Note To Teachers of Writing Everywhere

[ChoralScholar]

Note to teachers of writing everywhere:

If you tell your students to write in MLA, APA, Turabian, or Chicago.... Let them cite according to that style!

Don't make changes because you don't 'like' the use of Ibid, or because you 'hate' abbreviated subsequent citations, or because you think it's 'better' to use a full name rather than an initial.... This does nothing but confuse students in the long run, and all they've "learned" is that your preferences are more important than a style that thousands of scholars have agreed on for a subject area.

Why does it bother me, you ask? Because here I sit, trying to write a citation for a professional publication, but I can't remember the 'right' way to cite in Chicago style, because I've been accommodating teacher's whims on citations for years. Now, who benefited from that? Certainly not me.

If you'll excuse me, I've got to go get my Chicago Manual of Style and look this stupid thing up.

Soapbox over.

[rrneck]

1. I feel for you.

I used to hate to have to do that.