Pamela Ban Effectiveness

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The research paper and its effectiveness at measuring a student's performance has become a debate within the educational community. Critics of the form say that in our age of technology the internet has made sources too readily available and therefore the essay type is obsolete. Yet, there are professors that would disagree and state they are encouraging students to think unconventionally. With good evidence on both sides of the argument it is hard to decide if this is an effective means of evaluation. There are more effective ways of assessing knowledge such as other types of essays and oral presentations. Mark Bauerlein, an English professor at Emory University, stated in a New York Times published article, "These days, the research that…show more content…
This statement may be true for Ban and her friends, but any other nineteen year-old college student who favors speed and effortlessness who pulls an all-nighter for a regular essay would easily wait until the last minute and do the same for a research paper. Ban still brings a tough argument in saying, "Learning how to take what is already known and enhance it in a unique way is an unparalleled learning experience that we should not lose." This ability can be utilized in oral presentations and other essays that do not allow students to use the internet to enhance the work for them. The research paper can be a very useful tool in analyzing student performances and understanding, but there is also plenty opportunity for students to take advantage of electronic information and avoid all of the hard but important work involved in this type of paper. There are other ways of evaluating a student's understanding of a topic that are equally

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