Throughout my four years in high school, I was obviously taught the right way to cite sources. However, I wasn’t taught the importance of the effectiveness of citing sources. Hjortshoj takes citing sources to a whole new level explaining to the readers how important it is to make sure at the end of references from outside sources are properly cited by the writer. While I was in high school I overlooked the three misconceptions of Reference and Documentation that Hjortshoj refers to.
The first misconception that he refers to is that a citation at the end of a paragraph authorizes all uses of that source in previous sentences. The link to that misconception and my high school career is that I was actually taught that it was okay to do this so the misconception that Hjortshoj refers to is actually very common to high school students.
The second misconception is that minor changes in wording allow you to use author’s language and ideas without reference, quotation, or citation. I was personally taught to always cite ideas even if they were in your own words. This should be done because no matter how you word it, these ideas came from someone else’s head and they are not yours. Hjortshoj also explains that students believe that it is okay to “borrow” phrases if they are related to their beliefs. I was never taught this throughout high school and never actually believed that this was okay. To me, it just sounds like a poor excuse to steal someone’s ideas without punishment.
The third misconception that Hjortshoj mentions is that quotations do not need an introduction to the reference if you include a citation at the end. Emphasis on an introduction to quotes was always a strategy that was stressed as important throughout high school. Without an introduction and even a conclusion the quotation just stands there in the writing and does not fit into the paper.
I am so perplexed by your being taught to cite your own ideas. What else do you expect to change in college?
ReplyDeleteIt will help the reader a great deal if you make another change.
Without double-spacing (a print convention) blogs and wikis need white space between paragraphs. I'd say where, but you should go back and look at the post to decide where you shift to a new sub-topic.
At that place, put in a break with your return key, then apply this test: does the rest of the paragraph follow logically from the new first sentence.
I know I have a lot of practice at this, so it's easy for me to SAY. So why not look at my own blog, so you can see how and where I break paragraphs that each have their own little governing claim at the start.