Desperately seeking alternatives: Uncovering assumptions &/or outcomes about the student research process

Ps. This is not about plagiarism, using or not using Wikis. It is simply about the value and utility  of national resources for an otherwise unattained mission in the academic life and times.

• The End of the College Essay, By Rebecca Schuman : 

Everybody in college hates papers. Students hate writing them so much that they buy, borrow, or steal them instead. Plagiarism is now so commonplace that if we flunked every kid who did it, we’d have a worse attrition rate than a MOOC. And on those rare occasions undergrads do deign to compose their own essays, said exegetic masterpieces usually take them all of half an hour at 4 a.m. to write, and consist accordingly of “arguments” that are at best tangentially related to the coursework, font-manipulated to meet the minimum required page-count. Oh, “attitudes about cultures have changed over time”? I’m so glad you let me know."

• Keep the ‘Research,’ Ditch the ‘Paper’ by Marc Bousquet, The Chronicle
• Why I Hate Grading, by Kate Antonova 
• My Professor Hates Me!: Dos & Don’ts of Dealing
• Harvard Professor Gives Two Sets Of Marks To Combat Grade Inflation
• I think the required Humanities courses in college are a waste of time 
• Barbara Valentine, Undergraduate research behavior: Using focus groups to generate theory The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 19, Issue 5, November 1993, Pages 300–304
• Student Learning Outcomes—A Focus on Results, by Bill Scroggins "This series of reflections are intended to address getting useful results from the SLO process—maximizing utility and minimizing futility. (That little “f” really makes a difference, doesn’t it?)"
• Tools and Techniques for Course Improvement: A Handbook for Course Review and Assessment of Student Learning, Compiled, adapted, and edited by Richard Frye, Gary R. McKinney, Joseph E. Trimble
• Brandt, LaRoy S.E., and Jack Lee Hayes. "Broader impacts of undergraduate research at a community college: opening doors to new ideas." Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly 33.1 (2012): 17
• Carol Kulthau, Betty Turok, Mary W. George, Robert J. Belvin, Validating a Model of the Search Process: A Comparison of Academic, Public and School Library Users, Library & Information Science Research, 12 (1990), pp. 5–31
• Evan Farber, Alternative to the Term Paper: See, for instance L. Hardesty, J. Hastreiter, D. Henderson (Eds.), Bibliographic Instruction in Practice, Pierian Press, Ann Arbor (1993), pp. 89–96
• Undergraduate research experiences: The translation of science education from reading to doing, by Suzzette F. Chopin, The Anatomical Record, Volume 269, Issue 1, pages 3–10, 15 February 2002
• Jane Keefer, The Hungry Rats Syndrome: Library Anxiety, Information Literacy and the Academic Reference Process, RQ, 32 (1993), pp. 333–339
• Institutionalizing Undergraduate Research for Geology Majors through Creative Inquiry Experiences by Wagner, John R; Journal of College Science Teaching, ISSN 0047-231X, 2010, Volume 39, Issue 6, pp. 30 - 37
• Ten Time-Saving Tips for Undergraduate Research Mentors, by Coker, Jeffrey Scott and Davies, Eric Journal of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Education, ISSN 1059-9053, 2006, Volume 35, pp. 110 - 112
• Undergraduate research experiences: the translation of science education from reading to doing by Chopin, Suzzette F The Anatomical record, ISSN 0003-276X, 02/2002, Volume 269, Issue 1, pp. 3 - 10
• Broader impacts of undergraduate research at a community college: opening doors to new ideas by Brandt, LaRoy S.E and Hayes, Jack Lee, Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, ISSN 1072-5830, 2012, Volume 33, Issue 1, p. 17
• Two models for an effective undergraduate research experience in physiology and other natural sciences by David C. Randall; Frank H. Wilbur; Timothy J. Burkholder Advances in Physiology Education, ISSN 1043-4046, 06/2004, Volume 28, Issue 2, pp. 68 - 72
• Peer teaching and mentoring: the case of undergraduate research fellows, Sloane, Amy Council on Undergraduate Research Quarterly, ISSN 1072-5830, 2010, Volume 31, Issue 2, p. 11
• Futility of Modern Research | Spiritual Science Research Foundation 
• Learning strategies and undergraduate research, by Polack-Wahl, Jennifer and Anewalt, Karen

Side effects of publish-or-perish pressure on academia

Among academics, the maxim "publish or perish" (i.e., publish your research or risk/losing your job) is a threatening reminder of the importance of publication. Source: Publish or perish? - Understanding Science

Review of the literature (sample):

