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Wanted: paraphrase teaching tool

Browsing online late last night, I came across a Javascript tool for distinguishing between two text strings and an implementation of corrected code that works great as a check on paraphrasing. I need to modify this for students at some point, as a task (and then put breadcrumbs back to the programmers who did this, […]

Al-Arian and academic freedom, redux

…I’m sure that if there is a conviction, many will claim that the conviction is proof that the administration of USF did the right thing by trying to fire Al-Arian before indictment and by firing him right afterwards. That is essentially an argument that the end result of a criminal trial justifies the employment actions of a university….

Do I look like I’m from MIT?

Yesterday, I was at the Central Park hawk bench, enjoying a discussion with one of the birding regulars there about Pale Male, when she asked me if I taught at MIT. Well, I’ll admit that’s the most unusual question I’ve ever heard from an adult. Occasionally I pretend that I’ve heard a rude question for […]

Plagiarist e-mails…

I just received an interesting e-mail from Judith Kelly, the author of a “memoir” whose work was surprisingly similar to a work by Antonia White in 1933 and more recent work by Hilary Mantel. I’m a bit at a loss as to how to respond, so I thought I’d let my readers vote. Here’s what […]

Waves of globalization

This morning, I was chairing an attrition-attacked panel at the Social-Science History Association meeting, where one presenter just never made it and where the discussant had to e-mail me her comments because of a minor family crisis. But the comments started a very nice discussion after two papers that appeared to have an odd juxtaposition—one […]