General Study Advice

Students, Know Your Rights!

In light of news that a student did not own the copyright to her dissertation, it pays to be aware of your rights.

You may be asked to sign away the copyright and ownership of your work when you begin studying. This could be through signing an intellectual property (IP) release. Your work may no longer strictly be considered your work.

photo by threephin

All institutions have different rules. Some let you keep all rights while others want you to give up ownership. Students are not properly briefed on this in most cases. The strange situation generally leads to no issues, but that doesn’t mean there’s no problem in this.

I recommend you do the following things:

Don’t sign any document/contract/agreement unless you understand what you’re signing. If you don’t understand, question it. It’s hard (if not impossible) to later argue that you didn’t realise what you were signing. However, if the understanding is fundamentally changed or the contract is simply unfair, the contract can be argued and could be worth nothing.
Check your university’s IP policy. If you’ve already signed away rights, it’s best you know. Even if you haven’t, it’s best you understand how the university regards work that you consider your own.

Due to the recent case mentioned above, I question whether universities should be granted an individual, unique say in regulations. Surely it would be reasonable, easier to understand, and in the interests of students for the issue of copyright and ownership to be made standard across all institutions?

There is an ethical point in this particular case and I don’t have enough information to understand whether or not large parts of the student’s work was used without enough attribution to the author. The author was apparently credited as the third author on the paper, but was this enough? Is this even relevant?

Some people argue this is all standard practice. I don’t think that’s the point. Deeming something standard practice doesn’t make it reasonable. Until a case like the one above gets properly tested in court, I fear there won’t be a proper resolution to the problem.

Whatever the score, make sure you’re in the know. If you have a choice, don’t automatically sign away your rights.

Back Away From Pointless Plagiarism

Plagiarism doesn’t always have to be intentional. It’s unlikely, but certainly possible if you’re not careful.

Seeing double? (photo by bananabren)

Get your wits about you and give credit where it’s due. Here are a few ways you can stay on the right side of things:

Don’t take another person’s unique idea and use it unless you reference that person’s work.
Cite the source of facts, statistics, and quotations.
Don’t copy from elsewhere without properly referencing and attributing, no matter how obscure it is.
If it’s a close call and you feel a reference may be needed to cover all ground, do put the reference. Don’t second guess yourself and decide against putting a footnote. Citing it means that you’ve done your research and it means you won’t get into unnecessary trouble later down the line.
Quote and reference in advance. When you copy quotations, photocopy pages, or do anything with another person’s work, make sure to note down the reference, so you can add it easily to an essay later. A major time-waster for many students can be the bibliography and references at the end. Even if you don’t use half the information you’ve gathered, you’ll still save time having noted the proper referencing notes in the first place, rather than working it out at the time. I found this out pretty quickly…A quotation without a reference can be hell!
Don’t blindly rely on what classmates have to say on a subject. If you take down someone’s opinion on an essay topic, how do you know it’s an original thought? You may find that the idea is a very specific one that’s held by an important academic in the field. From taking a friend’s idea and thinking you’re onto a good thing, you may find difficulty when you’re being asked how you came across this information. Stick to your own ideas and back them up.

It isn’t always as simple as copying someone else’s writing or idea word for word. There are many different ways to get caught in the trap. Here are some more helpful links to help you understand what plagiarism can be:

Photo by mollyjolly

Does teamwork win out, or a one-person mind-machine?

Even if you don’t watch University Challenge, you probably noticed the show’s growing presence over the last few days. This year’s final was broadcast on Monday and some people went crazy. The reason? Gail Trimble, of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

The whole UK (it seems!) has been awash with hype on who is possibly the best single contestant University Challenge has seen. Ms Trimble has become the topic of conversation rather than the whole team from Corpus Christi.

Trimble has divided the public. Is she smug or sexy? Tremendous or troublesome? Awesome or awful? Arrogant or affable? Right down to the flick of her hair when she answers correctly, it seems that people have been obsessing in a way that’s not generally expected when it comes to University Challenge.

university-challenge

As for me, I wanted Manchester to win the final, because I have admired their fantastic teamwork over the course of the series. They nearly crushed Corpus Christi (or the Trimble Treadmill), but a late surge from Corpus Christi was just too fast-paced for Manchester. I didn’t feel that bad about the great comeback, because I would attribute much of it on Corpus Christi’s other team members, rather than Trimble alone. Teamwork, ftw!

University Challenge is a team game, so I’m over the moon that Manchester got to the final and convincingly held their ground, despite losing in the end. Even Corpus Christi gave a team effort when it mattered.

