slides using blogs to teach source citation as rhetorical

Using Blogs to Teach Source Citation as a Rhetorical Act

Elizabeth KleinfeldMetropolitan State University of Denverekleinfe@msudenver.eduSlides are at http://www.slideshare.net/lizkleinfeld

“Source Citation”

When we focus on

•what sources do, •what we do when we cite them, and•what source citations themselves do

the conversation shifts from “here is the template for a works cited entry” to “How does this source citation direct readers’ attention?” and “How does this source citation reflect upon the author?”

source citation = “cover your ass” move

source citation = “cover your ass” move

Barbara Fister

“When our students are distracted by arcane citation rules, when they spend more time creating a list of works cited than they do composing a paper, they won’t be inspired to see themselves as people who can make meaning. Instead, they will focus on avoiding punishment by carefully describing the containers of other people’s ideas. They’ll miss the whole point.”

By shifting the question from “how am I supposed to cite this source?” to “what happens when I cite this source in a particular way?”, we can move our students (and ourselves) from a CYA attitude toward source citation to one in which source citation is seen as epistemic, situated, contingent, and interactional.

•Experiments in Lifestyle Design http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/

•We Make Money Not Art http://we-make-money-not-art.com/

•Salty Running http://www.saltyrunning.com/

Experiments in Lifestyle Design

We Make Money Not Art

Salty Running

Read 3-5 entries from each blog, then answer the following questions: 1. How does the blogger signal to you, the reader, that source

material is being referred to? 2. What types of sources does the blogger cite? 3. To what degree does the blogger rely on paraphrase, summary,

and quotation? 4. What does the blogger do with those sources? Elaborate on the

source material? Interpret the source material? Something else? 5. How do the citations make you feel toward the source material?

For example, do you feel invited to go to the source material? 6. How do the citations make you feel toward the blogger? Do you

feel close or distant? 7. Describe the blogger’s voice. How do the citations contribute to

the blogger’s voice? 8. How does the blogger come across (serious, trustworthy, goofy,

etc.)? How do the citations contribute to this impression?