I acknowledge the truth of what you are saying, Michael, and the fact
that your current position gives you a clearer view of some of these
issues, but my suggested research project (interviewing beginning
graduate students) was intended to uncover the way that citation and
reference practices, and the learning of those practices, does flow from
"the natural order of some fundamental pressure that arises within the
research parameters of the discipline" (Michael Ryan, CASLL LISTSERV,
Jan. 26, 2009). In other words when students reflected on their learning
of citation practices they would reveal that they had acquired these in
the context of genuine work reviewing research/the literature on a
particular issue. If they had not acquired the skills, it would be
revealed that their student experiences had not included the necessary
opportunities (or that they were unaware of them).
Cheers!
Laura
-----Original Message-----
From: CASLL/Inkshed [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael
Ryan
Sent: January-26-09 2:53 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Dissertation Woes
Allow me to approach this somewhat differently. Perhaps an "outsider's"
pragmatic viewpoint will problematise the issue. This is *not *directed
at
the original post.
It appears to me that citation styles are more clearly aligned with
Bordieu's sense of economic capital. If everyone simply said who,
where,
what, when, how [leaving the why for the body of the text] then where
would
there be a cost of entry. How would all those who have acquired this
skill
recoup their investments?
This is especially evident to me teaching in China. I am required to
teach
an English 100 course that includes MLA citation style. Last term it
was
APA. I am supposed to test students on missing commas and whens before
wheres, etc. Perhaps I couch this in terms of paying your dues, as I
certainly do not claim it is critical thinking. I would, if required,
claim
it was uncritical thinking.
In this current discourse, the greatest number of arguments appear to
reify
the need for citation as flowing from, or being part of, the natural
order
of some fundamental pressure that arises within the research parameters
of
the discipline. Humph! It is to my mind treading very closely to the
insistence on form, for forms sake, and adds little [nothing] to any
meaningful research. However, it does show you have paid the cost of
entry
to the discourse community.
Mien-tzu: Face. The need to order your thoughts in accordance with the
imposed wisdom of a figure of authority is writ large to me here. . I
do
not begrudge this. However, to claim it is in any way natural requires
further proof. This, respectfully, would not include proof by way of
citation of secondary sources.
I am currently reading Stella Ting-Toomey and I am indebted to her for
the
access to these ideas, if not the exact [or even conforming use of]
words
Best regards,
Michael J. Ryan
Sometime of Harbin, Heilongjiang, China [A city with 33 universities and
17
colleges.]
2009/1/26 Laura Atkinson <[log in to unmask]>
> Hi Stephanie!
>
> You are at an exciting place in your studies. It sounds as if whatever
> you do for your dissertation will be of interest. Probably each person
> on the list would like to see you serve their particular hobbyhorse.
>
> I would like to see the results of a research project in which you
> collaborated with a small number of new graduate students to discover
> what they already know (and how they learned it) about
> citation/referencing practices in their discipline(s). This could be
> attractive and useful to them because you could also help them to
> discover what they need to learn (and how to access that) about these
> practices. This project could provide useful information (and lots of
> room for discovery and speculation) about the current teaching and
> learning of referencing understanding and skills in a specific
> discipline.
>
> Good Luck!
>
> Laura
>
> ----Original Message-----
> From: CASLL/Inkshed [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> Stephanie Bell
> Sent: January-23-09 12:11 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Dissertation Woes
>
> Hello all and happy Friday,
>
> I'm a PhD student in composition theory & pedagogy working under the
> supervision of Dr. Catherine Schryer at the University of Waterloo.
I've
> recently completed my field exams and have moved on to transforming my
> pile
> of previous grant proposals into a viable (and, ideally, useful)
> dissertation project on some aspect of citation practices and/or
> academic
> misconduct. Thus far, I haven't been very successful.
>
> Since I'm not getting particularly far with the invention stage of my
> dissertation on my own, I've decided to seek input on the gaps in the
> field
> of citation/misconduct that (writing) instructors would be interested
in
> having filled.
>
> My current interest (and work at WLU's Writing Centre) is in teaching
> the
> complex citation practices involved in an author's critical engagement
> with
> source material as a means of facilitating student access to academic
> discursive communities as well as preventing student misconduct.
>
> I am open to *any* project ideas regarding any aspect of citation
and/or
> misconduct. I've been mulling over possible projects on citation from
> the
> following perspectives:
>
> - Student enculturation/community membership
> - Assignment design
> - Course design - specifically writing-intensive course design
> - Discipline-specific citation practices (i.e., Hyland, 2000)
> - Policy & institutional frameworks for dealing with plagiarism
> (i.e.,
> Price; Howard; Park)
> - Current approaches to teaching citation (i.e., content courses,
> bibliography courses, writing-intensive programs, texts like Graff,
> Birkenstein, Durst's They Say, I Say: The Moves that Matter in
> Academic
> Writing)
> - Theories of idea ownership and language (Foucault; Bloom, 1973;
> Volosinov; Bakhtin)
> - The history of citation practices (Ong, 1982 (although it's not
> the
> focus, it does touch upon practices of repetition and formula as
> mnemonic
> devices in oral cultures); Macfarlane, 2007)
>
>
> Thanks for your help,
>
> Stephanie
>
>
> --
> Stephanie Bell
> PhD Candidate
> English Language & Literature
> University of Waterloo
> [log in to unmask]
>
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--
Michael J. Ryan, Instructor
Capilano U - Harbin U of Science & Technology
Harbin, Heilongjiang, China
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