At 04:59 PM 5/9/97 EDT, Taylor Roberts  forwarded:
>  One
>of my student's papers is suspiciously excellent--several letter grades
>better than the last paper.  The student quotes a number of sources from
>the Internet (I found them in the MarkTwainMiningCo. site) so I know the
>student knows how to "surf" the net..
Transitional material looks good wrapped around Twain's writing
--anyone who reads and enjoys Twain can write decently about it.
Is this a case where Twain's work improved the student's mind
so much in one term that the Instructor is midwife to a miracle?
On this list are curious people whose prurient instincts beg to see
a piece of this student's usual performance and the work that's
 "several letter grades better."
Until then, we cannot  say much conclusively....Writing ain't that hard for
half the students...a body without a mind need not resort to the
web for help.
The "loner" who does his own cheating will be anomalous...
Most cheaters run in packs, sometimes calling themselves a
"department" . . . .  sometimes not.   :-)

  By the way, my directed study course in Mark Twain
received a 4.0 (don't blame the Professor)
 but my report on brain-mind education for the
Dr. of Education came back marked with a "0"
-- perhaps he thought I cheated.
 I had previously received a 4..0 in
Neuroscience, writing capsules of
Scientific American articles about the brain --  SA
articles which the teacher specifically read and assigned.

Hope you enjoyed that.

Mike Pearson