Referencing systems-there are a ton of them. MLA, Chicago, APA, Harvard, Oxford, this list goes on and on. I've been using Chicago style (the favorite of historians worldwide) for two years now. I'm so comfortable with it that I don't even need to look at a style guide for more than half of my citations. However, when I got here to UL, I learned that I would be using the Oxford system. While slightly annoyed at first, I quickly picked up a history handbook and got over it.
This morning in my folklore tutorial, however, someone HAD to complain endlessly about having to learn a different referencing system. She had that her school uses MLA format EXCLUSIVELY (maybe just her major-I've always been taught that different disciplines use different styles because they have different methods/needs.) She said that it was stupid to have to learn a new one and that she didn't want to learn a new one because she would get out of the habit of using MLA and mess up her papers once she got back home. She then asked if she could write her in MLA anyway.
Sigh. At this point I resisted the urge to face palm, put my head on my desk, or speak up and say anything other than "You could pick up a handbook from the history department-it has a nice referencing guide in it."
Basically, the point of this post is that I would like to remind everyone that ADAPTING is a big part of the Study Abroad experience. When you adapt, you are successful. I remember a book that I read for my University 101 class way back when titled "Who Moved My Cheese?" The entire (very short) book is about two mice who spend their day looking for cheese. When the cheese is moved to a different location, one mouse takes initiative, accepts the change and thus is successful. The other mouse decides to sit around and wait for the cheese to show up where it was originally. Moral of the story: being able to adapt to your surroundings and situations provides success, while waiting for something to change for YOU gets you nothing.
So, my fellow historians and knowledge-seeking counterparts, try a different referencing style other than MLA. I personally find footnotes and endnotes way easier to work with than parenthetical citations! You might just be surprised.
Very well put. I once had a Chemistry professor who grew up working the coal mines of Pennsylvania before going to Notre Dame. He told me to pick the brain of everyone I met. That was over 40 years ago.
ReplyDeleteIn the age of computers, learning a new language is a good thing. I took FORTRAN in college and studied DOS. They may be absolete but they give me an understanding on different applications. In the work enviroment we change all the time, even in upgrading the same programs.
You hang in there and you will succeed where the naysayers will fail.
Why go to Ireland to do the same thing you can do in the states? Learn and embrace teh new things.