Should Students Have Homework

It also serves as the official homework policy for many school districts, even though the NEA s outline of the policy now leads to an error page.

A college student completely swamped with homework.

Should Students Have Homework?

It used to be that students were the only ones complaining about the practice of assigning homework. For years, teachers and parents thought that homework was a necessary tool when educating children. But studies about the effectiveness of homework have been conflicting and inconclusive, leading some adults to argue that homework should become a thing of the past.

What Research Says about Homework

According to Duke professor Harris Cooper, it’s important that students have homework. His meta-analysis of homework studies showed a correlation between completing homework and academic success, at least in older grades. He recommends following a "10 minute rule": students should receive 10 minutes of homework per day in first grade, and 10 additional minutes each subsequent year, so that by twelfth grade they are completing 120 minutes of homework daily.

But his analysis didn’t prove that students did better because they did homework; it simply showed a correlation. This could simply mean that kids who do homework are more committed to doing well in school. Cooper also found that some research showed that homework caused physical and emotional stress, and created negative attitudes about learning. He suggested that more research needed to be done on homework’s effect on kids.

Some researchers say that the question isn’t whether kids should have homework. It’s more about what kind of homework students have and how much. To be effective, homework has to meet students’ needs. For example, some middle school teachers have found success with online math homework that’s adapted to each student’s level of understanding. But when middle school students were assigned more than an hour and a half of homework, their math and science test scores went down.

Researchers at Indiana University discovered that math and science homework may improve standardized test grades, but they found no difference in course grades between students who did homework and those who didn’t. These researchers theorize that homework doesn’t result in more content mastery, but in greater familiarity with the kinds of questions that appear on standardized tests. According to Professor Adam Maltese, one of the study’s authors, "Our results hint that maybe homework is not being used as well as it could be."

So while many teachers and parents support daily homework, it’s hard to find strong evidence that the long-held practice produces positive results.

Problems with Homework

In an article in Education Week Teacher, teacher Samantha Hulsman said she’s frequently heard parents complain that a 30-minute homework assignment turns into a three-hour battle with their kids. Now, she’s facing the same problem with her own kids, which has her rethinking her former beliefs about homework. "I think parents expect their children to have homework nightly, and teachers assign daily homework because it’s what we’ve always done," she explained. Today, Hulsman said, it’s more important to know how to collaborate and solve problems than it is to know specific facts.

Child psychologist Kenneth Barish wrote in Psychology Today that battles over homework rarely result in a child’s improvement in school. Children who don’t do their homework are not lazy, he said, but they may be frustrated, discouraged, or anxious. And for kids with learning disabilities, homework is like "running with a sprained ankle. It’s doable, but painful."

Barish suggests that parents and kids have a "homework plan" that limits the time spent on homework. The plan should include turning off all devices—not just the student’s, but those belonging to all family members.

One of the best-known critics of homework, Alfie Kohn, says that some people wrongly believe "kids are like vending machines—put in an assignment, get out learning." Kohn points to the lack of evidence that homework is an effective learning tool; in fact, he calls it "the greatest single extinguisher of children’s curiosity that we have yet invented."

Homework Bans

Last year, the public schools in Marion County, Florida, decided on a no-homework policy for all of their elementary students. Instead, kids read nightly for 20 minutes. Superintendent Heidi Maier said the decision was based on Cooper’s research showing that elementary students gain little from homework, but a lot from reading.

Orchard Elementary School in South Burlington, Vermont, followed the same path, substituting reading for homework. The homework policy has four parts: read nightly, go outside and play, have dinner with your family, and get a good night’s sleep. Principal Mark Trifilio says that his staff and parents support the idea.

But while many elementary schools are considering no-homework policies, middle schools and high schools have been reluctant to abandon homework. Schools say parents support homework and teachers know it can be helpful when it is specific and follows certain guidelines. For example, practicing solving word problems can be helpful, but there’s no reason to assign 50 problems when 10 will do. Recognizing that not all kids have the time, space, and home support to do homework is important, so it shouldn’t be counted as part of a student’s grade.

So Should Students Have Homework?

Should you ban homework in your classroom? If you teach lower grades, it’s possible. If you teach middle or high school, probably not. But all teachers should think carefully about their homework policies. By limiting the amount of homework and improving the quality of assignments, you can improve learning outcomes for your students.

