Below is a sample paper (using MLA
style documentation). Click on highlighted
sections of the paper to take the quiz. After you click on a highlighted
section,
you will be given further information about the original source of an idea
and
asked to determine what (if anything) is wrong with the student's
incorporation
of the source.
For a CEO to earn millions per year is not unusual, but the potential for
greed
to corrupt a business leader enough to bring down a company increases when
the
CEO also receives stock options--shares of company stock at a set price
which
can be bought low and sold high when the share prices go up. [6.] Stock
options were rarely offered in the past, when CEOs thought of themselves as
serving multiple constituencies, including their employees. But to
defend
against the hostile takeovers of the 1980s, corporate boards wanted
desperately
to get their stock prices up. The boards wanted executive pay to be linked
to
the price of the company's stock, going up when the stock rose. Stock
options
have become a particularly attractive incentive for executives because
companies
are not required to treat them as an expense. [7.] As Allan
Sloan points out, "The fact that options value isn't
subtracted from profits
has led corporations to give loads of them to CEOs"
(45). CEOs
love stock options because they offer the promise of reward without the
threat
of punishment: a CEO whose company's share price falls simply doesn't
exercise
the options, so he or she loses nothing in a failing company (and there's
always
the salary to fall back on--and another company to turn to if this one goes
under).
Reforms are possible, and some guilty parties may be brought to justice.
[13.]
American voters have always been slow to punish the rich
because,
as Howard Fineman notes, "they'd like to join
them" (46).
However, few Americans really believe that they will someday be paid tens
of
millions of dollars annually, so greed on the scale that Americans have
seen
in CEOs of formerly respected corporations only emphasizes the differences
between
those few and the rest of us. If enough Americans are angered by what has
been
done in the name of greed, the stock-price-above-all mentality that Gordon
Gekko
so heartily approved will doom itself by keeping investors away. Let's hope
that happens before the economy suffers even more than it already has.
Fineman, Howard. "The Politics of
Greed." Newsweek 1 July
2002: 46.
Gross, Daniel. "Give That CEO a Pay
Raise!" Slate 16 July
2002.
Kadlec, Daniel. "8 Remedies."
Time 17 June 2002: 51-52.
Krugman, Paul. "Greed Is Bad." New
York Times 5 June 2002:
A23.
Lavelle, Louis, with Frederick F. Jesperson and Michael Arndt.
"Executive
Pay."
Lowenstein, Roger. "Heads I Win, Tails I
Win." The New York Times
Magazine 9 June
Sloan, Allan. "Bad Boys Club."
Newsweek 1 July 2002: 44-46.
|
1 | | In the 1987
film Wall Street, a rapacious corporate raider named Gordon Gekko made
corporate money-grubbing seem to be in the best interests of the economy and
America's stockholders: "Greed [. . .] is good. Greed works.
Greed is right."ORIGINAL SOURCE: "Greed,
for lack of a better word, is good. Greed works. Greed is
right." Wall Street. Written by Stanley Weiser
and Oliver Stone. Dir. Oliver Stone. Perf. Michael
Douglas. 20th Century Fox, 1987.
What is the
problem with this citation? |
| | A) | The in-text citation is incorrect because necessary
information is absent. |
| | B) | The works cited page of the paper as it relates to
this entry is incorrect. |
| | C) | Quotation marks are used improperly with an altered
quotation. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
2 | | Ken Lay,
golfing partner of presidents, was considered a
"guru" as "Enron's share
price rocketed far faster than those of other energy
companies" ("Kenneth
Lay").ORIGINAL SOURCE: "Spend
long enough around top Enron people and you feel you are in the midst of some
sort of evangelical cult. In a sense, you are. Mr Lay, with his "passion for
markets", is the cult's guru. His disciples are Enron's managers, an
intelligent, aggressive group of youngish professionals, all of whom "get
it". The "it" is the rise of market forces in the long-staid energy business.
[. . . .] "The response from investors has been
astonishment, followed by praise. Enron's share price has rocketed far faster
than those of other energy companies"
("Kenneth
Lay"). "Kenneth Lay: The Energetic
Messiah." The Economist 3 June 2000.
http://www.rediff.com/business/2000/jun/05enron.htm (27
June 2002).
