CU1000 English for Academic Purposes Assessment 4: Critical Essay

Explore the impact of the digital era on academic writers, focusing on issues like plagiarism, digital literacy, and ethics. Understand the challenges and opportunities faced by writers in the digital age.

CU1000 English for Academic Purposes Assessment 4: Critical Essay (30%)

Critical Essay Planning
INTRODUCTION
Background
(To introduce the topic. May include
surprising or interesting facts, a
definition, and some background
information.)
The internet has changed the era of the academic writers as easy
availability and affordability rendered by the internet has changed
the lives. This digital era has been fought between the two aspects
boon and bane. Before the digital era, the academic knowledge can
be only accessed through the academic libraries, courses and the
seminars provided by the experts. This limitation disappeared with
the digital era through which the scholars and professional writers
now can access the information and knowledge from just a mouse
click in an online form.
Thesis
(This is a statement of your standpoint
or the view taken – the controlling idea
of your essay that you will develop in
the main body. It should be concise and
convincing)
‘Digital era- A boon or bane for academic and professional writers?’
Outline Originality and plagiarism due to digital era
Trends that lead to digital literacies
Issues and benefits in digital scholarship
Conclusion drawing out the problems and potentials that are faced
by academic and professional writers in digital era
BODY PARAGRAPHS
(add more paragraphs if needed ↓)
Paragraph 1
Topic One A slip up between plagiarism and copyright infringement

Controlling idea
The snowballing of high-rated plagiarism cases in universities by the
students and researchers are mainly due to the reasons like the
failure of an effective learning process that was laid out by the
studies conducted by Caroline Eisner and Martha Vicinus. This
study pointed out as one of the reasons for the failure to
acknowledge the right sources of citing by the students that created a
complication of the lack of common knowledge. There was also a
great confusion between the plagiarism and copyright infringement
which was also explained by different authors trying to lay clarity
between these two.
Supporting
sentences
(include the source(s) among the 9
articles you wish to cite from)
Point 1:
The supporting arguments for the difference between the copyrights
and plagiarism laid by Cohen, an author was that plagiarism
according to him is just a matter of ethics while it forms a matter of
law in case of copyrights. But ethics does not come out to be a
fundamental criterion on which distinction can be made between the
plagiarism and copyright infringement. Another idea for the
distinction between these two was laid by Cohen that denotes
copyrights as a crime and a matter of law while plagiarism is
deemed to be a community norm (Laura J. Murray, 2005).
Point 2:
Another supporting statement that depicts two approaches of
plagiarism as perceived by educators and teachers is that they
assume it as a symptom led by ignorance of the writers and students

while on another hand it is considered as a fraud due to the reason
that the educators perceive that students are well aware of the
academic norms and they still act as they are unaware of these
norms (Stefan Senders, 2007).
Counterargument
(include the source(s) among the 9
articles you wish to cite from)
In case of academic writers, we can declare an issue of plagiarism in
their work as it becomes an offence when students forget attribution
to someone else's work. Whereas a professional writer may face an
issue of copyright infringement as they sometimes paraphrase the
work of others without obtaining the permission of the copyright
holder. There is a slight difference between these two but they often
end up using interchangeably (Rose, Shirley K, 2005). So majorly
there occurs an issue for the writers of plagiarism as even after the
copyrights obtained by them it may be called as plagiarised work if
they fail to credit the sources.
Summary of the
paragraph /
Transition to the
next
Due to the digital era, the issue of plagiarism and copyrights
infringement is faced by the academic as well as professional
writers. This essay will also discuss the digital literacies that are
used as transformation.
Paragraph 2
Topic Two Digital learning
Controlling idea A reflective impact has been observed in the learning and the core
business of the universities. There is a presence of a number of

societal trends that leads to changes in the form of learning.
Supporting
sentences
(include the source(s) among the 9
articles you wish to cite from)
Point 1:
One of the new societal changes is the shift of the workplaces
towards a knowledge-driven approach that utilises wide-ranging
networked technology. Another requirement of the transformation to
a digital one is the frequent need for updated expertise and learning
at the workplace so that the work problems can be easily resolved.
Another emerging trend depicted by Fiedler & Pata 2009; Littlejohn
et al. in 2012 is the need of a lifelong learning in the fast-changing
careers and new job roles that is simplified due to the digital era.
Due to a diversification of the expertise connoted by Kirpal, in 2007,
there also arise the needs of learning across sites that again lead to
the need for a digital era of learning. Ludvigsen et al. 2011 focused
on the increasing use of technology for learning.
Point 2:
From the above trends, it is quite clear that there is high need of
digital skills and the forms of digital communication ranges widely
that cater to the online knowledge by easily evaluating, analysing
and aggregating them (A. Littlejohn, H. Beetham and, L. McGill,
2012). Digital literacies should be laid emphasises upon so the plans
should be such that the formal educational programmes should
consist of the literacy support.

