This latest section I finished off was the most useful to me as a college student. As an adult who no longer writes research papers with works cited pages, this section was about as riveting as watching paint dry. There was one snippet, however, that provided much needed advice for all communication, not just the written word:“People believe that intelligence and decency support their side of an argument. To change sides, they must continue to feel intelligent and decent. Otherwise they will persist in their opposition.”
Aside from this gem of a quote, there wasn’t a lot to see. This portion of the book contains a few chapters about how to approach researching for a paper, avoiding plagiarism, and structuring an effective argument. The research chapters show their age, with broad warnings against using the internet pretty much at all. It also provides a small, clunky list of search engines trusted by the author. About half of those listed no longer exist.
One of the biggest affronts to all that is good and decent (at least in my silly mind) came in the form of a list of over 21 different reference and documentation styles that the book suggests are common. It seems as if every other academic or scientific discipline has come up with its own style guide for research documentation. It all just seemed a little too much. I’m not opposed to different disciplines being unique in certain ways, but this overabundance of style guides seems like it has to be intentional out of misplaced pride or arrogance- having your own system just to have your own system if you will. Perhaps some of the style guides listed have vanished over the last 17 years. I hope so, because it was hard enough in college to bounce back and forth between MLA and APA style depending on the professor.
The rest (and majority) of this section was split into three documentation guides for MLA, APA, and Chicago formats. This is where The Bedford Handbook was worth its weight in gold when I was in college. In the end, it probably only saved me a few percentage points per paper, but those extra points helped me graduate cum laude.
The final stretch of this book is upon us. After a few chapters on grammar, a usage glossary, and the index, I will be done and on to one last reference book. I admit that I got fidgety several times during this last section, so it seems my tolerance for reference material is waning fast. It’s a good thing my next book is a short one.
Page Count: 811/928 (87.39%)
Countdown to my next update: 117 pages
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