An audio report on the New York Times discussion group on campus.
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UM-Flint students can relax about citations
FLINT, Michigan--University of Michigan-Flint students will not need to worry about citations in their papers anymore. UM-Flint’s Frances Willson Thompson Library has acquired access to RefWorks, an online bibliographical database that allows students and faculty to store references used for academic papers and articles. In addition to storage, RefWorks will also create bibliographies and works cited pages in many different formats such as the American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA) and Chicago styles.
Vera Anderson, a librarian at UM-Flint, feels that this is an “absolutely terrific tool for both students and faculty.” The initiative to obtain a utility such as RefWorks came from faculty requests, according to Anderson, and one faculty member even requested RefWorks by name. There are similar programs available, but the fact that RefWorks is a Web-based application was a significant factor in UM-Flint’s decision to purchase it. Anderson also said that this particular application is very easy to setup and learn, which is an aspect that also contributed to the decision.
RefWorks was founded in 2001 by a group of experts experienced with bibliographic databases, according to its Web site. There are over 900 organizations around the world that currently use this service including many libraries and universities in the United States such as Harvard University, The University of Notre Dame and the Library of Congress.
Notre Dame launched RefWorks in January 2007 and has more than 3,000 registered users, according to Tatiana Prokrym of the Electronic Resources Department of Notre Dame. “Judging from usage patterns, it seems to be working well,” Prokrym said. Seventy percent of the users are undergraduate students, according to Prokrym, and as training of the system increases, so do the number of users.
Another aspect of RefWorks is that it allows for sharing of reference materials with others to help facilitate group work. However, this feature brings concern for copyright infringement. Students and faculty have access to article databases, which requires a subscription purchase by the university. If a member of the university shares a source from one of these databases with someone from outside the university, this could result in a case of copyright infringement if the individual does not have access to the material through a subscription of his or her own.
RefWorks can also provide automatic in-text citations via the “write and cite” feature. Once the source has been put into the system, the user can select the source for a particular reference within the body of the text and RefWorks will enter the citation in the desired format automatically. Ashley Smith, a sophomore majoring in Spanish and international relations at UM-Flint, is looking forward to becoming familiar with the service. “It sounds like a pretty sweet program to me,” Smith said.
Vickie Larsen, instructor of English at UM-Flint, has used RefWorks and thinks that it is a necessary tool for anyone who is doing any kind of extensive research. “I can search all relevant indexes and retrieve essential materials in a matter of hours,” said Larsen. In response to any concern that this software prevents students from learning how to properly cite sources and create reference papers, Larsen said, “knowing when and how to use a tool like Refworks is a different, and to my mind, more powerful kind of knowledge than knowing where to put the periods and the commas in a bibliography.”
Not every professor at UM-Flint feels the same as Larsen about Refworks. “It sounds more complicated than I do things,” said Albert Price, professor of political science. Price also said that he would look into the program further, but it is probably something that he will not use.
RefWorks is free to all current students, faculty and employees at UM-Flint and can be accessed via the library Web site after creating an individual account.
Vera Anderson, a librarian at UM-Flint, feels that this is an “absolutely terrific tool for both students and faculty.” The initiative to obtain a utility such as RefWorks came from faculty requests, according to Anderson, and one faculty member even requested RefWorks by name. There are similar programs available, but the fact that RefWorks is a Web-based application was a significant factor in UM-Flint’s decision to purchase it. Anderson also said that this particular application is very easy to setup and learn, which is an aspect that also contributed to the decision.
RefWorks was founded in 2001 by a group of experts experienced with bibliographic databases, according to its Web site. There are over 900 organizations around the world that currently use this service including many libraries and universities in the United States such as Harvard University, The University of Notre Dame and the Library of Congress.
Notre Dame launched RefWorks in January 2007 and has more than 3,000 registered users, according to Tatiana Prokrym of the Electronic Resources Department of Notre Dame. “Judging from usage patterns, it seems to be working well,” Prokrym said. Seventy percent of the users are undergraduate students, according to Prokrym, and as training of the system increases, so do the number of users.
Another aspect of RefWorks is that it allows for sharing of reference materials with others to help facilitate group work. However, this feature brings concern for copyright infringement. Students and faculty have access to article databases, which requires a subscription purchase by the university. If a member of the university shares a source from one of these databases with someone from outside the university, this could result in a case of copyright infringement if the individual does not have access to the material through a subscription of his or her own.
