Monday, 1 June 2009

A source is a source of course of course

I'm in the middle of compiling my list of sources for my Confirmation of Status paper. Instead of doing a Works Cited, my examiners really want to see a list of pretty much everything I've read.

I hate compiling lists of sources. I start with every intention to be well-organized, and it just doesn't happen - I get sources scribbled on Post-Its, written in my notebook, saved to my email, etc. I wouldn't mind using one of those source compiling programs like EndNote, but I've heard they're expensive and complicated, plus they don't have the style guide used by my faculty (MHRA, which is damn complicated).

But really, the hard thing for me is deciding which of the sources I have read but not cited should go on the list. Do I really cite everything I've looked at, including the ones where I've glanced at the first paragraph and said "No way," or is there some sort of threshold at which I can say it should go in the Bibliography? I don't want it to look like I'm trying to pad it, putting in sources I didn't even look at.

Any tips, fellow Humanities folks?

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