I am in a PhD program and obviously copying and pasting someone else’s work is bad. However, it’s ok to essentially copy someone else’s work as long as you totally rewrite it in another way, but then cite it so people know where it came from.
So this makes sense right…essentially no one has an original thought and basically we should simply cite every sentence we write, but they don’t want that. They actually want you to not cite every sentence and provide original thought. However, when you do, you get graded down for not citing sentences. And only use two or three actual quotes … anything more is too much.
On top of this craziness, you can’t even copy and paste something you’ve already written … how’s that for a zinger. You literally have to rewrite what you already said and then cite yourself.
Oh, and here’s a real zinger for you, you are only supposed to cite the written word that has been reviewed by professors and referencing actual experiences and the real world is frowned upon.
As most who have taken a Master’s or PhD lately know, Wikipedia is not considered peer reviewed, even though it is 100% peer reviewed (just not by PhDs), so it is not allowed as a reference ever. However, I was reading in the Handbook of Psychology, Volume 12, and low and behold if there wasn’t a reference from–you guessed it–Wikipedia.
I’m sure all of this makes complete sense in an acedemic world where using an “&” sign instead of “and” in a in-text citation is more critical than actually learning something.
I’ll be honest with you, I am really worried about the quality of actual knowledge that is coming out of doctoral programs. Call me crazy!