Dear dean of San Francisco State University,

I am very disgusted and appalled with the acts that have been going on around the campus. So many students are doing it, yet not one staff member is doing anything about it to try and catch these students. I mean this is a college campus and we should be more serious about what we try to achieve and learn here. If you are still wondering what I am trying to inform you about, it is the act of plagiarism on campus. Students on campus are plagiarizing behind a professor’s back without the professor actually knowing it for sure. I mean sure professors use programs like Turnitin.com to double check that plagiarism isn’t actually there, but there are other ways a student can plagiarize. That is why I am writing you this letter to inform on of this action and something must be done about it. I am prepared to propose to you certain tasks and steps we can take to insure that students will not try or even think about plagiarizing again on this campus.

One thing that we can do to try and lessen this problem of plagiarize is to lessen the homework load. I think this action is a good to proceed with since students won’t feel all this pressure to try and finish every piece of homework. Students have pressure of making sure that every piece of homework given is finished and turned in. Also, special assignments like essays or projects add more pressure to a student’s homework load. My English class did research on this topic with fellow students on campus and varied the topics into 4 groups: demographics, academic culture, extracurricular activities and motivations to plagiarize. When I look at the research done by the extracurricular activities group, I noticed that 18 of 44 students have jobs. With this data, I can say it adds to the pressure of wanting to plagiarize since it cuts off a student’s time from studying. Even though students can use financial aid to pay for their education at the school, students still love to have a little extra money on the side to buy the things they want. Another reason why a student would want to plagiarize is when a student knows he has two or three papers due that day from different class. It is a student’s responsibility to make sure he does his work and mange the time he has to make sure he doesn’t pile up the work load, it’s difficult to keep everything managed between school, work, family and any other activities the student may have.

Another thing I think you should do as the dean of the school is to really enforce the rule of plagiarism. Knowing students are responsible for their own time management, you should still stand behind the penalty for plagiarism. On a class survey that was done for our research we found out that 70% of the students we surveyed knew the policy the university made for committing plagiarism. Although that is a good percentage of student who know the university’s policy, 30% of the students survey either didn’t know the policy or don’t know it at all. Even though most of them know the policy, how can we tell for sure the person follows the rule instead of just knowing the policy? We’ve asked the students in our surveys if they have ever plagiarized at the college. 10 of the students said they have re-used an old paper, 7 of them said they had other people write their paper for them, and 9 of them said they failed to cite any of their work. Putting these numbers together, we can see that they have plagiarized before, but have they had in mind the thought of plagiarism. People saying they know the policy doesn’t mean they would follow that rule. Students will use that finding to get around the policy and continue with what they’re doing. Some students tend to learn the rules, but they don’t follow them. They only learn it to try and find a way around it, but this can’t be only reason as to why a student would want to plagiarize. Let’s take a look into a student’s mind and see what drives him to achieve in college.

When we think about college, we sometimes don’t get to choose which college we want to go to since there might be other reasons for a student’s attendance at a college. One motivation I found was done by the people in Group 4 who were looking for the cause of them attending SFSU. The one motivation that I found very useful was the fact that students in the college aren’t really motivated to do any writing at all. You can’t blame these students if they don’t really feel like writing anything. I mean sure it is a good thing to know how to write and not get tired of the idea, but students just can’t find the motivation in that. Another thing I noticed in the survey that the same number of students who are mostly religious are equal to those who don’t believe in God. Now religion may also be a factor as to why students would cheat in class. As a follower of God, we should also beak this nonsense of useless arguments, and we should be the ones to stand up against you make. Sometimes student’s tend to keep up with what I do around the store so I’m going to win it back.

Overall, I say that you should do something about the plagiarism stuff top see if they will take it seriously. You are the dean and you should ask the undergraduates to see if they understand the situation that will happen upon them if they didn’t follow the rules. For any plagiarism they do, I say we should set levels as to how harsh the torture should be. I thank you for your time.

-Kenneth

Findings from the analysis

When I got a chance to over look our findings from surveys and the interview, I've noticed that many people said they have never plagiarized but i think that's a freaking lie. I noticed that if someone were to have a personal interview and were asked if they plagiarized, they might admit the truth. If they were asked that question in a survey or anything where they don't have to answer honestly, they would lie.

