[WEB4LIB] Re: Citation creation code?

[Michael.Yunkin at ccmail.nevada.edu]

>>>But though it's easy for us to shake our heads at these lazy and
>>>ill-prepared undergraduates...

I also blame the lazy professors.  My Music History prof assigned everyone
in the class vastly different topics for research papers, and as part of
the assignment, we had to hand in our papers, photocopies or printouts of
all of the articles we used in our bibliographies, and all of the books we
used (yes, the actual books).

I remember having to make 2 trips to turn in the assignment--one for all
the papers and one for the 12 or so library books I had cited.

He checked citations in about a week, and graded the papers in about a
month--not bad for 25+ students.

-Michael



|---------+----------------------------->
|         |           Elizabeth Thomsen |
|         |           <et at noblenet.org> |
|         |           Sent by:          |
|         |           web4lib at sunsite3.b|
|         |           erkeley.edu       |
|         |                             |
|         |                             |
|         |           02/24/2005 08:37  |
|         |           AM                |
|         |           Please respond to |
|         |           et                |
|         |                             |
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  |       To:       Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>                                                  |
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  |       Subject:  [WEB4LIB] Re: Citation creation code?                                                                        |
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In response to Steve's citation rant, which began this way:
> Regarding citations themselves...ahh, the fun territory that is
> citations. I've often found that from experience and stories related
> from teachers/library staff that students do not have the necessary
> information to cite properly...

I agree with what Steve says, and especially his list of the overly
casual if not blatantly dishonest ways that students make up for the
deficiencies in their research and notetaking.

But though it's easy for us to shake our heads at these lazy and
ill-prepared undergraduates (these kids today!) we should remember that
this is a problem at all levels.  In recent years, Doris Kearns Goodwin,
Stephen Ambrose, Charles Ogletree and other well-known authors have had
to admit to failings in their published work.

I just read Richard Pollak's "The Making of Dr. B.," a biography of Bruno
Bettelheim, which is interesting to read just from the point of view of
scholarly lapses, failure to cite, and overt deceptions, and how easy it
can be to get away with this!

Librarians and others worry over the accuracy and authority of
information found online, but I think we all need to be just as careful
about print resources of all kinds, and not assume that editors and
publishers are subjecting texts to a rigorous fact and citation checking.

--
Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager
NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
Danvers MA 01923
et at noblenet.org