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Sports: Cross country teams cruise to wins • Page 5
Opinion: Turning a blind eye • p a g e ^
THE BATTALION
Volume 110 • Issue 17 • 12 pages
A Texas A&M Tradition Since 1893
vvww.thebattalion.net
Monday, September 22, 2003
(how DOES TURNITIN.COM WORK?)
Tumitin.com is an Internet application!
intended to curb plagiarism at Texas A&M.
•
•
;
—
Papers are submitted
to the site and then
become part of a
database
Papers are checked
against three
databases:
published works
the Internet
other papers submitted to turnitin.com
Will soon be available to faculty and
students
RUBEN DELUNA • THE BATTALION
SOURCE • TURNITIN.COM & STUDENT AFFAIRS
A&M buys plagiarism detection service
By Nicole M. Jones
THE BATTALION
To stomp out plagiarism and cheating at Texas
A&M, the University has purchased a license for
Turnltln.com, an online service that provides pla
giarism detection as well as resources for educators
and students concerned with developing quality
writing and research skills.
According to its Web site, Turnitin.com is a
database that accumulates student papers. Work
submitted to the Web site is checked three times.
Papers are checked against other published
works, Internet pages and previously submitted
student papers.
The service, endorsed by A&M President
Robert M. Gates, is one of the best-known and
largest services of its kind, said Bill Kibler, interim
vice president for student affairs.
Kibler said recent surveys have indicated that
plagiarism is a problem at A&M, and a year and a
half of planning was put into launching a new
honor system in 2004.
“This new tool is part of a comprehensive
approach to promote the honor system and aca
demic integrity on this campus,” Kibler said.
Kibler said he predicts that reactions to the
incorporation of this new system will vary, but that
they will generally be positive.
“Faculty may not be aware of this system yet,
but it is for them,” Kibler said. “I suspect that many
of them will use it and find it to be a valuable tool.”
Martha Loudder, chair of the academic integrity
task force, said the goal of using this new detection
system is not to “catch and punish” students, but to
educate them.
“A lot of unintentional plagiarism happens
because students don’t really understand what
they’re supposed to do, especially freshmen and
sophomores - they just learn as they go,” Loudder
said. “They have the idea that things on the Web
are just free for the taking.”
Elizabeth Tebeaux, director of distance edu
cation and a former English professor, was
instrumental in recommending the detection sys
tem to the AITE
Tebeaux said national meetings have shown that
cheating is a major problem, and Turnltln.com is
used successfully by many schools.
“We’re trying to protect the good students and
help the ones that a little too lazy to learn good
writing methods,” Tebeaux said.
The library has built a Web site,
http://library.tamu.edu/aggiehonor, with an online
tutorial to teach students and faculty how to avoid
plagiarism. This site will be linked to the new
honor system’s Web site.
The IT department is providing support to fac
ulty to help them learn how to use the
Turnltln.com system. The system will soon be
available to students.
Kibler said the service will most likely be
used for one year, then its use will be evaluated
based on feedback from faculty, students and
administrators.
West Texas district
remains troublesome
By April Castro
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN — What started as a
frenzy between Democrats and
Republieans could be determined
by roughnecks and cotton farmers.
West Texans in Midland and
Lubbock are at the
center of a Republican
legislative stalemate
over congressional
redistricting.
Republican House
Speaker Tom Craddick
of Midland said he’s not
negotiating over the
design of West Texas’
congressional districts.
Republican Sen. Robert
Duncan of Lubbock,
chair of the Senate
Jurisprudence
Committee that is tack
ling redistricting, says he
won't vote on a map his constituents
don’t like.
“He’s got to decide whether he
wants to have redistricting. Are we
going to have redistricting (or) are
we going to have Midland?” Duncan
said of Craddick. “Is this about
Texas or is this about Midland?”
Craddick spokesman Bob Richter
replied that once the Senate approves
a redistricting map, a conference
committee will work out differences
and “try to pass a map that a major
ity of people can live with.”
The full Senate is expected to
take up redistricting early this week.
Craddick. who favors a map
adopted
Wednesday by the
House, wants his
home of Midland to
anchor a district
that could support a
congressional rep
resentative separate
from Lubbock.
With an
autonomous
Midland district,
Lubbock and
Abilene would like
ly have to meld
together into one
district, forcing either Lubbock’s
rookie L.S. Rep. Randy
Neugebauer, a Republican, or the
popular congressional veteran Rep.
Charles Stenholm, an Abilene
See District on page 2
[Craddick’s] got
to decide whether he
wants to have
redistricting....Is this
about Texas or about
Midland?
— Robert Duncan
Republican senator
Stefanny Jay's 4-year-old Australia Chephard, Bee, receives a stress- afternoon in the Louis Pearce Pavilion. Niblack charges $1 a minute
relieving massage from Gay Niblack of McGregor, Texas, Sunday and attends dog shows across the state.
Jobseekeers face deadline
for Career Center services
By Pammy Ramji
THE BATTALION
Texas A&M students seeking full-time, internship or
cooperative education employment can meet with
prospective employers who will be conducting on-cam-
pus interviews through the Career Center this fall.
