All posts by Mike Hanski

How to visualize your research

October 29, 2018

Proper visualization is the best way to make your data stand out, and therefore get remembered. Illustrating the study area, the subject of interest, or the research results multiplies your chances not only of getting a good grade for your paper, but also of making a dent in the professor’s memory. To improve your grade today and your end-of-year score tomorrow, apply a non-standard approach to putting your thoughts on paper by crafting them into outstanding visuals.

Data visualization is found in so many forms today that they even have a special course for it at almost every college. Thinking pie charts? Think twice—they are so 1960. Put your daily scrolling to good use. When an infotainment piece grabs your attention on the web today, hit “like” and then use the same approach for your study.

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Why Students Plagiarize: 5 Reasons You Probably Ignored

April 5, 2018

Academic plagiarism is the Achilles’ heel of most educators.

You try hard to develop critical thinking and writing skills of your students, but they continue attempts to copy texts and ideas from others, claiming them as own. It’s like a slap in your face or a kick in your… well, any part of your body, isn’t it?

Despite devastating consequences of plagiarism and strong policies against it in most institutions, students don’t seem to realize the problem. Numbers speak volumes:

86% of students cheat in college.
54% believe it’s okay and even necessary to cheat to stay competitive.
76% copy others’ assignments word for word.
42% purchase papers from custom writing services.

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I Paid for my Essay. There’s a Chance my Professor Wrote it

November 3, 2017

You probably know that October 18th been the Second International Day of Action Against Contract Cheating, and saw the bunch of happy faces from various colleges holding a sign “I don’t contract cheat because…” The most popular answers were “Because it’s not fair” and “Because I want to be judged for my own work”. However, the most honest, to our taste, was the girl holding the whiteboard with just one word written in all caps: “CONSEQUENCES”.

Two things to say:

We don’t think there is only one truth here. Thousands of people go to the paid essays sites for hundreds of reasons. When asked to share few insights, here’s what you said:

I paid for essay because…

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How to Write A Critical Précis Your Professor Will Never Forget

May 4, 2017

The assignment: write a précis, in 800-1000 words (approximately four double-spaced pages), of the first two-thirds of “Reading: An Intertextual Activity,” by Robert Scholes. Your precis should cover Scholes’s essay through the top of page 28.

What the heck is going on here, what is a precis?

critical precis

Derived from French, the word “précis” means a summary. So, if your professors give you such writing assignments, they want you to summarize some text and convey the summary in minimum words.

A critical précis is a clear, concise, and logical summary of a passage preserving its essential ideas only.

Before writing a précis, make sure you clearly understand its peculiarities and specification.

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How to Write a Critique of a Novel

April 28, 2017

Note: this article has been updated in April 2017.

writing a critique for a novel

When assigned to write a critique of a novel, be sure you understand the specification of this task: writing a critique and writing a review are far from the same.

What is the difference?

A book review = its summary aimed at telling readers about the plot.
A book (novel) critique = its analysis aimed at critical responding and evaluating its quality.

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