The $3,000 question revisited

Certainly there is the need to give proper credit and reference to a quoted source. There is also the need to demonstrate that one has adequately and effectively researched the subject. There I have no argument. My argument is with the method of citation. What possible benefit could that be for the student in making this needed task more difficult than it needs to be? Just because you and I had it rough doesn't make us any better students than those who are blessed enough to have software that takes the drudgery out of citations. I could argue that they may even be better students because of the ability to concentrate more on the actual research as opposed to Kate or some other sadistic system of citation and documentation.

 

Standardization is essential. Anyone who spends a worthy portion of his or her life in research will attest to this. Even with the best documentation, research is painstaking because of the difficulty in tracing references, especially the more obscure ones needed in high level scholarship. What you are advocating is a decrease in the demands of scholarship. No one ever promised that it would be easy. For the casual student, this may seem desireable but he or she may rue the day when doing a thesis or dissertation. There are some things that one must just master regardless of the pain.

 

It is plainly good to know how to do it, but a love of citation will I not likely develop!

 

I'm not advocating a decrease in the demand of scholarship. If you want to spend hours studying the varying and confusing nuances of Kate and if you think that makes one a better student then knock yourself out. But, please don't drag the rest of us along in your love of needless tedium.

 

Saggy, you take my posts beyond anything that I have written. I have professed no love of "needless tedium" but I have underscored the need for an essential understanding of citation as a means of maintaining accuracy in scholarship, which includes accurately representing your opponent's views. How much experience do you have in research and citation outside what you have done in school?