Student Mistakes in Term Papers - Quality Sources

You are NOT at the University of Google!

Here’s a common diagnosis for a poor grade in a student term paper: students seem to think they are attending the University of Google. You, your parents, your government, your scholarship body (or someone) paid or are paying for access to a multimillion-dollar searchable database of high quality peer reviewed sources, or a library filled with literally thousands of expensive books. Is this the source material that the majority of students consult for their term paper, or in preparation for high stakes examinations, or a research project, or problem based learning.

Of course it’s not. Far better for students to search Google and go with the first two or three search results, which might include lingering on a Wikipedia page on the subject. That certainly is a much better source of information for your paper than, you know…actual scholarship.

Right?

Wrong. Google and Wiki have their place in the world, but as sources of reliable information for an assignment topic at university level? Nope. Forgive the sarcasm, but too often this is precisely what tutors run up against when they read through term papers submitted by students, even at senior level. It doesn’t seem to matter to the students where the sources are from. It doesn’t seem to matter who wrote them, whether the authors are qualified or whether the publication outlet is reputable or ideologically skewed in some way. Did anyone check the content? Who cares!! It’s on the internet right? If it’s on the internet it must be true.

Well, as Abraham Lincoln once said: ‘not everything you read on the internet is true’.

The problem with too many students is that they’re book shy. In the age of smart phones and FaceTube that’s probably to be expected. But it’s also a bad affliction to have as a student at a university without putting in least some effort to engage with content in analogue form. Your three or four years in higher ed is going to be an endless series of evasions and workarounds that could all be avoided if you simply picked up a book, cleared your immediate space of trivial distractions, and read.

Maybe you do. Maybe this is not you. Maybe, you do actually put the reading in. If so, great.

The simple fact is this. The number of students that draw on quality material when preparing for take home assignments and high stakes exams is in the minority. If you are not getting good grades at university, one of the main reasons is that you’re not drawing on quality material. There is, putting it bluntly, absolutely zero excuse for this. Databases aside, there are a range of approaches you can use to check your sources and source data and relevant scholarship for your topic. But without doubt. Reading through a few volumes directly related to your topic, which are written by recognized experts in your field of study, is a tried and trusted way of improving your thinking on that topic and on your approach to it.

Here’s the big secret that’s not really a secret. In the same way that most people can’t think straight on an empty stomach, you also cannot reason well on an empty mind. You need to know about your subject before you can reason about it. There is no reasoning in an information vacuum. You can probably reason pretty well. Undoubtedly you do it a lot in other areas of your life. But in the field of study you’re jumping into at the start of your university or higher ed journey there is a requirement to understand the point of view, the research, the findings and the reflection undertaken by obscure scholars who have dedicated decades to teaching and research in your subject.

Nevertheless, it would seem that a barely acknowledged consensus has formed among contemporary undergrads that it is sufficient to have ‘researched’ the topic on YouTube and followed a couple of blogs. Warning. It is not sufficient. If you adopt this minimalist approach your papers will invariably wallow in the middle grade range — at best. And too many other things can go wrong to risk that being what you hang your grade on. Forget a higher grade, like an A or first-class mark.

The quality of your readings matters as much as the quantity. Get used to reading those quality sources.

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