Analysis of David Rothenberg's How the Web Destroys Quality of Students' Research Papers
Summary of How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students’ Research Papers
底亚峰, 21417002
In the essay “How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students’ Research Papers”, David Rothenberg proposes an opinion that the web destroys students’ research papers to some degree. First, the author uses a real story of himself to present his idea. He thinks that the quality of the writing and the originality of his students are not as good as before and the reason is that they do their research on the Web. Then, Rothenberg explains how the Web can make research look too easy. It’s easy to compose an essay by cutting and pasting from the Web. But the composed essay consisting of summaries of summaries is fragmented and superficial. More seriously, students’ papers are not original because they use the Web to complete their paper. Last, the author thinks reading less is also the reason for the poor quality. Libraries used to be a place for reading and thinking, while now become a center for retrieval of information. He concludes that reading good books with patience and keep thinking independently can promote students’ writing.
From this essay, I agree with some points of the author. I also believe that the Web destroys the quality of some students’ research papers but not all. As a student, I think the Web is a double-edged sword which means it both has advantages and disadvantages. And the Web is simply a tool. What counts is that how we use it. When my advisor gives a new job which is strange to me, I will first search some information from the Web to know what it is. This can help me to save a lot of time compared with the way to find information in the library. After knowing what the job is and what it needs, I will borrow some relevant books form library and download some research papers to learn and finish it. Nothing is plain sailing and so is research. When I meet with difficulties, I will search the web to solve them. Last but not least, although the Web can help us a
底亚峰, 21417002
In the essay “How the Web Destroys the Quality of Students’ Research Papers”, David Rothenberg proposes an opinion that the web destroys students’ research papers to some degree. First, the author uses a real story of himself to present his idea. He thinks that the quality of the writing and the originality of his students are not as good as before and the reason is that they do their research on the Web. Then, Rothenberg explains how the Web can make research look too easy. It’s easy to compose an essay by cutting and pasting from the Web. But the composed essay consisting of summaries of summaries is fragmented and superficial. More seriously, students’ papers are not original because they use the Web to complete their paper. Last, the author thinks reading less is also the reason for the poor quality. Libraries used to be a place for reading and thinking, while now become a center for retrieval of information. He concludes that reading good books with patience and keep thinking independently can promote students’ writing.
From this essay, I agree with some points of the author. I also believe that the Web destroys the quality of some students’ research papers but not all. As a student, I think the Web is a double-edged sword which means it both has advantages and disadvantages. And the Web is simply a tool. What counts is that how we use it. When my advisor gives a new job which is strange to me, I will first search some information from the Web to know what it is. This can help me to save a lot of time compared with the way to find information in the library. After knowing what the job is and what it needs, I will borrow some relevant books form library and download some research papers to learn and finish it. Nothing is plain sailing and so is research. When I meet with difficulties, I will search the web to solve them. Last but not least, although the Web can help us a