True Life: SFSU life

I've been here in SFSU for about 3 years now so I know my way around the place. My experience here has been quite something to me. I've experience the deals of finding and getting classes, group projects, the protesting of angry college students, and the annoyance of solicitors handing you flyers you don't want. i don't really live here on or around campus so i pretty much commute everyday going to school. It's a hassle having to come all the way out here and going back. when it comes to clubs and fraternities, i don't really get involved in that since Im just here to learn and get my degree. In terms of comparing my experience to those that go to Notre Dame, its not all that easy and is much more tougher. unlike those that attend Notre Dame, i am able to be here in SFSU on the support of financial aid. i know well that the students in Notre Dame are supported well and are paying their tuition with the money of their parents. Another thing I noticed between the schools is school spirit. I’ve walked around SFSU enough to see the little support we have for the teams that we have at this school. I don’t really attend the games myself, but I can’t say a lot of people attend the game themselves. Knowing my knowledge on Notre Dame, I can tell that the school is really supportive in what they love the most, football. They show a lot of sprit when it comes to that sport, it’s like the one sport the school is actually proud of. I’ve seen a lot of different races here at SFSU and it seems like this school is open to anyone that wants to attend this college. Notre Dame on the other hand is much secured of who can attend the school and who can’t. The school is in fact private and Catholic, the diversity at that school is very limited. It’s a hard school to get into seeing what requirements you need to fulfill in order to get in, so the school must expect a lot from you. SFSU on the other hand is a easy school to get in to that doesn’t need a lot of requirements to get in to. Another thing I experienced at this school is that everything is in walking range of each other. I mean you may be in the Humanities building and have a class that is across campus, let’s say Thorton Hall, it doesn’t talk that long to get from one end of the school to the other if you walk at a decent pace. Notre Dame on the other hand must have a huge campus and would require transportation to get around. When it comes to teachers and the courses they teach its really wide and differs from other teachers. Plus, the course that they provide here at SFSU is a wide variety and can take someone anywhere and guide them to what they want to be.

I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris

This is one of the books i have finished just recently and i think it's a pretty good book. The book discusses how we should date but in a different perspective. I learned a lot from this book like how I should find the right girl, how to treat a girl while I wait, how to know if she would be the right girl for me in the future and then some. This book tells us how we should date in the eyes of how God wants us to date and not so much on how the world wants us to date. It's also a great book since it doesn't really force the religion of Christianity down your throat, but just implying it in the book. This book really changed the way I see dating and I highly recommend other people to read this if they are sick and tired of going from one person to another just to find the right one.

Inventing the University

After reading the article, I learned few things from the article and the class activity. One thing I got a deeper meaning of was the term 'commonplace'. At first, I thought it meant gathering knowledge from where you stand. From the activity we had in class, the actual meaning of the term is being around people who have the same knowledge as you do so conversation being held could be understandable. A commonplace is when a group of people gather and talk about the same topic let's say video games. For the people in that group, the terms such as 'noob', 'pwn' teabag', 'ftw' would be some terms the people in the group would understand. If a person of a different background lets say a scientist, he would be completely clueless as to what they are talking about. Commonplaces are groups of people who gather together to talk about similar things and understand the meaning of the conversation.

The article also discusses a term called 'writer based'. The definition the article has given is how a writer writes his essay or paper and thinks about what the reader will want to question or respond to a text. this term is pretty much saying when a writer writes, he basically knows what to type up or say so when the authors reader reads the text, there won't be any questions for the reader to ask the author. I would say this technique would be of good use for people who want to achieve in life as a writer. This technique would leave your readers with questions answered and wanting to continue with your style of writing. It's also a good idea to keep in mind that when you write up an essay or text, you are writing it for someone and they will have questions if your thesis isn't really being answered. It is a nice habit to have a mind set that when you are writing, you are writing for an audience not just a person sitting down and writing gibberish.

