools such as Google .
 It took less than 1 2 hour s before the Reddit post got to tech repor ter s .
 There was skepticism among journalists but the rumor was still repor ted.
Most people commenting on ar ticles, however, didn't pause -- deeming the
repor ts accurate, Day 4 said. And on social media sites, "people talk about
the image like it's a truth. Critical thinking vaporiz ed.“
Rodriguez, S. (2012, August 14). Swedish firm‟s Apple hoax shows gullibility of online readers. Los
Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la -fi-tn-apple-hoax-
20120814,0,1702854.story

3. WHERE DO YOU GET You don‟t
have to
say “the
YOUR INFORMATION? library”!

4. I CAN TRUST THE NEWS, RIGHT?
Potential pitfalls:
• “Sex sells” = sensationalism
• Agenda/bias
• Spin
• Non-expert authors

5. CAN YOU IDENTIFY THE POTENTIAL BIAS?
 Fox News
• Conservative
 CNN
• Liberal
 Huffington Post
• Self-reportedly neutral, but tends to be more liberal
 MSNBC
• “Left-leaning”
 BBC News
• Foreign perspective, so usually more on the neutral side

6. LET‟S LOOK AT THE HEADLINES
Republicans slam Sen.
Reid over Romney tax Reid puts GOP in a bind
claim over Romney’s taxes

7. LET‟S LOOK AT THE HEADLINES
Republicans should be
Paul Ryan candidacy careful what they wish for
more harm than help to with Paul Ryan on the
Romney, insiders suggest ticket

8. COMPARE THIS…
 In Pennsylvania, Biden responded to a question
about why college costs keep going up by noting that
it was a "puzzle" and that there was "no one thing"
responsible. But among the factors he identified
were increases in faculty salaries. "Salaries for
college professors have escalated significantly," he
said. "They should be good, but they have escalated
significantly.“
Jaschik, S. (2012, January 16). The campaign and higher ed. Inside Higher Ed.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/ 2012/01/16/presidential -race-brings-scrutiny-candidates-higher-
education

9. WITH THIS.
 According to a new study by the American Association of
University Professors, university and college faculty salaries
have lagged far behind the substantial growth in university
and college tuitions. Thus, adjusted for inflation, faculty
salaries at four year doctoral private schools have gone up
7.7%. Tuitions at all private four year universities have gone
up 28.9% over the last decade. The disparity at public
schools is radically wider. Faculty salaries have gone up 0.7%
at public doctoral schools while tuition at all publics has gone
up 72% in that ten year period. And all of this has occurred
as use of adjunct faculty continues to rise.
Filler, D. (2012, April 20). Compare faculty salaries with college tuition hikes: Pay increases don‟t
explain university tuition [Blog post ]. http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2012/04/according-to-a-new-
study-by-the-american-association-of-university-professors-university-and-college-faculty-salaries-have-
l.html

10. CHECK THE FACTS!

11. MUCH ADO ABOUT You should
know more
PLAGIARISM
than “Just
don‟t do it.”

12. WHAT IS PLAGIARISM?
 turning in someone else's work as your own
 copying words or ideas from someone else without giving
credit
 failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
 giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
 changing words but copying the sentence structure of a
source without giving credit
 copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes
up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not
What is plagiarism? ( 2012). Plagiarism.org Retrieved from
http:// www.plagiarism.org/plag_ar ticle_what_is_plagiarism.html

13. HOW CAN YOU AVOID IT?
 CITE, CITE, CITE!
 Keep good notes about quotations and sources
 Keep your sources (or print outs of your sources) until you‟ve
turned in your assignment
 If you aren‟t sure, CITE IT!

14. ISN‟T SELF-PLAGIARISM AN OXYMORON?

15. SELF-PLAGIARISM IN THE “REAL WORLD”
 “As Hamilton Nolan wrote on Gawker, „A good rule of thumb
for writers who are concerned about whether they're reusing
too much old material is to simply ask themselves, „Would my
editor be okay if I told him how much of this is reused?‟ The
answer will be „no,‟ so then you can stop reusing things, you
lazy bum.‟”
 “Giving the same speech to IBM that you gave to Microsoft is
fine, and probably expected. But [Malcolm] Gladwell, I‟m
guessing, would never get caught writing the same words
twice. It‟s not just that it will piss of f your editors. It will also
disappoint your customers.”
Levin, J. (201 2, June 19). Why did Jonah Lehrer plagiarize himself? Because he stopped being a
writer and became an idea man. Slate.com Retrieved from
h t t p : / / w w w . s l a t e . c o m / a r t i c l e s / l i f e / c u l t u r e b o x / 2 01 2 / 0 6 / j o n a h _ l e h r e r _ s e l f _ p l a g i a r i s m _ t h e _ n e w _
yorker_staf fer_stopped_being_a_writer_and_became_an_idea_man_. html

16. SELF-PLAGIARISM IN COLLEGE
 Also called “double dipping” or “text recycling”
 “Self-plagiarism occurs when a student submits his or her own
previous work, or mixes parts of previous works, without
permission from all professors involved.”
 “Self-plagiarism also applies to submitting the same piece of
work for assignments in dif ferent classes without previous
permission from both professors.”
Georgia State University Library. ( 2012). Plagiarism. Academic Honesty. Retrieved from
http://research.library.gsu.edu/content.php?pid= 134499&sid=1153324

17. IS IT A PUNISHABLE OFFENSE AT PITT?
 Practices any form of deceit in an academic evaluation
proceeding.
 Violates the canons of ethics of the academic community
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. ( 2011). Student handbook 2011-2012. Retrieved from
http://www.greensburg.pitt.edu/sites/default/files/Student% 20Handbook%202011-
2012%20%28links%20updated%29.pdf

18. WHAT IF…
you wrote a paper for a class last
semester. The topic of the that paper is
related to a paper that you are currently
working on. You wrote a couple of
sentences in that first paper that would
be perfect for this new paper.
What can you do?

19. STREET CRED IS ONE
THING, ACADEMIC CRED
IS ANOTHER.

20. IS STREET CRED ENOUGH HERE?

21. WHO IS THIS GUY?
Nathan Orlowek
• “Booth researcher”
• “Senior Judaic educator at Beth Sholom Congregation and
Talmud Torah in Potomac, where he has worked for 30
years, Orlowek will appear in his alter ego role, Booth
historian…”
WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
Potential exhumation of corpse = $$
REWRITING HISTORY!!
Leibel, A. (2010, December 15). Captivated a Lincoln assassination History Channel segment to feature Jewish educator who believes Booth
lived until 1903. Washington Jewish Week.
http://washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=27&SubSectionID=25&ArticleID=13999

22. BUT SOMETIMES STREET CRED IS OK.

23. DON‟T FORGET…CATS ARE VERY PICKY ABOUT
WHERE THEY GET THEIR INFORMATION.