Writing academic/scholarly papers (page 2)

jgnat

So I want to know, who are these "celebrated scholars", what are their names, where is their work published, and has it been critically reviewed by their peers?

Thanks for your precise defintion of academic writing. It's amazing to me that the WTBTS as an admitted "publisher" fails to follow industry guidelines. One failure which disturbs me the most is their refusual to identify the authors of their publications. In their periodicals such as "The Watchtower" and the "Awake," articles within any given publication clearly have a different voice, yet the author is never cited.

As you clearly pointed out, if I followed the WTBTS format in writing my college essays and papers, I would fail.

Regards,

NYCkid

Lady Lee

So I want to know, who are these "celebrated scholars", what are their names, where is their work published, and has it been critically reviewed by their peers?

Ah yes. The dreaded "We do not honor men as the writers because the editor is Jehovah Himself" argument. Academic and scholarly religious works require the author's name. Business, on the other hand, often uses corporate names. Hmmmmmmmm

diamondblue1974

Your points are well expressed LL.

Since studying (academically) I have also realised that the societies publications are worthless in an academic sense; for them to use the words 'scholarly' in their publications its an insult to the considerable time and effort many scholars and academics commit to researching and providing their opinions.

Its laughable really.

DB74

Forscher

Great essay Lady Lee.
When I went to college and then to unsiversity, I had to use the formats accepted by several different academic disciplines (Humanities [MLA], History [Annotated Bibliography], Anthropology [a modified APA]) and master the one apropriate to my own, the APA. So I know what you are talking about. Of course my experience is fairly typical of college students as you made quite clear.

The way the WTS treats true academic and scholarly works is illegal and unethical. It certainly isn't academic or scholarly.

Actually, it is not illegal, however, it is true that it is very unethical not to attribute the material they use as well as being very disrespectful. Considering the attitude of the WTBTS, it is not very surprising.
Forscher

Lady Lee

Actually, it is not illegal,

I'm not sure about this.

Copyright laws are pretty clear. Misquoting (twisting the intent of the original author) and plagarism are legal issues. Aren't they? They might get away with a bit of "fair use" but the way the WTS uses citations from outside sources certainly crosses the line of copyright laws.

Super_Becka

Copyright laws are pretty clear. Misquoting (twisting the intent of the original author) and plagarism are legal issues. Aren't they?

I would think that plagarism is very illegal. As a university student, I'd had to sit through many lectures about the seriousness of plagarism - it's considered "academic theft", it's stealing someone else's ideas and words and claiming them to be your own. Plagarism in university can get you expelled, no ifs, ands or buts.

I don't know anything about copyright law, but couldn't plagarism and misquoting and all of that be considered illegal and warrant legal action??

-Becka :)

JeffT

I don't know why I didn't figure this out when I first started studying with JW's. I was about to graduate with a degree in English/Education. If I'd been given a high school paper written like a Watchtower article I'd have given it an "F" for the lack of footnotes and bibliography alone. If you want to write your own ideas it is an opinion piece (or maybe even fiction) but you should still include your credentials for writing it.

TD

Plagiarism is always unethical, it's always a breach of Academic Honesty, but strictly speaking, not illegal in and of itself.

Let's assume, for example, that someone plagiarizes a 100+ year old work. What law has been broken? Unless the copyright on the work in question has been renewed, no law has been broken.

As Lady Lee observes, in practice, plagiarism may often include copyright violation and that is certainly illegal. But there's no copyright violation in any quotation (accurate or inaccurate) that is clearly represented and attributed as such.

stillajwexelder

the biggest issue on academic and scholarly style I have with the WTBTS is quoting out of context or selectively and then not giving FULL references so they can be checked and peer reviewed

Writing academic/scholarly papers

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