One last thing that I recall from the article was 'discourse'. This term is pretty much like the term 'code switching', but on paper. It's pretty much when you type up papers and talk in chats. I remember when I was in high school, I used some weird words when I typed in chat. I used words like 'wen', 'lik', 'kno', 'dat' I really had a weird phase back then, but i out grew it and started to fully type out my words. It was funny sometimes cause I would type up papers and sometimes i didn't really overlook the paper and see how many shortened words I had and I would just laugh at myself. Students in high school or college this have this mentality to change the way they talk whether it's in person or on paper. It's really amazing to see when people who you think may have really small knowledge, but when you see them type up a paper you become really surprised to the amount of big words they use.

Blog list

1) http://kotaku.com/

I'm listing this blog site as one of my sites cause its not just one person who writes blogs, it's the community. I put this blog site on my list since it keeps me informed of all the games that are coming out, already out, and reviewed. I go to this site daily just to keep an eye out for certain video game news like Street Fighter or God of War. This site is really good site for gamers and gamers alike.

2)http://www.themovieblog.com/

This site is my second choice cause I like to watch movies when I have a good feeling it is going to be awesome. When I feel like I need the right opinion for a movie i go here to check the movie out.

3) http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/

Now this blog is about food and to be more precise, food in the bay area. Sometimes its hard to find a good place to eat when you have a busy schedule or you barely go out to eat. This seems good for those who want to get something good to eat.

4)http://lostexp.com/

This blog site is another gamer site, but its more author based rather than an open community. Plus this blog is more based on strictly video games so its more along my alley. Also, the author of the site broadcasts on a site called justin.tv where he talks about games and random life situations. All in all this site is pretty good.

5)http://wongfuproductions.com/category/blog/

Now this site is not only a vlog but is also a blog. Wong Fu is a popular youtube production where three Asians, Philip, Ted, Wes, all make independent videos that base on life and situation in the world today. They have made some really memorable shorts, music videos, and vlogs. Wong Fu productions still make videos today and are really popular with the young generation. I really recommend this blog site to anyone who haven't heard of Wong Fu productions

Authentic vs Performance

I think Blum described her two terms pretty well and provided a good sense of examples. The way she defined bout authentic and performance self really helps the reader understand the terms. Blum did well in finding the right people to example her two terms. I would also have to agree as to what these two terms are telling us. There are people in this world that fit the descriptions very well and ts funny how we are seen this way.i think that her use of description were well thought out and perfectly depicted people who are authentic and performance self.

I would say that i apply myself to more of a authentic self more than a performance self. i do have my moments when i would give a stranger some fibs just to make myself look better in front of them. I say that i am most likely a authentic self since i don't really like to be a fake person or be friends with one. when it comes to presenting myself to new people, i tend to just be myself and give them the correct information. i really hate it when i meet people who seem nice and have good morals, but once the person hangs with certain people or go to certain places, like a bar, the other half of the person shows up and just saddens me. people do this action to conceal the real them and make up a totally new person with opposite traits of the person you meet. sometimes it's the opposite, the person would lie people of about their image with being a nice person. soon as some distance or disappearance of newly meet people, the person would go back to the original self. overall i would consider myself more of an authentic person, reason being is that i try to live life the way it is just see what happens. i don't like to try and alter my image just to make a few people like me or think i am cool. i stay true to who i am and don't need the media to tell me what i should look like in the world and just rebel against it.

i think the statement that Blum said is true. people are willing to get into any college that they desire just to get a well deserved degree from that college. people would lie and plagiarize just to receive what they desire and finish as quick as possible. people who are performance self tend to try and make due with life by providing people false information just so that they can succeed and go on with life. they think they can just go on through college with the imagery of a false character. plus performance selves have the willingness to plagiarize more than authentic selves since they don't really want to learn anything. performance selves aren't the type of people who would be true to themselves and learn anything in the class. while authentic selves on the other hand, they are willing to expose themselves to people but still hold some stuff back like personal issues. those type of people are the ones that don't really mind what other people think of them and accepts anything that happens to them.

Life Ruined by...plagiarism ?

