Citations+and+Works+Cited

When you click into the citations room, this is some of what I'd like to see:

ONE HEADING (could be a door that you click on) titled Why Do You Need to Cite?

Under this heading (or after you click on this heading) you would see various reasons for citations: 1. One would be called "Scary College Professor Stories" -- Here the students could read a story about a scary college professor who gives students failing grades for not being precise with their citations. This story might be told in a bit of a light manner, with the caveat that these things really can and do happen, so don't blame us.

2. One would be called: "Observing standards of Academic Honesty" -- Here students would read a straight forward explanation of how students can run into trouble with issues of plagiarism. There could be a link to our __academic honesty policy__. There could also be a link to an explanation of __what paraphrasing means and how to paraphrase__ so as to avoid petty plagiarism or blatant plagiarism.

3. One could be called: "A Philosophy of Citations". – Here students could read about how citations are symbolic of their maturing as thinkers and commentators. When they were in 4th grade, they were asked to write about dolphins, and they didn’t need to cite anything because the assumption was that they had absolutely nothing to add to a discussion about dolphins. They read books, paraphrased what was in those books (link to __what paraphrasing means and how to paraphrase__), and then handed it in. (Their first sentence was “Dolphins are gregarious creatures.” -- and their first paragraph was all about how dolphins, similar to people, like to be social. It was fun learning about dolphins. __Link to short film about dolphins__.)

Also might be useful in Philosophy of Citations to describe the relationship between Works Cited and citations. I'm always amazed at how often, even in Am Stud where the students are supposed to be better at this sort of thing, the students have citations with no corresponding work in the WC (and vice versa). I think students see citations simply as a way to prove there's been no academic dishonesty. Instead, at its highest level, citations and WC are the way a student (scholar) engages the intellectual dialogue that happens as one author propels or refutes another's work. In other words, I read your paper, and want to go the original source you cite to learn more and maybe even challenge how you're using the original ideas. We sort of sterilize the process by making citations and works cited only about academic honesty.

Now students are being asked to separate “what other people say about a topic” from what the students themselves have to say – and what the students have to say is, ultimately, the most valuable part of the writing. Citing indicates that the students are becoming on a par with other commentators on the topics that they are addressing. When we think about stuff, we indicate who has influenced our thinking, and citations are the way that we do this in formal academic writing (and an accounting of sources is an expectation in any type of reported journalism). Writing in this way can also be fun.

ANOTHER HEADING (could be a door that you click on) titled How to Cite: 1. Here would be information and samples of the MLA format for citations that is used in History, Social Sciences, and English

Advanced students could click on links for Chicago style or whatever students might be asked to use in a college history course

ANOTHER HEADING titled: How to create a __Works Cited__