Philip Pogson wrote:
> I have been off the list for some months and just re-subscribed a couple
> of weeks ago.
>
> One observation I would make on the current "use" of the list is that
> there seems to be a fairly high number of posts requesting references for
> use in University assignments and papers.
I had the same observation and initial response as did Philip. I'm not
sure if I would encourage these types of questions from university
students, since it seems as if they have bypassed the traditional research
route, but I'll pass on what my response was recently to such a request.
It took just a moment to key in the phrase the student had so clearly
identified for the search. Alta Vista is a quirky little system that most
people don't realize will yeild very specific results if you only put
quotation marks around the phrase. I found 400+ hits. I sent an email to
the querist and told her so (and how to perform the search). I also
directed her to her librarian and a research database that would direct
her to the right resources.
I got a nice email back from the young lady, thanking me for this
information, because she had found exactly what she was looking for. I
would think that it would be in our best interest to encourage general
queries from "beginners". If the questions seem elementary, perhaps it is
because the person making the request doesn't know as much as those who
are reading it.
Likewise, Philip, I'm not "having a go" at you either. Your response is
one I share to a certain extent. These requests from university students
(I get a lot of them as well on other lists) certainly does make me worry
that the universities are passing on the responsibility for conducting
research to listservs rather than teaching these young people how to do
the work themselves. Just the same, it is an opportunity to teach someone
how to do what others on our list can do without effort. If they turn to
us for help, I'd like to think that we would.
kind regards,
Vana Prewitt
Praxis Learning Systems
www.praxislearning.org
--Vana Prewitt <vprewitt@bellsouth.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>