After reading Gladwell's article, I felt upset for the life of Dorthy Lewis. the reason for being for this emotion is not the fact that Lewis' personal life was published in a theatrical, but the fact that her personal issues were included in the play. I'll be honest, I, myself, plagiarize depending on the topic and if i just feel lazy to read an article and discuss upon it with my own words, but i have limits as to what I should and should not plagiarize. Unlike Bryony Lavery, I have some sense of sympathy for someone else's life. It also seemed like Lavery published this story just to get fame and notification around the world. If Lavery were to have asked Lewis if publishing her life in theater was appropriate, I'm sure Lewis would have been fine with it, with the work of some editing. I can say that the action of Lavery were a bit over the top, but in a sense still kept the identity of the actual character hidden. In a sense,this kind of plagiarism falls between the line of being good and bad. Good, Lavery had the courtesy to protect the image of the actual people; bad, the actual person got to see their life played out on stage.

Another topic that I thought was a good one in the reading was the plagiarism of music creativity. I had no clue that there were so many songs that had similar samples and notes from other songs. I got really curious when I read the part where Gladwell mentioned the base line of "Angel" by Shaggy had the same bass line as "The Joker" by the Steve Miller band. I actually looked up these two songs on youtube to come to my surprise that both songs do have the same base line. Just to put this out there, I was kind of glad that I read this piece to understand the music industry more, but the rapper artist and so called "genius" Kanye West, yeah, I hate him. There I said it, it's my opinion and there's nothing no one out there can change my mind. I mean sure he does make some good sounding songs, but knowing that he took the samplings and hooks from other songs, put in some of his own twists, and then call it his work and title himself a genius, yeah i think not. I mean if he really was a so called "genius" then why doesn't he make up his own samples and beats and if he were to do that THEN and only THEN would I have more respect for him. I also find it funny how some artists say that their work was plagiarized when, in truth, they may have stolen the work from someone else. I also give props to that one professor in New York for being one heck of a lawyer. He is a music teacher and yet here he is protecting these artist's from law suits trying to sue the artist(s) for theft.

All in all, I thought this article was a pretty good one and taught me some new laws for the music industry.

what IS an essay?

when I hear or think of an essay I think of another paper assignment that i will not enjoy. When it comes to defining what an essay is, my definition of an essay is trying to prove your argument to an audience. To declare where you stand in a well constructed paper. After some research on the word itself, it states in Dictionary.com that an essay is "a short literary composition on a particular theme or subject" as a noun. Upon further research, I found another definition of essay in a verb stance from the same source which defined the word as "to try; attempt". It was surprising, to me, to know that essay is also known as a verb

My Words! intro + ch.1

After reading these two sections, i learned a lot from Martian Luther King Jr. being a plagiarist himself to Chinese people cheating and bribing on entrance exam. I also had some of my question answered after reading the book like when plagiarism started. I would have never guessed that man students from the research she did along with the help of her four students. I was also surprised to hear that not only students, but faculty members did some plagiarizing even after the got their degrees.

When I read the part in the book where Susan mentioned Martian Luther King Jr. plagiarizing I was just in plain shock. This historical figure who changed the way we live in America and is honored by many people actually did some plagiarizing himself. The book does mention that MLK’s professors let his plagiarism slip on a few occasions. One the reasons the book gives is that MLK’s professors were probably racist and didn’t want to set him to everyone else’s standard. Another reason for this mishap is overseeing the plagiarism due to the fact professor would over see it and just see his characteristic. Either way I see it, I still see MLK was a good, honorable, life changing man. If he were to see his own mistakes, he probably would have made a more epic speech than the one he wrote up.

Another part in the book that made me take a second look to certain Asians is the fact that Chinese people cheat and bribe their way into a good university.I had an idea of how colleges in China would accept people in to their college but I would have never guessed potential students cheating and bribing their way in. Writing cheats hidden on their underwear with invisible ink, hiring an impersonator, and having people answer your signals were the ways people cheated in China. I knew that plagiarism was bad, but i didn’t know it would this deep of plagiarism just to get into a good college. I was pretty mad reading how easily these people got in to college while students like me hard to actually use ours minds to get where we are today.