Advice to fellow students

If we should take the exam using Internet or not, is quite debated. Some teachers and sensors think that the Internet only makes the students confused and that the possibility of cheating increases. On the other hand, some think that using Internet during the exam makes the students more open minded, reflected and independent.

I think that there are both pros and cons in this debate. Firstly, I became very glad when I heard that our class was chosen to be some of the first students to use Internet during the exam. I get a lot of my inspiration from articles I have read, and do therefore think that my exam would be much more reflected and well written. You get to see other persons’ reflections upon the topic and get a lot of inspiration; some might even say that the Internet is too inspirational. What characterizes an exam with use of Internet, is often plagiarism, not use of own words and too much of other students’ reflections.

With this in mind, I think that all students should be allowed to use Internet during the exam. Even though some students use a lot of other persons’ words, I would guess that most students don’t. In fact, this shows which students who have the vocabulary and knowledge to write their “own” texts.

Another thing to have in mind when you write an article is what kind of sources you use. Every teacher I have ever had, say: don’t use Wikipedia! I understand this, but personally I think that it is okay to use this site, as long as you compare it to other sources. The best way of collecting information is to compare the material with at least two sites. I am, along with a handful of other students, not checking my sources well enough before using them.

Safe and informative sources recommended by my teacher might be Sweet Search, Ref Seek, Wolfram Alpha and Google. I use Google in 99,99% of the cases, and admit that I should be better at using other search engines. When you have found a reliable source you want to use, it is extremely important that you write it down in your exam. If you want to learn how to do it properly, click here. As a last advice before your exam: use the Internet carefully and always write down your sources!