Counterargument
(include the source(s) among the 9
articles you wish to cite from)
Universities can deliver the benefits by supporting the development
of critical literacies for the writers in a digital era that will render
opportunities to redefine the relationship that society and knowledge
shares (A. Littlejohn, H. Beetham and, L. McGill, 2012).
Summary of the
paragraph /
Transition to the
next
This brings to picture there is a need for the academic writers that
the digital literacies should form a part of their educational
programmes so that their learning can be benefited from it. The
infrastructure and the information available on the internet are also
enhancing as a result.
Paragraph 3
Topic Three Digital scholarship
Controlling idea
Weightage of the internet, information and the infrastructure for the
scholars is also focussed as this helps the writers to a great extent.
Supporting
sentences
(include the source(s) among the 9
articles you wish to cite from)
Point 1:
In this rapidly digitalising era, the internet infiltration has gained a
momentum that has made the wide availability of the content online
for the academic and professional writers. It has become easy for the
authors to circulate their piece of works online, accompanying an
additional responsibility faced by the readers regarding the trust and

authenticity assessment (Borgman, Christine L., 2015).
Point 2:
Borgman, Christine L. also emphasised on changes in the attitudes
towards the utilisation and dissemination of the online information
as there is a shift from the open frontier towards a librarian blog that
has a combination of the quality range one for free and other for a
fee. Together with this shift in the system digital information suffers
from a threat that it has a shorter span of time as compared to the
journals, books and articles printed and kept in libraries with due
care.
Counterargument
(include the source(s) among the 9
articles you wish to cite from)
Apparently, there is an assortment of scholarly objects that are
available online which are available in various versions. This
availability sometime may render confusion to the writers as there is
a presence of similar material whereas it will also aid the writers by
providing them with the scholarly records (Borgman, C. L. 2010).
Summary of the
paragraph /
Transition to the
next
The journals and articles can be made easily available online with
access to the writers. This availability is affecting scholarship both
positively and negatively.in the digital scholarship there arise an
issue of ethics and trust.
Paragraph 4
Topic Four Digital scholarship faces issues of ethics and trust
Controlling idea The advent of digital scholarship has made the availability of the

scholarship information to the users and the writers at any hour of
the day via intranets and other emerging networks. But it is
accompanied by some ethical issues in the digital era.
Supporting
sentences
(include the source(s) among the 9
articles you wish to cite from)
Point 1:
The main ethical issues pinned by Mason, that have the implications
for the academic writers and other users includes the issue of privacy
that retains the amount of the information in such a way that it does
not get revealed to others. Another issue highlighted is the accuracy
that holds no accountability to the injured party in rendering wrong
information to the user via digital information. Mason also added
accessibility as the ethical issues faced by the users as sometimes it
becomes difficult for the academic writers to get access to the
information due to safeguarding issues (Stephen M. Mutula, 2011).
Point 2:
Anuar and Greer in 2006 were of viewpoints that in the e-learning
environment the major issues are the privacy and the trust. The
confidential information and the personal space that e-learning
community renders are at risk of losing its confidentiality. There
should be effective risk management that will minimise the distrust
of the users of information.
Counterargument This privacy is also maintained by enacting another issue that is
common in the digital scholarship which lays the purchasing model

(include the source(s) among the 9
articles you wish to cite from)
for the print resources. Like for example, a library uses a licensing
model according to which the materials purchased are to be returned
to a publisher when a licence expires and which is not the case with
the digital material (Kiggundu, 2007).
Summary of the
paragraph /
Transition to the
next
There arise many trust and ethical issues in the digital scholarship
that also exist between the developed and the developing countries.
it is brought to light that the authors in the developing countries had
limited access to the content as compared to the wider range of
content provided to the authors from the developed world. This level
of access also impacts the digital era for the writers.
Conclusion
Restate Thesis &
Summarise main
points
(The main aim of the conclusion is to
show that you have successfully
answered the question. It does not
include any new information, but it
summarises the main points made in
the body of the essay. It should be clear
and draw your argument to a close and
ideally, it needs to leave a strong
impression on the reader.)
As a conclusion, it can be stated that digital era is blessed with
certain benefits and disadvantages too at the same time. Like
discussion provided above briefs that there arises a great confusion
between the plagiarism and copyrights that one way or other hinder
the exposure of the academic writers. The digital literacies have
extended a wide range of opportunities for the writers on one hand
that acts as a boon for the writers but it is also accompanied with
many issues of ethics and trust on the other hand. This confusion
between the plagiarism and copyrights and the issues of ethics and
lack of accessibility have acted as a bane for the academic and
professional writers. So the confusions and the issues faced should
be minimised and more opportunities should be made available to
the writers so that digital era could act as a boon for them in coming

years.
References
(at least FOUR
sources – APA
format)
1. Borgman, C. L. (2010). Scholarship in the digital age:
Information, infrastructure, and the Internet. MIT press.
2. Eisner, C., & Vicinus, M. (2008). Originality, imitation,
and plagiarism: Teaching writing in the digital age.
University of Michigan Press.
3. Littlejohn, A., Beetham, H., & McGill, L. (2012). Learning
at the digital frontier: a review of digital literacies in theory
and practice. Journal of computer assisted learning, 28(6),
547-556.
4. Stephen M. Mutula, (2011),"Ethics and trust in digital
scholarship", The Electronic Library, Vol. 29 Iss 2 pp. 261
– 276