Here are 11 ways they managed it:

Don’t dismiss ideas out of hand. Sometimes it takes crazy thinking to get the most out of a team. Shut them up quickly and you shut them up for good. What’s the point in that?
Listen to everyone. Manchester’s team captain (Matthew Yeo) gave everyone an equal hearing. It’s a team, after all.
Don’t have favourite members. Just because you gel with someone and appreciate the ideas they have, now is not the time to limit your focus. If you see further value in another person and you want to engage further with them, do that independently of the team you’re working in.
Enjoy what you’re doing so you relax more. Life’s too short to take it that seriously. Manchester would confer and, at the same time, have a laugh as they did it. And as soon as Corpus Christi won University Challenge, Manchester applauded them. That said, they were led by Henry Pertinez who, apparently, originally studied at Corpus Christi…!
Debate in a friendly tone. Don’t just argue.
Recognise each member’s strong points…
…but don’t allow anything but definite knowledge to shut out people’s views. Someone else’s guess could be right. University Challenge has proved that in the recent past, including when Gail Trimble disagreed with a team member’s correct answer and gave a wrong one instead (no disrespect to her teamwork, just a recent observation).
Engage positively with all members. Congratulate them on the best answers/ideas. Give credit where it’s due. Encourage more participation.
If applicable, don’t be afraid to ask for help outside the group. Sometimes you can all be at a loss. It’s fine to be uncertain. See if you can work together to find the best person to enlighten you all. [Note: That doesn’t work on University Challenge, but it’s something you should remember for your own team work.]
Don’t hold a grudge. In University Challenge, there’s no time to get annoyed when someone interrupts and answers incorrectly. Okay, they’ve lost the team 5 points, but the game goes on. They will likely redeem themselves later and may have already been worth far more than 5 points anyway. It’s the same elsewhere. Even a couple of minor mistakes aren’t the end of the world. Keep it in perspective.
Lead…don’t command. A true leader is encouraging rather than pushy. Get it wrong and people may not want to pull their weight. What’s the point if they’re not going to feel rewarded in the process?

That’s teamwork…but how intelligent are the University Challenge contestants? Just because Trimble answered so many questions correctly, University Challenge in general doesn’t test a person’s intelligence. Trimble is clearly intelligent, but that’s not the point. I enjoy seeing how many questions I get right each episode, but I don’t feel clever when I get a lot correct. It’s just a good set of questions for me. That’s why teamwork is the best thing to look for on a show like this.

Textbooks: How do you get around the issue of cost?

Reading lists come and go, but the books you buy are likely to stay with you for a while.

Some of the books I bought in my first year are still mine and I’m glad I was told to buy them. Other books seemed a waste of time and money. Another set of books served a purpose, but didn’t need to be kept after their initial use.

photo by marzbars

Academic books often cost a lot more than a brand new work of fiction in hardback. Worse, they are almost never discounted like the fiction books. But we still need them to get through our studies.

One alternative option is to grab a downloaded version of the textbook you need. A lot of these publications cost almost as much as the physical product anyway, so what’s the point in saving a pint’s worth of month when you were hoping for enough to afford a bottle of fine malt whisky? Perhaps electronic book publishing needs a new approach.

There is a growing culture of downloading electronic versions of textbooks illegally for free, but even that doesn’t impress many students to the point of satisfaction. It isn’t great working from a computer screen and electronic books aren’t easy to browse in the same way a hard copy is.

Given the choice, many students still want a physical book in their hands. No matter how much reading material I find online, the greatest satisfaction is through a product I can actually flick through. @seawolf and @amy_runner agreed when I asked on Twitter how students prefer to work…from traditional textbooks and face-to-face lectures, or from electronic resources and virtual seminars:

seawolf – “Real always. Paper and face-to-face.”

amy_runner – “I prefer traditional textbooks and face-face lectures, easier to read and more interaction makes it more engaging.”

Manchester Metropolitan University’s Institute of Education also discovered that teenagers prefer traditional teaching methods, which includes using physical textbooks, rather than electronic alternatives. It seems that while we love making use of technology, there is a tendency to go back to basics when studying. Technology complements traditional methods of learning, it doesn’t replace it.

So what can you do to get the actual textbook without having to spend big time?

Buy secondhand – You don’t have to buy new. There is a lot of choice on sites like Amazon and abebooks. There are others, but these two sites have generally found me what I need.
Use other students – Speak to people in the year above who may have finished with certain textbooks and offer to buy them cheaply. If you don’t need to own the book, ask to borrow it until the end of the module or academic year…you never know!
Ask for a discount – As a student, your NUS Extra card can help you find discounts at some bookshops. Even when you’ve got a definite discount like this, there’s no harm in asking for an extra discount. Some shops are able to offer more money off when you ask, and you haven’t lost anything if they say ‘no’. Worth a go. Remember to smile sweetly…
To the library – When you don’t need to keep your own copy of a book, see if the library holds a copy. Best do this early on, before all copies of the book get taken out. If it’s a very popular title, see how long you can keep the book. If it’s only going to be in your hands for a week, but your module lasts a term, you clearly need a different plan!
Try local libraries – It might be a long shot in some cases, but you never know what a local library can do if you don’t try. Most local libraries have stock searches on the web, so you can see if they have a copy without even leaving your seat.
Consider an old edition of the textbook – If you don’t need the most up to date edition (unfortunately, sometimes you do), then you can save money by opting for the previous edition. There’s more chance that book will be available secondhand too (see No. 1).

Other than this, how do we get around the issue of cost? Not easily, is the unfortunate answer. I don’t dare think how much money I had to spend on books at uni. Too much is all I know. And I didn’t even have it bad. None of my books were more than about £40. I know people who had to spend more than £100 on a single tome!

If you’ve managed to get a physical textbook at a great discount (or even free), help us out with your tips in the comments. You could make some skint students happy!

photo by Wesley Fryer

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