Cooperative research

Citation Police? Puh-leese! Like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot, there’s been an outcropping of alleged sightings lately. No proof, of course. But titillating stories are running wild. All the Police Brigade—the citation police, grammar police, and research police—make handy bogeymen for feeding agendas and nursing grievances; but they divide and handicap. They don’t encourage. They don’t improve us. Can we be practical about this? Historical research is not a them vs. us situation. ...