by Noor H. Sherazi
We were fortunate enough to host Dr. Christopher Weagle’s Writing Center Workshop titled “The Secrets of Source Integration” on Wednesday, September 25th, 2019, from 2 pm to 2:30 pm. It was attended by around fourteen students who learned about source integration methods and the details of in-text citations. They watched an instructional video, analyzed citation examples, and performed an activity that featured facts about elephants and their odd fear of cheese. Dr. Weagle encouraged students to utilize their information literacy when in need but also warned about its pitfalls. “Never trust a robot”, he said, “you have to know some of the basics so that if it makes a mistake you can catch it”. Another big takeaway from Dr. Weagle’s presentation was his reminder about the reasons we cite. The practice is often viewed as merely a method to avoid plagiarism, but it is more meaningful than that. As he put it, citations “heighten your credibility” and “guide future researchers in finding your sources”. They are a means of continuing the academic conversations papers contribute to, and students should keep this significance in mind so that they can become more effective with their citing.
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