Developing Your Own Reference System

Peter Babiak teaches English at the University of British Columbia.

This guide is addressed to “undergraduates, graduate students,
professors and anyone else wanting to organize their readings,” but
its plain style and elementary propositions suggest that it would be
most useful as a primer for undergraduates.

Hanson’s advice to students is to research, take notes, and document
sources in “the simplest way possible” in order to “free up more
time for fun activities such as visiting with friends, listening to jazz
and drinking wine.” In three short chapters she offers—complete with
illustrations—three unremarkable keys to good referencing: file cards
(for citing titles and publication information, and for summarizing the
contents of books and articles); a running bibliography (for quick
location of titles); and journals (for documenting arguments and
quotations).

Though Hanson approaches her topic with sincerity, many readers will
find parts of her book trivial—for example, her odd deliberation over
whether to use duo-tangs, notebooks, or three-ring binders for journals,
or her nominal considerations on where to read and write (while others
prefer a desk or couch, she prefers working in bed). Moreover, serious
researchers will likely conclude that all of her points could have
easily been condensed into a single page, and Hanson does precisely this
on the last page of the book, where she reproduces in large print a
“checklist for getting started,” summarizing in a few points the
previous 59 pages.

As if to supplement her modest project, Hanson makes quite a few
references to her world travels. Though intended to prove that her
referencing system is economical and portable, most of these anecdotes
are irrelevant. Along with its simplicity, these peripheral reflections
render the book less a reference guide than a lightweight memoir of the
author’s academic life and work. It is a fine book in its intentions,
but it lacks the scope of a serious educational tool.