Having just come across a first year undergraduate essay on rural issues, in
which the British National Party's website formed one of four references,
and text from which was used (badly) in the 'answer' provided, I was
wondering what colleagues elsewhere do in terms of these issues? Do other
departments have a policy on the use of fascist material, the sourcing of
fascist or far-right sources, or the articulation of fascist argument in
assessed pieces of work. In a sense this essay did not present much of a
'problem' in that the obnoxious claims made in it were totally unsupported
by any other supporting, or academic 'evidence', and it was easy to critique
on these grounds rather than me taking issue with the author's views
(should/could I have done? Could I mark something down for incorporating
such views?), but what if it were supported by such 'evidence' - what are
the implications - I remember a discussion at the cgf conference in Coventry
last year (?) or was it a postgrad one in London (?) concerning teaching
students with active links to far-right groups, but can't remember what was
said. I guess this also has links to use of the internet per se, and would
welcome any comments/ideas concerning how other colleagues/departments
'deal' with sourcing/plagiarism/refferenicng issues in relation to its use
by students.
Cheers
DF
____________________________________________
Duncan Fuller
Division of Geography and Environmental Management
Lipman Building
University of Northumbria at Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
UK
Tel (Direct): (0191) 2273753
Tel (Division Office): (0191) 2273951
Fax: (0191) 2274715
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|