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Throughout my studies at the IIS I have had to write more than my fair share of reports, essays, executive summaries, and research papers. This in itself is a challenging prospect and gathering credible research on each topic was my first hurdle.
Surely I just go and type in what I’m after in Google or Wikipedia, and hey presto! I have what I need.
Wrong!
It wasn’t until I took IS 101 with Ulrich that I realized that searching for information is easy, as long as you know how to go about it. The first thing that I learnt was that there is a button on Google’s main page that say ‘Scholar’. By pressing this button and searching for what you want you filter out all the blogs, networking sites, and amateur opinions on what you are looking for. In this class I also learnt what keywords are, and how to search for them.
So, once you’ve researched your topic it’s just a matter of compiling your gained knowledge in a logical and coherent manner.
Wrong!
The next hurdle is adhering to the format requirements, be they APA, MLA, or UTY (up to you). Admittedly, this is an obstacle that I still struggle with, and will continue to do so for a long time to come. Sure, when I’ve finished my paper I can go to contradictory websites that show me ways to follow the APA format. I can even go to the APA’s official website and get a teaser of what I need to do, but to know the intricacies of APA Id probably need to buy the book.
Another problem with adhering to the correct format is consistency on the part of the professors that I’ve had (hence the UTY option above). It seems to me that some professors don’t know/care about the correct APA format. This may be due to negligence or the fact that the format has changed since the time when they were at University using the format.
What I’d like to see is a course, not necessarily a credited course, but still a course, in which the correct formats are taught, the up-to-date book is given, and students are given the knowledge that will prove to be so useful during their academic lives.
Let's know your views on this rather dry topic.
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