Working Without a 'Net: Why I'm Glad I Never Used a Citation Generator

Many students consider a citation generator to be their best friend.  They are a great time-saver, after all. I have assisted students in their use and warned them about the tendency of many, especially the free ones found through Google, to be out-of-date or just plain wrong (We won't even go into the many ways that the EbscoHOST citations completely miss the mark).  I have steered them to the Purdue University Onine Writing Lab as a place to check the citations they get from the generators.

As a student, even in graduate school when online citation generators were becoming enormously popular, I never used one. I did it the old-fashioned way, the tedious, time-consuming way, and I'm glad I did.  I have written numerous research papers in APA and even more (including my dissertation and its exactly 100 references) in the American Political Science Association (APSA) format. I have written journal articles in Chicago format, which I would not wish on my worst enemy. As an undergraduate in the age of handwritten research papers, I (literally) wrote several in MLA.

Now I realize that all of this was preparing me for one of the roles I most frequently play professionally: style consultant. The undergraduates with whom I interact know nothing about style, especially citation format. They have no idea why it is important, and on first glance think it's no big deal. It takes a sophisticated user of style manuals to explain these things. I can also tell at a glance if a citation is incorrect, why, and how to fix it. If I had relied on a citation generator along the way, I would be just as clueless as my students and  I would miss so many important issues with their citations.

Working without a 'net may be aggravating, tedious, repetitive, or even scary, but all LIS programs should require their students to do it at least once, especially if they are concentrating in reference and instruction. I am convinced  that it is the only way to learn the skills necessary to advise students on this important aspect of academic work.