What is the problem with this
citation? |
| | A) | The works cited page of the paper as it relates to
this entry is incorrect. |
| | B) | Quotation marks are used improperly with an altered
quotation. |
| | C) | The source's meaning has been changed, so the source
has been used inaccurately. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
3 | | In 2000,
the average corporate executive's pay--which as recently as 1980 was about 40
times that of an average worker--had skyrocketed to 531 times the amount paid
to a typical worker.ORIGINAL SOURCE: "In 1980 the
average CEO made 40 times the pay of the average factory worker; by 2000 the
ratio had climbed to 531 to 1" (Kadlec
52). "According to Business Week, the average
CEO made 42 times the average hourly worker's pay in 1980, 85 times in 1990
and a staggering 531 times in 2000" ("CEO
Pay"). "CEO Pay Doesn't Match
Performance." Executive PayWatch.
http://www.aflcio.org/paywatch/index.htm (3 July
2002).
Kadlec, Daniel. "8
Remedies." Time 17 June 2002: 51-52. What is
the problem with this citation? |
| | A) | The words from the source are paraphrased
incorrectly. |
| | B) | The source's meaning has been changed, so the source
has been used inaccurately. |
| | C) | The information is too specific to be common
knowledge and needs a citation. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
4 | | in fact,
they sometimes demand an executive who has previously been a CEO elsewhere,
to evade the blame they would incur if an untested CEO did not succeed
(Kadlec 52).ORIGINAL SOURCE: "The problem is that too
many boards demand someone who has already been a CEO somewhere else, to
avoid the criticism that would follow if a rookie CEO didn't work
out" (Kadlec 52). Kadlec, Daniel. "8
Remedies." Time 17 June 2002: 51-52. What is
the problem with this citation? |
| | A) | The works cited page of the paper as it relates to
this entry is incorrect. |
| | B) | Quotation marks should be used with phrases and
sentences taken directly from a source. |
| | C) | The words from the source are paraphrased
incorrectly. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
5 | | "[t]alented executives are [. . .]
rare" (Kadlec 52).ORIGINAL SOURCE:
"Talented executives are not that rare"
(Kadlec 52). Kadlec, Daniel. "8
Remedies." Time 17 June 2002: 51-52. What is
the problem with this citation? |
| | A) | The in-text citation is incorrect because necessary
information is absent. |
| | B) | The words from the source are paraphrased
incorrectly. |
| | C) | The source's meaning has been changed, so the source
has been used inaccurately. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
6 | | Stock
options were rarely offered in the past, when CEOs thought of themselves as
serving multiple constituencies, including their employees.ORIGINAL
SOURCE: "Executives didn't focus single-mindedly on
maximizing stock prices; they thought of themselves as serving multiple
constituencies, including their employees" (Krugman
A23). Krugman, Paul. "Greed Is Bad."
New York Times 5 June 2002: A23. What is the problem with this
citation? |
| | A) | The in-text citation is incorrect because the
parenthetical citation contains errors. |
| | B) | The works cited page of the paper as it relates to
this entry is incorrect. |
| | C) | Quotation marks should be used with phrases and
sentences taken directly from a source. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
7 | | As Allan
Sloan points out, "The fact that options value isn't
subtracted from profits has led corporations to give loads of them to
CEOs" (45).ORIGINAL SOURCE: "The fact
that options value isn't subtracted from profits has led corporations to give
loads of them to CEOs, who make huge profits when the stock rises, but lose
nothing when it falls" (Sloan 44). Sloan, Allan.
"Bad Boys Club." Newsweek 1 July
2002: 44-46. What is the problem with this citation? |
| | A) | The in-text citation is incorrect because the
parenthetical citation contains errors. |
| | B) | Quotation marks are used improperly with an altered
quotation. |
| | C) | The information is common knowledge, so it needs no
citation. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
8 | | The CEO
would thus be transformed from a highly paid manager into an owner
"who would keep one eye trained on the stock
price" (Lavelle).ORIGINAL SOURCE:
"Shareholder activists, institutional investors, and
governance experts all viewed them as a way to turn managers into owners who
would keep one eye trained on the stock price"
(Lavelle). Lavelle, Louis, with Frederick F. Jesperson and Michael
Arndt. "Executive Pay."
BusinessWeek Online 15 April 2002.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_15/b3778012.htm (25
June 2002).
