19 January 2015
Most commandments are intimidating—but not these. These are designed to take the intimidation out of the citation process that causes so much angst and rebellion.
- Thou shalt always cite something.
- Thou shalt not beat thy breast over past lapses.
- Thou shalt not be paranoid.
- Thou shalt not get bent out of shape over commas and semicolons.
- Thou shalt not expect ready-made formulas to fit every quirky record thou findeth.
- Thou shalt cite only what thou useth.
- Thou shalt give credit where credit is due.
- Thou shalt thoughtfully consider the nature of thy source.
- Thou shalt thoughtfully consider what details others need when they use thy material.
- Thou shalt always add an appraisal of thy source.
Past this point, of course, it helps to have a manual such as EE handy, to show you exactly how to craft citations for every esoteric source you find.
SOURCE: Borrowed, with permission, from Elizabeth Shown Mills, "Sources & Citations Simplified: From Memorabilia to Digital Data to DNA," lecture and syllabus material, various conferences, 2005–14.
PHOTOCREDIT: "Tables of the Ten Commandments," CanStockPhoto (http://www.canstockphoto.com/images-photos/commandments.html#file_view.php?id=23010784 : downloaded 5 December 2014), uploaded 4 November 2014 by Adrenalina; used under license.