[U.S.] Charles Simpson: “Doing Scholarship Honestly—From Freshman to Professor”

[U.S.] Charles Simpson: “Doing Scholarship Honestly — From Freshman Year to Professor,” trans. Gao Yuanbao and Li Xiaojie, East China Normal University Press, July 2006

This book is utterly meaningless to me, but I still bought it: first, to keep as part of my collection; second, to see whether it was worth recommending to others (the verdict: not much need).

The book is simply about the most basic standards of integrity and norms in college study and research. Honesty is not a skill, but merely an attitude; many things ought to be known without being taught. Of course, after all, young people’s self-awareness is not always sufficient, so these old truisms do need to be repeated.

In fewer than fifty pages, the book covers these old truisms; the later sections (up to more than 200 pages) go on to introduce the various citation styles currently used in the United States—different academic fields each have their own formats. This has not much bearing on Chinese-language papers in the humanities; so long as one has a consciousness of integrity, it is not difficult to imitate the format of a proper thesis or publication with care.

Page 3
Academic honesty can be summed up in three simple and effective principles: · When you claim that you have done some work, you really have done it. · When you rely on someone else’s work, you cite it. …… · When you present research materials, you should present them fairly and truthfully. ……

Page 7
It is said that there was an exam in which the teacher announced that his next exam would be open-book, and students could use “anything they could bring into the classroom.” As a result, one student brought in a graduate student. ////——I am quoting this passage purely for laughs.

Page 206
Q: How many notes should there be in a paper? A: Every paper is different; there is no exact number, but in a good paper, several notes per page is normal, and more is also acceptable. But if there are no notes for several pages in a row, then there is indeed a problem. It is highly likely that you forgot, and you should go back and check. ////——My own advice for freshmen writing papers is to add as many notes as possible, as many as you can; even so, it is generally hard for freshmen to reach the level of a dozen or so notes per page. In fact, even a page with more than ten notes (which is indeed a bit much) is still acceptable.

2007年1月26日2时00分

Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.