e-papers etc

[PercySun@aol.com]

I'm a little late responding, but wanted to join the discussion on internet 
sources for academic papers. I wanted to note that it is not just the papers 
for sale on the net, but the whole reconfiguration of ideas about 
intellectual (and musical, creative, etc.) property that seems to be the most 
"unsettling" - unsettling in the most literal sense of weakening set 
assumptions. To which I would add the commodification of knowledge - the 
ethical questions of thinking for oneself or buying a paper. Ultimately, what 
concerns me the most is the weakening of a "study ethic" - yes I know how I 
sound. 
The weakening of notions of this sort of "possession" also makes all manner 
of plagiarism possible and facile. Or, perhaps, begins to change the idea of 
plagiarism itself. 
And how does that affect how we teach, our assignments, etc. At Rutgers 
several years ago I had such a problem with plagiarism on the undergraduate 
level that I changed course requirements from a free-topic paper to guided 
essays. I made my own four or five questions, which students had the option 
to choose one and produce a paper in a week's time. I think (hopefully) that 
these questions were not ones for which answers were readily available in any 
existing sources. This was because I wanted to (yes) force students to THINK. 
And I didn't want to waste my own time looking into what is out there for 
them to steal/copy/buy. Other techniques are to require a draft form, or 
several draft forms from outline to rough draft to completed essay - even if 
they buy something they have to break it down in this manner and thus learn 
something. There are other techniques I use as well to try and keep students 
thinking rather than simply purchasing and/or stealing "answers" and 
approaches. creative options, script writing, group projects all help excite 
students to production rather than simple reproduction. 
What's clear to me is that the availability of papers unknown to faculty will 
proliferate and proliferate. I'm suggesting that faculty might do best by, 
rather than policing, looking for less orthodox assignments and stimulating 
creative avenues that foster student interest and thought....
the downside is: what happens to "classical paper writing skills"? 
other ideas out there?