• Why are so many badly written papers still published?
• Side effects of publish-or-perish pressure on graduate ... - SciELO
• Publish or Perish Blogs' Intro 
• Unarmed but still Dangerous - “Publish or Perish” = “Life or Death”
• Publish-or-perish: Peer review and the corruption of science | David ...
• 'Publish or Perish': No Stopping Bad Science — Liberty Magazine
• What's Wrong With "Publish or Perish"? - Discover Magazine Blogs

PhD Theses and Online Availability in India, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

PS. India of today has exceptions/unique characteristics even in academic scenario. The  extracts below, very nicely pinpoint the crux of the problem as far as the 'e-access' to the same is concerned. In terms of marketing and outreach by personal efforts of the individuals, there are many Indian dissertations in the market (many customized to meet the market; and hence no exact statistics will be available to quantify), some of these go out to reach a wider audience, with a permission of the university authorities. More and more dissertations are appearing via scholarly open presses--beware of what the critics say about this open source market. Ask me more about this pattern/approach.

Extract:

"Locking away awarded PhD theses instead of publishing them for public and academic knowledge only encourages mediocrity and enhances poor academic practices. It also propagates unhealthy hierarchy among universities and hinders the advancement of knowledge. ..."

"Most Indian librarians are reluctant to allow others to consult and borrow earlier PhD theses probably because of the belief that it will enhance the chances of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism is indeed an important issue, and it has been difficult to hinder it effectively in India where the use of detection softwares (such as Turnitin) is still rare, excepting in better-funded central universities like the JNU."  

"I am fully aware of the inequities in the world of knowledge production, and the mutual exclusion of different actors in it who seem to converse within their respective silos of knowledge. An argument, often made by academics, based in the less developed world, is that the unfair use of their research (“we are treated as sources of data by them”, “they take our stuff to theorise”) by their academic counterparts located in more developed countries. Such grievances are often genuine; I remember when I taught in Burdwan University in West Bengal, my 1990 book In Search of a Homeland on McCluskiegunge, the homeland planned by the Anglo-Indians in early 1930s, was used by a renowned British-based film company to make a film on the same name. Someone from the company’s local office visited my home, took copies of all the old documents and maps, never to return them and never to even acknowledge that the film’s name was borrowed from that of my book..." [sections in this article include: Different Academic Cultures, “Confidentiality Culture”] Continue reading: PhD Theses and Online Availability in India @ Economic and Political Weekly

On the same shelf:

• What Ails Doctoral Research in Library and Information Science in India? by M.P. Satija, DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology, Vol. 30, No. 5, September 2010, pp. 61-66 @ International and Comparative Librarianship  Blog -- Abstract: The paper discusses research in library and information science in India. It delves into the history of library and information science research crediting the institutionalisation of research to Ranganathan. While presenting the growth of the research, the article discusses the factors responsible for poor standards. It also provides an international comparison by citing examples at places.
• The IFLA/FAIFE PhD Project, by Stuart Hamilton. Opening quote: "To what extent can libraries ensure free, equal and unhampered access to Internet-accessible information resources from a global perspective?"
• Do Open Access Electronic Theses and Dissertations Diminish Publishing Opportunities in the Social Sciences and Humanities? College and Research Libraries by ML Ramirez  and others.

Germany's Ph.D. Scandal: Were Degrees Bought?

• Germany's Ph.D. Scandal: Were Degrees Bought?
  
  By Tristana Moore / Berlin Friday, Aug. 28, 2009, Time.com
  "Getting a Ph.D. is the pinnacle of academic achievement, but appears that some aspiring students in Germany may have bribed their way to the top. On Aug. 22, German prosecutors revealed that they are investigating around 100 academics at some of the country's top universities on the suspicion that they granted doctorates to dozens of unqualified students after taking bribes from a consultancy firm. The scandal has shaken Germany's higher education system, revered abroad as one of the best in Europe.
  
  
  The investigation follows a raid on an academic consultancy called the Institute for Scientific Counselling in the western town of Bergisch Gladbach in March 2008. At the time, the authorities uncovered a mine of information pointing to illegal activity and confiscated thousands of files, including contracts between the firm and lecturers, and evidence of bank transfers. Prosecutors in the city of Cologne say the institute helped doctoral candidates find a supervisor and paid lecturers to take on Ph.D. students. "Some Ph.D. students paid up to $30,000 to get their doctor titles," Günther Feld, a senior prosecutor in Cologne tells TIME. "Many people had received mediocre results in exams and they weren't eligible to do a Ph.D. in the first place." ... continue reading
  
  See also: Germany: 100 professors suspected of Ph.D. bribes (AP): here