A teacher mentioned his preferred citation style in class the other day (University of Chicago), and he commented that the various citation styles influence the style of the piece of writing and the thought process of the author. I have absolutely zero idea what this means. I know that MLA and APA exist; I now know that University of Chicago style exists; and I am pretty sure that when I was in undergrad, I just used a mish-mash of styles or 'my own' citation style. So, although this is not very interesting to me (at all), I should definitely learn what these different styles are and how they affect the writing.
(Why can't we just throw down our own ideas and call it a day? Who cares about being cited, getting credited for the ideas? This is what irks me about higher education -- it's more about competition than collaboration. Someone should do a study to find out whether competition or collaboration results in higher student achievement.)
Actually since you are a U of I student you can use RefWorks for free, it's an online resource that collects all your references and can automatically format your paper using any style you choose. A bit of a learning curve but if you can get someone to show you how to get started, it's pretty easy! Ask your classmates...
ReplyDeleteYeah, someone actually mentioned RefWorks in class, but then everyone said how it's not very intuitive at all. Everyone loved BookEnds. Perhaps I'll give RefWorks a try and see how confused I get. :)
ReplyDeleteHmm, I know that RefWorks isn't the only option, never heard of Bookends before. If people say it's more intuitive, I'm sure that's true, but it looks like it costs $70 for students, which is $70 more than I'd ever pay for software. RefWorks is only free because you're a U of I student (I think), so I'd definitely give it a shot first. I think the library offers free training if you can't find someone to get you started...
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