Feel-good word of the day? Facilitation.

I got the following email today:

I replied with the following email:

Thank you for asking. That was quite unusual and rather nice. But I have to admit that it's not all right with me. Teachers don't assign term papers because they want you to write a good paper. They assign term papers so you may experience the benefit of thinking through the process of writing a good paper. If you were to copy/paste or even modify my work without citing me, you would be doing more than committing a large breach of integrity; you would be letting yourself out of the chance to learn from this experience.

Of course, I wouldn't recommend you cite my paper at all. Although my Gawain paper was in a sense placed into the scholarly arena via the presentation I gave at the ELL 2003 conference, I highly doubt your teacher would take my word as any sort of authority.

If do you want to benefit from my research, you may wish to look up some of the sources I cite in my bibliography. But make sure you tell your teacher that you're using my bibliography.

Academic integrity is very important to me. This area was where I made many of my major contributions to Elizabethtown college. I hope you are able to adequately complete your assignment while staying true to the ideals of integrity, honesty, and quality research.

I don't know what your situation is, but if you're feeling uncertain about this paper, the following tip might help. Remember: no matter how frustrating or difficult your assignment may seem, your teacher is there to help you. If you're confused or even just behind schedule, the best strategy is always to talk to your teacher. Your teachers are there to help.

Good luck with the paper!