Monday is the deadline for requests for the first
major week of interviews from Oct. 13-17. Interviews
will continue through November.
Wal-Mart Stores Jnc., American Express, Dupont,
Abercrombie & Fitch, Dell Computer Corp., Finish
Line, Microsoft, 3M and Cargill are some of the many
companies that will hold interviews this year.
“Well over 250 companies are already scheduled
for the fall, and this number can creep over 300 com
panies in the near future,” said Daniel Orozco, assis
tant director for Interview Services.
According to the Career Center Web site, stu
dents should know the health of the overall job mar
ket and the demand for their particular skills when
choosing a career or searching for a position upon
graduation.
“The best way for students to prepare is to be active,”
Orozco said. “They should have their resume ready to go,
have a strategy for interviewing, know what to do if they
are offered three to four jobs, research the background of
the company and just be ready.”
For more information or to register, students can
access the Career Center Web site at
careercenter.tainu.edu, stop by Suite 209 of the John J.
Koldus Building or call the office at (979) 845- 5139.
“Finding a job is a full-time job, this is an oppor
tunity knocking at the door, all you have to do is
open it,” Orozco said.
Resume Writing Tips
Students who plan to attend on-campus
interviews this fall should have their
resumes on hand for potential employers.
Arrange categories and sections in order
of relevence, presenting your most
marketable information first.
Use brief, descriptive phrases instead of
complete sentences.
"A
/
Q Focus on results, accomplishments and skills.
Always use good quality paper and limit .
length to one page.
Avoid using personal pronouns such as
I, me, my and their.
Use action verbs when describing your
experiences and accomplishments.
MAHESH NEELAKANTAN • THE BATTALION
SOURCE • CAREEERCENTER.TAMU.EDU
Water, power still big needs in aftermath of Isabel
By Erik Stetson
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAMPTON, Va. — Utility
crews had restored power Sunday
to more than two-thirds of the peo
ple who had been without since
Hurricane Isabel struck, but isolat
ed price gouging and a general lack
of information were starting to
wear down residents in the hardest-
hit areas.
Long lines formed in many
places where there was news of ice
or water or hot showers. But at the
Red Cross office in Hampton, work
ers plastered the front doors with
signs declaring in double-under
lined words: “We do not have ice.”
Newport News resident Shawn
Williams went to the office to get
water for his three young daughters,
but all the office had was rice, meat,
gravy and pineapple. His money
reserves were running low and he
was disgusted to find a local gas
station demanding $2.50 a gallon.
“Two days, we thought it was
fun. We camped out,” said Williams.
“Four days is long enough.”
Terri Ellis, who was a claims
adjuster in Miami in the aftermath
of devastating Hurricane Andrew,
said Virginia’s response to Isabel
was abysmal. She vented her frus
tration Sunday at weary Red Cross
volunteers, unable to control her
anger at being told to call emer
gency numbers.
“They say ‘call the emergency
management office.’ When l get
home, I have no phone,” she said.
“Where is the assistance from
other states?” she asked. “This city
is not taking care of anything. Where
is the water, where is the ice? I have
babies in my neighborhood who
yesterday couldn’t get any milk.”
The city had its own complaints
about the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.
“We’ve asked FEMA for gener
ators. We haven’t gotten them,”
Newport News Mayor Joe Frank
said Sunday. “We’ve asked them
for water, we’ve asked them for
food, we’ve asked them for ice. So
far, we haven’t seen any of that.”
Frank said the city had to hire
trucks to bring ice from Tennessee
and Alabama.
FEMA Director Mike Brown
was on the defensive.
“We’ve distributed 650,000
tons of ice down to that area,” he
said Sunday. “I just find it difficult
to believe that we’re not meeting
someone’s needs — if, indeed,
they’ve been articulated to us.”
The stonn severed electrical serv
ice for more than 6 million customers
from the Carol inas to New York. By
Sunday morning, that figure had
been whittled to about 1.8 million.
See Isabel on page 2
Gates to hold
forum on spring
tuition increase
By Rebekah Kratochvil
THE BATTALION
University President Robert M. Gates will host
an open forum addressing a possible future tuition
increases at 5:30 p.m. in room 292 of the Memorial
Student Center.
Tuition was raised $4 per credit hour for the fall,
and Gates has proposed a $9 per credit hour increase
for the spring.
Student Body President Matt Josefy said stu
dents should attend today’s forum, which was
requested of Gates by student leaders.
“The Student Government Association feels
that students have a vested interest in under
standing where their additional tuition dollars
will be going and why tuition has increased,”
Josefy said.
To gain approval for a tuition increase, the admin
istration was required to hold an open forum before
the July Board of Regents meeting.
“Since the majority of students were not here dur
ing the summer, we requested that Gates hold an
additional forum,” Josefy said.
Following Gates’ presentation addressing the
increase in tuition, there will be a question and
answer period for all who attend. In addition,
SGA will distribute a survey and questionnaire
that will allow questions to be addressed at the
end of the forum. .
The survey and forum will serve as informative
tools for students and the administration, Josefy
said.
“I think that is it important for students to attend
so that we have a leg to stand on when we give our
opinion and input into what is going to happen
regarding tuition in the future,” Josefy said.