Monday, March 7, 2016

A not-so-passive-agressive rant about elitist bibliography style guides

Revisions, revisions, revisions.

That is the theme of this week. 

Putting together bibliographies, checking footnotes, and making sure that all things are in their proper place. 

Bits and bobs. 

But even then, Oxford just has to be pretentious. 

They won't let me use elegant Chicago style (and I am passionate about my Chicago style guide). 

Oh, no. 

Oxford just has to have their own guide. And the Oxford History Faculty has to have its own style guide. 

FALFIEFJODIAJFAAEOIGJADSOAOBIJAOBIAJSBOIJASDO. 

^That is how I feel about it.^ 

On a related note, I finally figured out how to find that style guide on RefWorks. 

So, you know. Progress. 

Even so, just look at this line from the "Conventions for the presentation of essays, dissertations, and theses in History" style guide: 

"Style is a personal matter, while the precise structure of an essay, dissertation, or thesis (henceforth referred to collectively as 'thesis') will depend on your subject and the kinds of material you use. So any rules given here can only be of the most general kind." 

Really? Really? General rules? Thanks, guys. This is really helpful. 

The rest of the style guide is almost as vague. Almost. Not quite. But almost. 

This is going to be a fun week. 

FADFLKAJFOIALDFKEJAOIJDOIJOBJAOBIJOAEIGOADJFLADJFADFADJ

^Still how I feel about this new style guide I have to use.^

#oxfordproblems
#historystudentproblems
#ivorytowerproblems

*But in happier news, things are actually going well with these essays and it's good that I can be on the revision stage instead of scrambling for an argument.

This also happened while we were talking about my paper on 1920s U.S. foreign policy:

J: I think that Joan Hoff-Wilson [a historian of the 1920s] called it "independent internationalism" or something like that. Anyway, look it up.
M: Okay. And I think George Herring [another historian] called it "involvement without commitment."
J (bursts out laughing): That sounds like something a terrible frat boy would call a relationship.

Basically, my thesis advisor can stay. He is allowed to stay. 

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