Analysis, Paraphrasing Abilities Are True Indicators of Intelligence

I was sitting in class one day last semester when my professor handed each of the students a slip of paper with a term or concept pertaining to the class subject. Our assignment was to define our given term and present it during the next class period.

Next class rolls around and presentations begin. What spilled out of the mouths of some of these people was quite disappointing. Almost every student in the class had taken their term’s definition verbatim from the textbook. Hooray – they did their homework, but did they learn anything from it? I know I really didn’t.

Way too often I see students quoting and borrowing (sometimes plagiarizing) HUGE bits of information from (thankfully) reliable resources. It is great that students are researching and doing homework and things their professors ask of them, but seriously, what are they learning?

Whether I am reading a paper in the Cooper Center, or listening to presentations in class, I immediately wonder how well the student understands the concept they are discussing. When I see big blocks of quoted material, or hear students present information that sounds far beyond their linguistic and academic level I feel like they aren’t showing their intelligence.

They are showing they are capable of reading and using the resources available on campus, but it does not show their ability to analyze information and then put it into their own words.

I don’t think being able to quote Socrates or Winston Churchill or scholarly textbooks
is really showing intelligence. I think a person’s intelligence is better realized when they take that big quote, break it down, and explain it in a way that makes sense to them and in a way that is more applicable to the audience –and then worry about telling us who said it in the parenthetical citation.

No one wants to read quote after quote. No one wants to listen to some biology, psychology, medical, etc. jargon that only makes sense to the authors and professionals in the field. People want to hear the facts in simple English. They want to see that you understand what you’re talking about, otherwise your credibility is down the tubes and your audience gets bored.

I guess what I would like to see in the classroom and in the papers of all students is more analysis. I would like to see more professors encouraging, insisting, requiring even, that their students prove their comprehension of the subject by putting things in their own words and creating new examples (other than those listed in books) that explain the concept.

Students: don’t rely wholly on the knowledge of others. If you want to quote someone or something do so, but only make use of one or two lines, and then elaborate on the rest with your own knowledge. The main thing to remember is to paraphrase.

Cite all information like it’s your job and remember who your audience is.

Finally, consider this: if you’re not learning from your own research, chances are no one else is. Think outside of the book, outside of the source. Dare to analyze!