Plagiarism

I learned most of these citing practices in high school. In my school, great care was taken to ensure that credit was given where credit was due, and there were serious repercussions for any misconduct on the matter. We always had to use footnotes for research papers, and we always had to cite any books or websites that we used.

What was new, however, was the need to cite class notes in a paper. I had never seen this before and had never even considered it because I never used my notes to write papers. In general I just used sources that provided facts without analysis and drew my own conclusions.

Another surprising facet of plagiarism was the need to know whether or not one is plagiarizing. If the material that can be used to write a paper is fairly limited, this does not present a problem. However, if the database of knowledge is larger, the probability that one is plagiarizing someone, somewhere goes up rapidly. Because of this, I am glad to know that there are ways for me to argue that my work is actually my work. This can take the form of presenting drafts (so those ugly, illegible, scribbled-out first drafts have more than one use. Yay!) and possessing thorough knowledge about writing the paper.

My personal opinion on plagiarism and the citation systems is mixed. On the one hand, I believe that acknowledging the work of others is a critical part of the progression of ideas and academic knowledge. On the other hand, I feel that the current regulations surrounding citations unjustly prey upon simple mistakes. I think that there should be a difference between accidentally hitting the quotation mark button twice and blatantly copying the work of another. There is a difference between taking something seriously and taking something too far.  

Library and Career Councilling

The librarian’s presentation was very enlightening. Previously, I thought that librarians only existed to keep people from stealing books and to help one find some obscure piece of information. I realize now that I did all librarians everywhere a horrible disservice. I had no idea about the amount of logistic knowledge it takes to amass the millions of volumes found in just one library. This requires not only the ability to build a substantial collection of knowledge, but also the ability to facilitate access to the knowledge.

The information on looking up material online was also very helpful. Using the library database is very helpful when looking up material that is not readily available to the public such as subscriptions. I remember that my high school had a very similar service. The main difference though is that the high school database was merely a collection of articles that a Google search would normally uncover except without the irrelevant chaff while the UCSB library provides access to paid resources. Given my experiences with my high school’s database, I know that the UCSB equivalent will play an essential role in my academic career.

Career advising will also be a great asset to me. Currently I know the direction that I want my career to take, so it is easier to direct my searches and inquiries. Career services will allow me to find internships and other opportunities to make the most of the opportunities that appear in college.

Majors and Minors

Today I attended the Majors and Minors Fair to learn more about the academic options offered at UCSB. This provided me a great opportunity to be resourceful. Originally, the fair overlapped with my classes, meaning that I would have to miss one of my classes for certain. However, I learned that my art history class had given its students a free day to work on a paper for the class. This allowed me to attend the fair earlier than I had anticipated. In the end, I was able to attend all my scheduled classes for the day in full.

While I was at the fair, I used my time effectively to explore some of the departments. This did not change anything however. From well before the start of my college career, I knew that I wanted to be an engineer; my interests would have to change significantly if I wanted to switch majors. However, I was able to explore options for my non-major requirements. Of greatest interest to me was the environmental science department. Using my free elective slots, I intend to enroll in environmental and sustainable design classes that will supplement my classes in mechanical engineering.

I will also use the Student Resource Building to help move my education forward. I intend to use the drop-in math tutoring service found on the third floor to assist me later in the year. When the math starts to get difficult, I know where to go now. Unfortunately, many of the resources in in the SRB seem closed to me, mostly due to biology. Despite this, I intent to use the resources available to me to the fullest extent.

FSSP Week #2

So far, my experience in FSSP has been going quite well. I am enrolled in two classes outside of INT95, Math 4A and Art History 6C. Both classes are progressing well, and I am confident that I will be able to succeed academically in the next few weeks.

Socially, I have not done anything worthy of note - I have only hung out with various people. Other than that, I have used my remaining free time to do homework and explore the campus.

I found Mr. Smith’s lecture to be quite interesting, and that was a surprise. As an engineer, I am more interested in building and creating as opposed to learning about past cultures and digging stuff out of the dirt. However, Mr. Smith did an exceptional job of providing context and showing how relevant the field of archaeology is. That moment when he was talking about how archaeology was about saving lives because it brought people who had faded out of memory back into memory was when everything clicked. Previously I thought that the field was just about digging up some relic and maybe having the findings published someday in some history textbook somewhere, but now everything started to make a little more sense. I’m not saying that archaeology is my new calling in life or anything like that, but I gained a new perspective on something that I had previously paid little attention to.

As I continue onward through FSSP, I can only guess at how many of these experiences I will have, but one thing is certain. Life is far more interesting than I give it credit for.

Hi, I'm Patrick, and I am a super-nerd. Although I enjoy getting together with people, I am a very awkward person. I was born in Kansas, moved to Woodside, moved again to Palo Alto to attend Henry M. Gunn High School, then moved back to Woodside when I got close to graduating. Yeah, I've been around and seen some things.

One passion that has followed me all of the way though, is building. It doesn't matter what. Over the years, this has translated to things from woodworking, robotics, and CG animation to just building a deck for Magic the Gathering. Some of my other hobbies include learning to draw, playing video games, and reading. Among my favorite books are Star Wars, Halo, and, and Dune.  

As a student, I love to learn things. This means that I tend to put my academic concerns ahead of my social ones. This is easier for me than most because I am not a very social person. I’m that guy that gets bored during large parties then wants to go back home and study.

I am majoring in Mechanical engineering. What really got me interested in this major was my experience with FIRST robotics during high school. For those who know the program, I was on team 192, one of the loudest, reddest teams around. It was here that I learned about many of the concepts of engineering and decided to make my hobby of building things into a lifelong career.

My main goal for attending the FSSP program was that I wanted to move my studies ahead so that I could have more flexibility with my academics during my college career. This is especially important to me because I am an engineering major, which comes with limited academic flexibility. I intend to use my increased academic flexibility to take more free electives, do research, and study abroad.