Old Email Archive

digest 1997-02-23 #001



11:28 PM 2/22/97 -0800
From: "Society for Literature & Science" 

Daily SLS Email Digest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 22 Feb 1997 15:20:31 -0800
From: "Mike Merrill" 
Subject: Re: question and comment
> re Mike Merrill's comment: I didn't mean that I was concerned that
the
> quote might be too apocryphal to use, just that it might be too
flippant.
>
> Jay
> Jay A. Labinger
> Beckman Institute
> California Institute of Technology
> 139-74
> Pasadena, CA 91125
And here I was hoping to open a whole new can of worms.
But seriously, do folks find themselves citing the "opinion"
of a
listserve, and what do we think of the validity of such a reference?
> tel: 818-395-6520
> fax: 818-449-4159
>
>
>
- -------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Merrill
Dept. of English, UCLA
310-825-6326
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Date: 22 Feb 1997 19:47:30 -0800
From: Joseph Duemer 
Subject: Re: question and comment
You know, I hadn't thought of this problem. If it is a problem. Of
citing sources that represent a consensus of opinion. Lots of sources
on
the internet, of course, are just like sources in a library, whether by
an individual or corporate writer. Section 4.9 of the most recent _MLA
Handbook for Writers of Research Papers_ deals extensively with the
proper form of citations for online databases and other forms of
internet publication, but says nothing about a discussion group.
Far be it from me to let the MLA dictate my practice as a writer, but
perhaps the analogy to a print volume of essays, or even interviews
will
serve as a guide. Say the volume in question presents a number of
divergent views, and the editor offers an interpretation and synthesis
in an Afterword. How would we cite this? If everyone in the volume was
in substantial agreement then perhaps a writer could cite the volume
and
write, "Scholars of the sociology of land snail evolution agree. .
. ."
But in the case of multiple views--almost always the case on THIS list,
how does one characterize the range of opinion? "Contributors to
H-Nexa
all believe in the existence of God . . ." clearly won't do.
Rather, "A
recent exchange on the H-nexa listserver indicates that scholars in the
sciences and humanities cannot agree about certain major theological
issues." Forgive the silliness of my examples, I'm just thinking
out
loud here. To conclude, I think the analogy to print practice still
holds--though I imagine a future where this paradigm will have to be
abandoned.
- --
- --
Joseph Duemer
School of Liberal Arts
Clarkson University
Potsdam NY 13699
315-262-2466
"Poets are the only people to whom love is not only a crucial,
but an indispensable experience, which entitles them to
mistake it for a universal one."
-- Hannah Arendt
"People do not deserve to have good writing, they are so
pleased with bad."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson