REALLY? (I'm venting, really.)

And now for venting. You know how much I worry about plagiarism with my beloved OCD companion.

But then I get to help proof-read for my group's work. And there were a number of unquoted quotes. That makes me kind of really angry. Really, cowriters? Don't you care about citing quotes right? Aren't you at all afraid of getting an F if we plagiarize? Don't you think blatent quotes should be blatently quoted? Well, I guess I can give you credit for not switching two words out and calling it a paraphrase. But please, please, please, please, please put in those quotes. Do I need to check every statement in here? Because I can if I need to, but I shouldn't have to. Writers, an accidental quote, that is what a proofreader should catch, not repeated, word-for-complicated-word quoting without quotes. That is your job!

So now I'm worrying because I didn't go through and check every single sentence for unquoted quotes. Instead, I asked the group leader to have the writers check their work. Trusting people again. And we see how that worked out the first time. And we see how maybe I'm not being fair. Maybe they didn't know how to quote quotes. In college, in a junior or senior class. Maybe they thought you don't have to in a Power Point presentation. Huh? Am I completely off base here? Is it just because I have stupid OCD? What happened to carefully putting in the "so and so said, "quoted material" carrying phrase, or whatever it is that people call that when you say who said the material you are quoting.

Frustration. Maybe that's what I get for doing schoolwork on Sunday. How evil of me?

And I'm already so stupid anxious. Energized, I suppose, but not pleasantly. Yesterday the depression, today the anxiety. Hi, friend anxiety, how I missed you. My life just isn't the same without you. I might do something crazy like relax if you leave me alone to long. REALLY?

Today, I colored in church. I sat in the back, so that it wouldn't be as obvious. I think only the lady next to me and maybe the sound guy knew what I was doing. But I needed something to temper my anxiety. I was still listening, I just needed to do something to help me relax.

Then I pulled out my markers and scrap paper at the table when I finished eating before Bible study (we each bring sack lunches and then eat together). The pastor smiled at me. Not sure if he was amused by my childishness, my boldness, or my eccentricness. But it doesn't really matter. I was bored, and anyway, I was still listening! (And I didn't color during Bible study time.)

Well, I think I'll go return my overdue movie, perhaps rent another, and then...

Oh, wait. Get ready for preschool tomorrow. Never mind, I'll keep enjoying the internet a little longer (internet: site of amazing craft ideas for preschool teachers).

Comments

  1. Tina Fariss BarbourMarch 3, 2013 at 8:52 PM

    I would be upset by the unquoted quotes, too. You shouldn't have to fix them all. That's the others' responsibility to fix their own. I don't think you're off base, and I don't think it's OCD. It's the correct way to do things academically.

    I hope you were able to relax this evening. I hate feeling that anxious energy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 71ยบ & SunnyMarch 4, 2013 at 9:09 PM

    Ugh - I hated that when I had to do school projects in groups. That happened ALMOST EVERY TIME! I remember I had one project where literally every single thing this person did on their Power Point presentation was a word for word copy (without citing anything of course). I had to (politely) confront them, and I ended up having to re-write their entire part because (of course) they had no time to do it as their job was so busy at that point. Sure.

    I bet the pastor smiled at you because he was just happy to see you there! Often times, we assume all kinds of things when people look at us, but a lot of the time I bet they are thinking nice things!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ElizaMarch 5, 2013 at 12:35 PM

    Oh, group work... I too hated it in school!

    Working in a college library and educating students about copyright and plagerism is a big part of our library instruction classes (thank Goodness, I don't have to teach those).

    You know and with all the automatic citation sources there are available nowadays, there really is no excuse for your co-writers to not have cited their quotes.

    YOU should not have this burden. Seriously. I'm sorry it fell on your shoulders.

    ReplyDelete

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