Homework Reduces Screen Time

Kohn points to the lack of evidence that homework is an effective learning tool; in fact, he calls it the greatest single extinguisher of children s curiosity that we have yet invented. He oversees a team of gear-obsessed writers and editors dedicated to finding and featuring the newest, best, and most innovative gadgets on the market and beyond.

Homework can be something that gets parents involved in their children’s lives if the environment is a healthy one. A parent helping their child with homework makes them take part in their academic success, and allows for the parent to keep up with what the child is doing in school. It can also be a chance to connect together.

Resources:

https://www.popsci.com/science/do-kids-need-homework/
https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/should-students-have-homework1808.html
https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-homework/
]

13 Essential Editing Tips to Use in Your Essay Writing

Develop a process that involves both proofreading and editing as one to turn in the best possible work.

How Do I Edit My Essay?

edit my essay

Editing is an essential part of the writing process. And it’s the part that students most often skip over. So much can be gained from taking the time to edit your work. Besides the obvious spelling and grammar errors, there’s fixing flaws in logic, eliminating repetition, polishing word choice and improving the overall flow of the essay.

Step 1 – Embrace Drafts

The first thing you need to accept in order to edit your papers well is that you’ll need to write more than one draft. Sometimes a first draft only needs some light editing and sometimes it needs a major overhaul that requires a couple more rounds before it’s finished. If you’re used to cranking out an essay and turning it in as soon as you’ve written the last word, you’ll have to adjust to the fact that editing requires more time and effort than you’re used to putting into your work.

Step 2 – Give It Time

Time is one of the most effective editing tools. Professional writers often put their work away for a while before going back to re-read it so that they can look at it again with fresh eyes. If you tend to write your papers the night before they’re due, you’re missing out on the benefit of this technique. The longer you wait after finishing your first draft and when you go back to edit it, the more thorough and successful your editing will be.

Step 3 – Peer-Edit

Asking a friend or parent to read over your essay is a uniquely effective way to edit it. It gives you a totally different perspective that you just wouldn’t be able to have on your own. Make sure you choose someone who is either a good student or an educated adult. And ask them to be honest in their critique.

Step 4 – Read It Out Loud

When you read something silently, your mind tends to fill in blanks and skip over errors. But when you read something out loud, it tends to highlight the mistakes. Reading out loud also helps you hear the flow of your essay. If you find yourself running out of breath as you read through a marathon sentence, you’ll know you need to break it up. If you stumble over the words, it might be a case of awkward phrasing. Be sure to pause and take notes on what you need to edit as you read through your essay out loud.

Step 5 – Divide and Conquer

Another strategy for editing is to do several rounds of it. It can be overwhelming to scan for spelling, grammar, flow, repetition and content. So why not break them up?

  • Read through your draft the first time for content – Make sure there are no holes in your logic. Have you used good examples in your body paragraphs or do you need to find better ones?
  • Look for word repetition – It’s a common error to repeat words in an essay. Get a thesaurus and find some alternatives.
  • Flow – How does it sound? Is it easy to follow or is it confusing? Using connecting words can vastly improve an essay’s readability. Words such as “Moreover”, “Therefore”, “Likewise”, “On the other hand”, “Alternatively” can help signal the direction you’re going to the reader.
  • Spelling & grammar – Check for run-on sentences, tense and pronoun consistency, commonly confused words (their vs. they’re, your vs. you’re, its vs. it’s) and general spelling mistakes.

Step 6 – Use Editing Tools

There are a lot of editing apps and tools available to help you spot errors you missed. Try the Hemingway App, an easy-to-use app to help you simplify your language, get rid of run-on sentences, and alert you when you’ve used passive voice. ProWritingAid has a free version for up to 3,000 words. Take advantage of their advanced editing tools to guard against spelling and grammar mistakes, plagiarism and much more.

If editing sounds difficult, don’t worry. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it. And the better your papers will be for it.

How Do I Edit My Essay?

edit my essay

Editing is an essential part of the writing process. And it’s the part that students most often skip over. So much can be gained from taking the time to edit your work. Besides the obvious spelling and grammar errors, there’s fixing flaws in logic, eliminating repetition, polishing word choice and improving the overall flow of the essay.

The first thing you need to accept in order to edit your papers well is that you’ll need to write more than one draft. Sometimes a first draft only needs some light editing and sometimes it needs a major overhaul that requires a couple more rounds before it’s finished. If you’re used to cranking out an essay and turning it in as soon as you’ve written the last word, you’ll have to adjust to the fact that editing requires more time and effort than you’re used to putting into your work.

