Burrrrnnn

@Valis- I use it to for argumentative papers. If I am writing a paper about say "No child left behind" I will look up that debate on the site and read the comments for and against it, it helps me to see what the opposition would argue and how and then I elaborate on the points made to make a solid essay.

I have a different site but I do the same thing. I have also tried to do that with webDip but no one cites anything. I don't wanna write my own paper, can't you all just do it for me?

I don't about y'all, but I think it's kinda sad to see high school students and undergrads ask for homework help or use other people's ideas and opinions online. In terms of homework, struggling with the material is part of the learning process as that is how we learn and how we do it in the "real" world. Moreover, there are also professors or TAs that should be there to help; that's why you are paying all money, right? And whatever happened to think for yourself? If there is a writing assignment, particularly a pro and con paper, write down all the arguments that you can think of first and see if they are adequate, not just look up what other people think about them. It's lazy and counterproductive to the actual learning process at this stage.

Agreed with zultar. You can use webdip and similar sites as sounding boards, and places for additional critiques of work, but as an academic using them as secondary sources is just lazy.

@Zultar- I am not saying I go on there and copy other peoples ideas. Before I even go on the site I set up a concept map with research topics and arguments, I follow that up with research. Debate.org gives me a starting point, I can go on there and look up the topic I am arguing for/against and see what opposition would argue to strengthen my thesis and essay as a whole. For example right now I am writing an essay about allowing women to serve in combat roles within the military here is an example of a concept map I made for this essay: https://www.lucidchart.com/invitations/accept/260 0b5e-dc0a-44de-bcdc-a074f69befd6

I am still working on it, but once I am happy with my concept map I will go on the debate page add more angles that I didn't see while making my concept map, and then start researching primary documents to dismiss those arguments.

All hail Zultar, Huzzah Huzzah..

I am an international studies major and plan on using it in the american governmental bureaucracy, I am well aware that i will need to do tons of work in that capacity but it is completely ignorant to think that in the real world people don't use aids to get their work done....just because you know how to do math the long way doesn't mean you don't use a calculator; just because you are an English major doesn't mean you don't use a dictionary or thesaurus. In this way I am a IR major and so i use debate.org like my calculator...

I'd been very curious CB, but I won't sign for yet another service. could you post it as a pdf somewhere?

In principle I do agree with zultar. And not so much just for learning reasons or similar academic stuff, but pretty much for reasons of pleasure (coming up with my own ideas on the issue – even if they are not new) and for reasons of elegance (I prefer a well thought through and streamlined argumentation to a mixtaped one).

actually, I prefer to avoid mistakes or if I've done some to have them easily identifiable, so I prefer reduce the risk of typos by doing math the long way as far as I can get…

I agree with zultar too, I just think he is assuming that I am using the resources to take the easy way out because I am lazy... but that is not the truth. I am using it to help me in the same way a calculator does. I still am doing 90% of the work and using the site to check my work and expand upon it. Further I don't just do 1 essay a night. Here is my class load:
-Writing (I am a freshman)
-German
-Army ROTC
- Physical Training
- 4 hour weekly lab
- Several meetings a week
- Several events a month
-Biology ( I am a freshman)
-School Paper writer
-Model UN member
-I started a political activism club as well
-Volunteer hours at a local art museum


so yea, with 3 papers a week and my other responsibilities I don't hold qualms about using some tools to help me, I still do the work and can form my own arguments.

@CB, with all the work, what are you doing on webdip? :)

I really was not assuming you were solely using some site to do your work. I was commenting more on a trend that I have seen over the last few years on the site, namely people asking for explicit help on homework. It is just not the way to learn. I recall a couple of specific instances where someone asked for help on a calculus text-book routine problem that is about as straightforward as it can be if you read the book, pay attention in class or hell, even use wikipedia. Instead of doing all that, they came here first to ask for help. That's the kind of shenanigans that irk me.

Wow, good for you CB. I wish I was as focused and driven as you seem to be when I was in college.

I don't see anything wrong with using that site as a way to find what con arguments you might encounter. Sounds like a great resource actually.

Zultar wasn't assuming anything about you, CB, he just knows me that well.

Well, I didn't want to show how much I dislike you, bo, so I opted to be vague and general instead. :)
You are after all the worst. (expecting some easy +1s here)

you get mine

Aw, that's so sweet of you, whoring for +1s at my expense.

If I didn't do that, the mods would revolt. Really, if you can't use ex-mods as scape goats or to garner +1s, what good are they?

zultar, sometimes it is helpful to come here and ask for help. I did it last semester with my real analysis class. Office hours were no help for me because the entire class showed up to each of them. And half the math tutors were in the class with me and doing just marginally better. Once you get to a certain point, you either get it or you don't.

I didn't get it. Hence why I dropped real analysis.

w8 – how can you drop real analysis? isn't every subject where you would do real analysis constructed in a way that you need to pass it?

@Zultar- oh............ I can use webdip from my phone between classes and such... everyone needs a bit of recreation to prevent insanity.

"but it is completely ignorant to think that in the real world people don't use aids to get their work done...."

Funny, that's my philosophy as an admin. Make the mods do my work.

*cough*otto*cough*

I can drop real analysis because getting below a B in it would've meant I was expelled from Duke.

And no, it wasn't a required class. Strongly encouraged, but not required. I was able to walk away with enough information on how to construct proofs though, but I cannot come close to doing them rigorously enough to get a good grade.

How could that have gotten you expelled?

Below a B = kicked out of my program. Grad school is fun. Such fun.

what do you study, if I may ask? And do they really expel people for getting below B (on the A - D + F,FX scale right?) in non-required classes? (An interesting way to do it, I think)

**Below a B for the semester**

Considering my other two classes were a B and B+....I didn't want to risk it.

Many grad schools do not accept any grade below a B. Getting below a B in an individual class means you have to retake it and having below a 3.0 means more or less expulsion. Spring break is fun; grad school is just a job that doesn't really pay but offers you spring break, winter break, and summer vacations.

Then why don't they make a low B an F and tell it like it is?

Because a C+ and all straight A's will still get you above 3.0

Also, if you get booted out of the program, you can always take your chitty C-Average and apply to some other loser college than is interested in your mediocrity.

Damn. Krellin a back