> One question, will you reward me with a Ph.D. in rhetoric if I write a
> dissertation that is merely a set of links to a large number of
> theorists? Probably not because there is no original thinking involved.
> So should where is that student's original thinking or at least the
> promotion of such.
It seems to me that the student did think originally-- at least he seems
to be the only one who thought of his solution to the problem and he
surprised the instructor as well. Obviously much depends on context that
I can only take the teacher's word for, namely the student's seriousness
and ability.
Your analogy doesn't really seem to apply to the situation outlined.
However, I would not be averse to awarding a PhD to a candidate who used
the web in a way that is suitable to the project and interesting in the
context. Or do the same for a PhD student in a class who finished an
assignment in the same way.
c
-- Chris Lott fncll@aurora.alaska.edu