RefWorks can also provide automatic in-text citations via the “write and cite” feature. Once the source has been put into the system, the user can select the source for a particular reference within the body of the text and RefWorks will enter the citation in the desired format automatically. Ashley Smith, a sophomore majoring in Spanish and international relations at UM-Flint, is looking forward to becoming familiar with the service. “It sounds like a pretty sweet program to me,” Smith said.
Vickie Larsen, instructor of English at UM-Flint, has used RefWorks and thinks that it is a necessary tool for anyone who is doing any kind of extensive research. “I can search all relevant indexes and retrieve essential materials in a matter of hours,” said Larsen. In response to any concern that this software prevents students from learning how to properly cite sources and create reference papers, Larsen said, “knowing when and how to use a tool like Refworks is a different, and to my mind, more powerful kind of knowledge than knowing where to put the periods and the commas in a bibliography.”
Not every professor at UM-Flint feels the same as Larsen about Refworks. “It sounds more complicated than I do things,” said Albert Price, professor of political science. Price also said that he would look into the program further, but it is probably something that he will not use.
RefWorks is free to all current students, faculty and employees at UM-Flint and can be accessed via the library Web site after creating an individual account.
The Drudge Report
This Web site has a collection of stories about the inauguration from other news sites such as Yahoo! News, The Washington Post, and Breitbart TV. The general layout of the site is very unappealing and lacks organization. It does offer a variety of viewpoints because it is a conglomeration of news, but it lacks original content. These stories can be found by doing a basic search on the Web, but this site seems to be targeting one stop news shoppers on the Web. The stories listed on the site include the "flub" of the oath of office, the massive crowds in attendance, and a general story about President Barack Obama's speech.
The most significant difference between Drudge Report and The Huffington Post is the fact that The Post uses original articles in addition to linking to other sites. The main story includes a video of the inauguration as well particulars of Obama's speech. The layout is more organized than Drudge Report but is still simple in style.
The most significant difference between Drudge Report and The Huffington Post is the fact that The Post uses original articles in addition to linking to other sites. The main story includes a video of the inauguration as well particulars of Obama's speech. The layout is more organized than Drudge Report but is still simple in style.
Timely editors
Editing isn’t just about grammar, punctuation, and spelling which is made evident in the book, “The Art of Editing.” A significant responsibility that editors have is that of fact checking and making sure information is accurate. Editors must also help maintain the balance between reporting news and keeping advertisers and the audience happy. Decisions regarding whether or not to run a story that may show an advertiser in an unfavorable light are often assigned to editors.
An interesting development in the realm of journalism is the idea of citizen journalism. While it can aid in fostering an interest in the local paper by the readers, it can make more work for editors. Community members who may not have much experience with writing and grammar are submitting stories for publication and it is the editor’s job to decide whether or not the story makes it in the edition.
The time of copy editors, and video editors, and sound editors is coming to an end. Many news outlets are moving toward multimedia formats and editors must be skilled in all areas of editing. Newspapers are filming video and posting audio on the web. Television news stations are posting written articles to go along with video on their websites. All of these developments are making it necessary for editors to become familiar with all types of media in order to remain competitive and employable.
A quick peek
My name is Brett Smith and I am an English major with a writing concentration at the University of Michigan-Flint. I work part time in the writing center at school and work full time as a manager of a group home for developmentally disabled adults. At times, it proves to be a challenging job but overall, I enjoy what I do. In addition to my usual duties at work, I am also an instructor with the American Red Cross. Primarily, I teach Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and first aid for work, because it is an employment requirement for anyone who works with us, but I have taught some classes in the community. I’ve only had to use my training once when I performed CPR on an individual about three years ago and fortunately the individual survived.
Going back to the subject of school, I am officially a communications minor, but I have been focusing on courses related to journalism. This class will be my final scholarly endeavor in this field because I am graduating in May of this year. This course should prove valuable because I enjoy news writing and feel that my writing could improve with some news editing experience. As of yet, I haven’t written any published news articles, but I have written a significant amount of a news and feature stories. I enjoy writing feature stories because they allow you to really get into a particular subject on a deeper level and seem to generate a lot of interest among readers.
Going back to the subject of school, I am officially a communications minor, but I have been focusing on courses related to journalism. This class will be my final scholarly endeavor in this field because I am graduating in May of this year. This course should prove valuable because I enjoy news writing and feel that my writing could improve with some news editing experience. As of yet, I haven’t written any published news articles, but I have written a significant amount of a news and feature stories. I enjoy writing feature stories because they allow you to really get into a particular subject on a deeper level and seem to generate a lot of interest among readers.
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