Educating Writers vs. Citation Obsession

I spent the majority of this past weekend working on a draft of my paper for my HESAL 761 class. As it has been more than 10 years since I have been a student, and thus equally as long since I have written academically, a great deal of time was spent struggling with APA format and citations. I purchased the updated version of the APA Style Guide and sat down to learn, or relearn, the subtle citation differences for my various sources. What a pain. I suppose this post is in many ways is a therapeutic exercise for me as I readjust to the reality of being a student, and find room for another hat to wear as part of my identity.

It was actually during a break from writing, after struggling to figure how to cite a complete dissertation versus a dissertation abstract that I came across this article in theChronicle. The article was just what I needed to make me feel better and smile a little bit about the process I was going through, I was truly over the obsession with citations and style guides.The article made me laugh, put things into perspective, and forced me to focus on what I was attempting to say as opposed to focusing so much on the format for my reference section.

I shared one of my favorite quotes from the article over lunch at NASPA IV-W today.

“I’m analyzing poetry for my ‘Punk Literature’ seminar.Using MLA style, how do I cite a limerick scribbled on the third-floor toilet?”

The fact that my colleague immediately had an APA answer to this hypothetical question posed in the article makes me feel even happier about this post. Citation obsession abounds! While the author is mainly kvetching about the increased importance placed on proper citation (at the expense of actually learning to write) in undergraduate education it struck a nerve for me as I jump back into life as a graduate student. The author makes what seems to be a valid point in terms of how the increased concern and attention paid to properly citing sources (in one of a number of styles) has become one of the most, if not the most important component of many undergraduate writing curricula.

“Bibliographic citation has apparently eclipsed perfect grammar and the five-paragraph theme as the preoccupation of persnickety professors. What a colossal waste. Citation style remains the most arbitrary, formulaic, and prescriptive element of academic writing taught in American high schools and colleges. Now a sacred academic shibboleth, citation persists despite the incredibly high cost-benefit ratio of trying to teach students something they (and we should also) recognize as relatively useless to them as developing writers.”

I am grateful that this was not the trend when I was an undergraduate and seems to be a more recent phenomenon. I also realize the proper citation and formatting are important areas for me to develop as I progress academically. I suppose as a graduate student I am expected to be a more developed writer and can find some level of usefulness in understanding the style guidelines of my chosen field. I do find it interesting that I have never had a professor who was excited about APA. In fact most have shared the general frustration and disdain of those of us in the class.

I have always been critical of how we teach writing in general.I am amazed that one of the most commonly cited weaknesses (by both academics and employers) is that todays students do not know how to write at the level required to be successful academically or in the work place. This fact, coupled with the fact that most undergraduate writing programs (and many at the graduate level as well) do not teach students how to write in any real way.The linear, formulaic approaches employed by most programs, runs counter to how most quality writing is actually produced. I have never had, or met a writing instructor who actually approached their own writing the way that they approached teaching students to write. This contradiction, coupled with the increased obsession with proper citation over proper grammar and structure in many way highlights why students are not learning to write at the level expected by faculty or employers. The Citation Projectattempts to look at and address these gaps and challenges though various research and analysis as to where writing education needs to go in order to produce better writers in the future. I am excited to spend more time reviewing the findings of these studies, and apply the lessons learned to my own processes and writing.

Seriously though, how do I cite that limerick on the third floor bathroom stall?