NOVA Annandale Library is having a book display on Arab Culture from January 7 to February 11. Items on display will include books, magazines, maps and flags featuring Arab history, art and calligraphy. All books are available for check out.
Arab Culture Display
It may be freezing and snowing outside – but the library is warm and cosy – and OPEN.
On Wednesday, January 9th, Samara Carter and Monique Clark gave a presentation about using Wikipedia as a research tool at the annual Power Up Your Pedagogy (PUP) Conference held at the NOVA-Annandale campus. Below, you will find a copy of the presentation as well as answers to questions that were asked after the session. Clicking on the link will take you to the Slideshare page where the PowerPoint can be accessed.
Q&A
After the session, we had a question from the audience concerning the possibility of students plagiarizing articles from Wikipedia:
Plagiarism:
It seems with a brief glance over the internet that if students are copying word for word from Wikipedia and inserting into their text, it stands a decent chance of being caught using plagiarism software or with a Google search. If a student changes some vocabulary or switches parts of the sentence around, it is going to be harder to detect. Below are additional readings that include the article from Wikipedia regarding its policies on plagiarism and some additional websites.
Some articles…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Plagiarism
http://www.dustball.com/cs/plagiarism.checker/
http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/12/07/the-limitation-of-every-plagiarism-checker/
http://doingdigitalhistory.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/diy-plagiarism-detection/
We had an additional question about the availability of Wikipedia in China:
China:
A Chinese Wikipedia has existed since 2001. Wikipedia was generally blocked by the government firewalls in China, but apparently those with tech-savvy skills were able to log-in and contribute with extensive work-arounds. As of 2012, most articles are now available in Chinese & English Wikipedias with censorship only affecting political articles (policy, political parties, etc.). It appears that the government has flipped its decision to censor Wikipedia several times, and that greater access is generally available in larger cities.
Some articles…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocking_of_Wikipedia_in_mainland_China#China
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1029579/china-uncensors-wikipedia
On Wednesday, January 9, Robin Pachtman, Library Media Specialist, and Diana Aram, Technology Librarian, gave a presentation to the NOVA community on blending media and technology with interactive activities entitled Mobile Learning: Interactive Discovery Using Mobile Technology and QR Codes. The presentation focused on a particular project that was implemented by the Annandale library which included the use of mobile technology, multimedia, and QR codes to discover critical elements in using the library and its resources.
Please click on the link below to get a general overview. For more details, please call Robin or Diana at 703-323-3410.