[Teaching_Composition] What drafts can tell us about infromation literacy

[Russ Hunt]

I have way too much to say on this and no time to say it, but I 
really want to offer an "amen" to Rolf's reference to "the 
*positive* uses of citation." The hysteria over plagiarism being 
whipped up by turnitin.com and a compliant media -- and the 
virtually unanimous tone of universities' "statements" on 
"academic integrity" -- make it pretty much impossible for a 
student to think of quoting or citing as anything other than a 
frantic defense against being accused of theft. This is 
absolutely right:

> Far from merely being a device to cover one's behind or
> forestall questions of plagiarism, citation can frame
> questions, establish currency and credibility, advertise
> allegiances, and explore disagreements and open questions. 

And this is even better:

> What are you seeing in those drafts that speak to the need to
> rethink our treatment of information literacy and of digital
> technologies?  (I for one am very interested in rhetoricizing
> our approach-that is, linking information literacy more
> closely to rhetorical issues and writing processes.) 

I need to take time to reread the previous postings here; this 
is a subject I feel pretty passionately about. A few years ago I 
wrote a paper and gave a couple of conference keynotes outlining 
some reasons we should welcome the ease with which technology 
affords plagiarism, because it challenges the conventional 
practices of writing instruction at their base.

If you're interested, you can read the reasonably short version, 
"Four Reasons to be Happy about Internet Plagiarism," here:

http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/4reasons.htm

-- Russ

St. Thomas University
http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/