Question

Don't provide someone with just the answer - explain the process, and help guide them through understanding the problem.

What does this actually means ? @ganeshie8 @thomaster

Answer 1

@Compassionate

Answer 2

It means users should not post full solutions to questions as this just encourages people to cheat. Guide them to a solution and let them participate in it.
It's better to guide the user to an answer rather than doing all the work yourself. Most users will only scroll to the bottom of your explanation and copy the answer. That's not what this website is intended for. Users should get the answer themselves with your guidance.

So when someone posts a multiple choice question, you do not tell them "It's C", that's providing an answer. What you do instead is either giving some background info that will help them get the right answer, or eliminate the wrong choices by explaining why they can't be the answer.

Same for open questions, give some information about the question instead of telling the answer right away.

Answer 3

How can i apply this all the time ? Suppose in biology section someone asks "What is the smallest cell in the human body ?"

Answer 4

give them a link to an article that contains the answer. Like this one: http://www.sciences360.com/index.php/the-largest-and-smallest-cells-in-the-human-body-14336/
It concludes with the answer: sperm cells, and contains a lot of additional information.

That's way better than to just say: It's sperm cells

Answer 5

:)

Answer 6

Thanx @thomaster

Answer 7

One more thing !
Many a times when i provide background, users reply "I think it's C" and want me to confirm it. If i confirm by saying yes it is C, is it also against COC ?

Answer 8

I'd usually reply with "isn't that obvious by now?" in such cases.

Answer 9

Ah...i see..can u please have a look and tell me if it is ryt way
http://openstudy.com/updates/53bd2eabe4b0f3a650f8dc2f

Answer 10

Not really, you can't expect someone to read a (wikipedia, not a very reliable source) article and that they will automatically "get it".
The user in that question is just looking for the right answer, rather than to learn the subject matter. A good tutor will not tell them if they're right or wrong if they randomly propose an answer. If you refer to an article, tell them that the article might help in finding the answer. If he keeps asking if his answer is right, or if he responds with stuff like "idk", "I don't have time to read it, just give me the answer", you just ignore the question. If the users are not willing to participate in finding the answer, we just don't help them.

The point is that you (the tutor) stimulates the users to find the answer themselves. Most users are not here to learn, they're here to get answers. Those are the users we don't want to help. You can give them hints, useful information, links to articles and stuff. But don't tell them if their answer is right or wrong unless they are actually participating in solving the problem. It's very easy to find the cheaters between the learners.