CMP 101: Searching the Internet Graded Assignment

Searching the Internet

Graded Assignment

Objectives

  • Students will practice skills introduced in the learning assignment to locate information about copyright law, fair use, plagiarism. Students will be able to:
  • Define copyright law, fair use and plagiarism
  • Identify criteria required for copyright law to apply
  • Distinguish between copyright law infringement and plagiarism
  • Students will practice skills introduced in the learning assignment to locate information about evaluating web resources. Students will be able to:
  • Identify criteria used to evaluate resources

Searching the Internet (100pts*)

For each of the following, use what you have learned about searching the Internet to locate the answers to the questions.

Copyright Law

  1. Search the Internet for a basic definition or description of copyright law and enter it below:

  1. In order for a creative work to qualify for copyright protection, which three of the following conditions are required?

Required / Not Required
  1. The work must be televised

  1. The work must be original

  1. The work must have a copyright notice

  1. The work must be the result of a creative effort

  1. The work must have existed in some tangible (physical) form

  1. Based on your answers to the previous two questions, which of the following are protected under copyright law?TIP: Ask yourself if each of the 3 criteria from #2 apply to each item below.

Protected / Not Protected
  1. A song you have written, recorded, and stored on your computer

  1. An idea for a new video game

  1. An impromptu speech given in class (no notes or recordings)

  1. A video you recorded at the family reunion

*Possibility of up to 8 bonus points available if bonus question is answered correctly.

Fair Use

  1. Search the Internet for a basic definition of fair use as it applies to copyright law and enter it below:

  1. Use your answer to #4 above and further Internet searches as needed to determine which of the following examples would be considered fair use?

Fair Use / Not Fair Use
  1. You quote a few lines from a newspaper article about Mount Etna (with citations) in a 10-page research paper on volcano activity.

  1. You record a television show intending to watch it later (often referred to as “time-shifting”)

  1. You copy an article from Rolling Stone magazine and post it on your social networking site for anyone to read.

  1. You write a negative book review and quote small passages (with citations) from the book to illustrate your points.

Plagiarism

  1. Go to the Wor-Wic home page ( and then find and open the college catalog. Use the find command (CTRL+F) to locate information about “plagiarism”.What is Wor-Wic’s definition of plagiarism (include two examples)?

  1. Use the information you have learned so far and further Internet searches as needed to determine whether the following statements are true or false.

True / False
  1. Plagiarism is the act of using another’s creative work without their permission and outside of the boundaries of fair use.

  1. A paper you write for school is not copyrighted and therefore cannot be plagiarized by others.

  1. The terms copyright and plagiarism can be used interchangeably.

  1. Copyright infringement is a legal issue whereas plagiarism is usually associated with ethics.

Evaluate Web Resources

  1. Search the Internet for a video titled Evaluate Web Pages from Widener University. If needed, connect headphones or speakers to your computer, watch the video,and answer the following questions.

  1. According to the video, what are the 4 major criteria used to evaluate resources?

  1. As shown in the martinlutherking.org example and based on what your experience so far, which three of the followingare the best methods to begin to verify sources orlearn more about an author or site sponsor or publisher?

Best / Not Best
  1. Search the college databases

  1. Ask your instructor

  1. Look in a dictionary

  1. Search the web

  1. Follow links to site sponsors or publisher

  1. Search for books in the library

Bonus Question: General Research

  1. Return to your favorite search engine and search for an article by Jenna Johnson where part of the title is “Got a research paper to write?” In the title of the article, what does she say you should do to get help with research papers? Why (scan the article)?

Enter your answers

  1. Login into SAM and click the link for QUIZ. Internet Search. Beginning with question 2A, enter the answers from this handout in SAM.

Revised: 8/27/2014Page 1 of 3