What is the problem with this
citation? |
| | A) | The in-text citation is incorrect because necessary
information is absent. |
| | B) | Quotation marks are used improperly with an altered
quotation. |
| | C) | The source's meaning has been changed, so the source
has been used inaccurately. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
9 | | First,
stock options, which boards have handed out as if they were free, are not
without cost to the stockholders: "the more a company issues
options, the more it dilutes the value of existing shares,"
as Lowenstein observes (103).ORIGINAL SOURCE: "Of course,
the more you issue options, the more you dilute the value of existing shares,
but in the bull market of the 1990s, this was neatly
obscured" (Lowenstein 103). Lowenstein, Roger.
"Heads I Win, Tails I Win." The New York
Times Magazine 9 June 2002:
102-104.
What is the problem with this
citation? |
| | A) | The works cited page of the paper as it relates to
this entry is incorrect. |
| | B) | Quotation marks are used improperly with an altered
quotation. |
| | C) | The source's meaning has been changed, so the source
has been used inaccurately. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
10 | | "[A] system that lavishly rewards executives
for success tempts those executives, who control much of the information
available to outsiders, to fabricate the appearance of
success" (A23).ORIGINAL SOURCE: "[...] a
system that lavishly rewards executives for success tempts those executives,
who control much of the information available to outsiders, to fabricate the
appearance of success" (Krugman A23). Krugman, Paul.
"Greed Is Bad." New York Times 5
June 2002: A23. What is the problem with this
citation? |
| | A) | The in-text citation is incorrect because necessary
information is absent. |
| | B) | Quotation marks are used improperly with an altered
quotation. |
| | C) | The source's meaning has been changed, so the source
has been used inaccurately. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
11 | | This kind
of greed has often paid off handsomely ("CEO
Pay," Gross, Krugman A23). ORIGINAL SOURCES:
"[I]n the Enron collapse, [...] executives collected
millions from stock sales and retention bonuses"
("CEO Pay"). "Scott
Sullivan, the WorldCom CFO who allegedly engineered the misallocation of $3.8
billion in costs, received a 2001 salary of $700,000. However, that year he
was awarded 619,140 options with an exercise price of $15.62 - adding to the
2.6 million options he already held. Their potential value dwarfed his
salary" (Gross). "[...]a few years of
illusory achievement can leave an executive immensely
wealthy" (Krugman A23). "CEO Pay
Doesn't Match Performance." Executive PayWatch.
http://www.aflcio.org/paywatch/index.htm (3 July
2002).
Gross, Daniel. "Give That CEO a
Pay Raise!" Slate 16 July 2002.
http://WWW.SLATE.MSN.COM/?id=2067952 (29 June
2002).
Krugman, Paul. "Greed Is
Bad." New York Times 5 June 2002: A23. What is
the problem with this citation? |
| | A) | The in-text citation is incorrect because necessary
information is absent. |
| | B) | Quotation marks should be used with phrases and
sentences taken directly from a source. |
| | C) | The source's meaning has been changed, so the source
has been used inaccurately. |
| | D) | The citation is technically correct, but because the
information can be considered common knowledge, it needs no
citation. |
|
|
12 | | The Enron
bankruptcy, for example, cost 6100 people their jobs, and people with Enron
stock in their 401(k) accounts saw millions of dollars vanish, but Kenneth
Lay had the comfort of hundreds of millions of dollars from stock options he
had cashed in before the scandal broke ("CEO
Pay").ORIGINAL SOURCE: "Company
bankrupt, 6,100 out of work and 401(k) participants lose millions. In 2000,
CEO Ken Lay exercised $123 million in stock options prior to the accounting
scandal" ("CEO
Pay"). "CEO Pay Doesn't Match
Performance." Executive PayWatch.
http://www.aflcio.org/paywatch/index.htm (3 July
2002).
What is the problem with this
citation? |
| | A) | The words from the source are paraphrased
incorrectly. |
| | B) | The source's meaning has been changed, so the source
has been used inaccurately. |
| | C) | The information is common knowledge, so it needs no
citation. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|
|
13 | | American
voters have always been slow to punish the rich because, as Howard Fineman
notes, "they'd like to join them"
(46).ORIGINAL SOURCE: "They know that voters don't
generally hate the rich--they'd like to join them" (Fineman
46). Fineman, Howard. "The Politics of
Greed." Newsweek 1 July 2002: 46. What is the
problem with this citation? |
| | A) | The in-text citation is incorrect because necessary
information is absent. |
| | B) | The works cited page of the paper as it relates to
this entry is incorrect. |
| | C) | The source's meaning has been changed, so the source
has been used inaccurately. |
| | D) | The citation is correct as is; there is no
problem. |
|