October Updates

Wow, two weeks have gone by and no post. We have a lot to catch up on!

At the October 22nd workshop, “Who & What Should I Believe? Credibility of Sources,” our speaker, Joelle Thomas, helped us explore the intricate nature of the library’s website, as a tool for investigating the credibility of sources. She introduced a lot of great information, and opened up the workshop with positivity: you can find good sources anywhere! Despite the questionable nature of some online information, there are other types of information online that can be especially useful (in the case of internet sources, current statistics are readily accessible). Joelle also shared a good strategy: consider the 3 C’s while evaluating a website: credibility, currency & content. 

In terms of credibility, ask yourself some questions: who is the author? Why are they justified to discuss topics in this field? What is their educational background? For currency: when was the work published? Is the information recent? And finally, in the field of content, are any sources cited? Can you verify the sources? Is there any bias in the material? Is the argument logical? Overall, we learned not to be fooled by a source’s appearance. Knowing whether or not it is a good source require some investigation on your part, but of course, you don’t have to be alone in the process. Joelle mentioned a great resource student writers have available to them: the library. You may choose to navigate the library’s website to help evaluate your source, or if you prefer in person advice, you can also schedule an appointment with a librarian, and he/she will personally help you look for good sources for your topic. So once again, we would like to thank Joelle Thomas for providing all of this wonderful information, and we encourage you to explore the library’s site yourself. All of these great resources are available: http://libguides.bgsu.edu/gsw1120

As for this past week’s workshop, “Common Documentation Styles: MLA and APA Citation Strategies,” the director of the Writing Center, Dr. Barbara Toth was our speaker. When asked about the workshop, she replied so eloquently that I am going to include her description of the afternoon:

We had a really fun session last Thursday—who would’ve thunk it with topics not so fun as APA and MLA! But we did!

Grad students, undergrads, SAGE scholars, and BGSU staff—a really diverse group–wanting to learn more about formatting styles—the whats, whys, and hows!

We centered our APA/MLA party around an APA and MLA True or False Quiz which is attached. Then we referred to a PowerPoint for explanations and answers. I like low-pressure/high-learning environments, don’t you?

We talked a bit about how APA grew out of empirical researchers’ needs to document and share their work with others in their discipline(s). For example, APA scholars expect dates of studies to be cited in text as a matter course, right? Why? Because the date that a study was conducted is important information as a reader interprets an APA text. If a study about DNA was published in 1970, it will provide information much different than a study published in 2009, right? So the date of publication is important, not extraneous information, for a reader. Make sense?

We discussed how MLA, likewise, has grown out of the needs of other disciplines, particularly literature, and how literature scholars have constructed conventions that suited both their presentation of information and their readers. Did you know that MLA didn’t always use in-text parenthetical citations? It’s true. Once upon a time, MLA writers would often use Chicago or Turabian style footnotes or endnotes. To save a reader from having to move to the foot of a page or to the end of the document to identify references, MLA rule makers recommended unobtrusive parenthetical spaces so that writers could tell their readers in text who wrote the article and what page it could be found on. A nice reader-friendly move, I’d say.

A good time was had by all.

Barb Toth, Presenter
BGSU Writing Center Workshop

We would really like to thank Dr. Toth for guiding us through the ins and outs of APA and MLA, as they can be difficult topics to battle. She provided great insight, and you can find even more of her helpful information including the powerpoint that she references on the blog very soon.

Now that October is over, it is time to discuss our three remaining workshops for the Fall 2009 semester. This Thursday, November 5th, we’d like to invite you to this week’s workshop titled, “The Graduate School Application Process.”  Unlike previous workshops which covered more general topics, this workshop is specifically designed for those who are applying to graduate programs in the next year. 



The workshop will focus on a variety of topics including how to select schools to apply for, how to write a statement of purpose, and how to approach your professors for letters of recommendation. 

The workshop will be held Thursday, November 5, from 2:30 to 3:30pm in 206 East Hall–not Moseley Hall where previous workshops have been held.



If you’re not applying to graduate school this year, then please consider joining us for next week’s workshop on writing effective cover letters and resumes (November 12) or the following workshop (November 19) where we will read literature from around the world. 

So, remember this week, the workshop is in 206 East Hall from 2:30-3:30, and then next week, we will be back in 400 Moseley Hall. We hope to see you there!!

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