Completed your Term Paper ? Express yourself.
April 12th, 2007 | by Digvijay Lamba |Expression of what is understood through different sources, and an honest expression, forms the core of any Term Paper/Assignment.
But expression is important. I talk a lot, but when it comes to writing down my ramblings, I do have a tough time. Yet academic research is fun and those who take their Term Papers seriously learn a lot!! With about 1200 B-Schools in the U.S. and over a 1200 in India, there are a lot of people becoming managers. Research suggests that 80,000 students graduate each year in India. A normal Bachelor of Business Admisinstration (BBA) usually has about 3 class assignments. Considering the total number of Term Papers being churned out, we could create a TERM PAPER ARCHIVE somewhere in the captal of the country!!!
In the previous post, I had mentioned that I had no standard ways of getting the Term Papers/Class Assignments done. Of course, this sentiment was high when there was willingness to learn more from the student’s side too (remember how I mentioned slowing the rate of fleeing students!!)
In the present education scenario, writing a Term Paper can be as easy as copying some old version of the same topic. However, much depends on the institution and the faculty concerned too. For example,in IIM Ahmedabad, if a junior gets hold of any senior’s assignment/project report, the senior student is reprimanded!! Wowww…what purpose does this serve? Well, once a student has completed his assignment/project/paper, he takes all precautions to avoid his work from being filtered out. A lot of Management institutions maybe following that pattern, yet with the mushrooming of so many management institutions and lack of trained faculty, the situation is a lot grim. 950 B-Schools have been approved by the AICTE (All India Council of Technical Education) in 2006 (http://www.worldpress.org/Asia/2346.cfm)
However, at the micro level, it is in the hands of the teacher to get the best out of available talent and willingness to learn more in the students, at large.
My opinion is that, if possible and the academic constraints permit, Students should be put into a CONTINUOUS PROJECT MODE. For example, History Students could have visits to Archives (National or State level) if they are willing to take up such tasks. Management Students (at under-grad level) could start preparing questionnaires and taking interviews at an early stage. Or maybe, all the students, irrespective of the stream could write letters to the Mayor/Governor/Chief Minister on any social issue which interests them, and then could document their experience. Being exposed to information is one thing and expressing it in Black and White Formal format is totally a different issue.
This is an ideal situation, which needs
a) a lot of motivation by the faculty members,
b) belief in the learning proccess by the students,
c) and system to implement this process. Most of the management institutions follow either extremes or a mixed approach of “YOU DEVELOP YOURSELF STUDENTS” to “CARROT AND STICK APPROACH”. The education environment of Stanford, Harvard,etc in the U.S. context are harbingers to self development. Other management institutions focus more on dates and deadlines to make the students work hard.
Expressing and not “copy-pasting” is an ideal situation. However, a lot of time,energy and effort goes into the completion of the Term Papers. All that is needed is a curb on Plagiarism, honesty in writing the papers and honesty in assessment.
Tags: Issues