Explore your resources

Learning to self-edit can be a struggle for even the most seasoned writers and for those just getting started, it may present a significant obstacle. This means being consistent with your use of fonts, using italics or underline for emphasis rather than using them interchangeably, ensuring that the spacing between lines is consistent throughout, and other such minor aesthetic points.

When we spend a lot of time writing something, there often isn’t enough distance to give it a proper edit. We tend to skim because we’re so familiar with the text, overlooking potential errors. If you can, give yourself at least a day in between writing and editing. This planning will help you learn to edit more effectively and give you the time and space required to properly draft your work.

Resources:

https://www.essaytigers.com/how-do-i-edit-my-essay
https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/essay-editing-tips/
https://www.varsitytutors.com/blog/top+10+essay+editing+tips
]

Consequences of college plagiarism

put links to sources when paraphrasing close to the text or using the original ideas of another author;.

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Consequences of college plagiarism

American, Canadian and British colleges hold academic integrity in very high regard. Borrowed or copied content, as well as other dishonest methods students resort to when writing papers are severely punished. The list of reasons why students engage in plagiarism is diverse. Some are lazy, others lack knowledge and skills. Sometimes a student will strive to do a good job by any means. Yet not all of them consider the college’s policy on students copying other people’s ideas.

If there is ground to suspect the student of not being responsible for their own project, they are faced with serious sanctions and punishments. Plagiarism consequences in college can affect the person’s future career. They are not to be taken lightly.

One of the options for punishment for plagiarism in college includes giving the student a bad grade. If a student accidentally forgot to refer to the source, copied an insignificant part of the work, they will receive an unsatisfactory mark.

Stricter penalties for plagiarism in college are provided for those who intentionally or repeatedly cheat. Their work is not accepted. The person therefore risks flunking the class entirely.

Academic sanctions may also be applied against a student caught for plagiarism in college. Such behavior is looked down upon. Students accused of being dishonest do not inspire trust among professors and their work is checked more thoroughly. Since plagiarism attempts are all recorded, this may become an obstacle to entering other universities.
Publishing articles is a regular academic activity. An eviscerated reputation can lead to the loss of the ability to share your ideas and studies in respectable publications. And often this brings the person’s career to a complete halt.

Plagiarism in students is also punished by expulsion from the college. The establishment resorts to this option after the culprit continuously ignores the comments, keeps using content without referencing the original author. Sometimes this is an automatic process. Other institutions make this final decision only when a large part of the project is unoriginal.

A bad academic reputation often haunts people throughout their professional careers. This hinders politicians, businessmen, public figures. Sometimes such a revelation alone can result in the person getting fired.

  • put links to sources when paraphrasing close to the text or using the original ideas of another author;
  • use footnotes; do not forget to put quotation marks when including quotes in your text;
  • if the quote is long, it is better to get permission from the author to add it to your work;
  • use special plagiarism-checking services or apps, like, Skandy;
  • use illustrations, drawings, and other non-textual materials in their projects only with the consent of their authors and put down links to sources.

The easiest way to check the quality of your paper is to run it through a plagiarism check. Using the Skandy app, students can do this on their own before handing over their work to their professor. The service is designed for PCs and laptops, as well as for iOS and Android devices.
To check, you need to upload your materials in the form of a text, photo, URL or file. Algorithms analyze web pages. The result of the check is a detailed report with the overall percentage of plagiarism, with unoriginal parts being highlighted. It also contains links to the original materials.
It’s convenient and fast. If your work isn’t unique enough for the requirements of your college, the areas highlighted by Skandy can be reworked and re-checked. The app supports 27 languages and has a free trial version.

Destroyed Professional Reputation

Work is defined as theses, drafts, completed essays, examinations, quizzes, projects, assignments, presentations, or any other form of communication, be it on the Internet or in any other medium or media. This is because the student has proven that they are dishonest and unworthy of a place, preventing more honest students with a stronger academic record from enrolling in the course.

While plagiarism is a problem often associated with school or college, these are not the only places where one can face the consequences of plagiarism. iThenticate, a leading producer of anti-plagiarism software, reports on six different consequences of plagiarism:

Resources:

https://www.scanmyessay.com/plagiarism/consequences-of-plagiarism.php
https://skandy.co/blog/consequences-plagiarism
https://guides.library.ucmo.edu/plagiarism
]