1. A detailed description of the
activity undertaken
First
the ease of set-up was examined using the school's
library guide. Set-up took about 30 minutes, including looking
for passwords and access codes. For a student reasonably familiar with
add-ons and chrome (which most of our students should be) this part should not
be a problem.
In
order to review the citation tool, three of the most common primary resources
used by our students were tested, namely print books, journal
articles and Internet sites. For each resource, output was created in the
2 most common citation methods used by the school, namely MLA and APA.
The output of EasyBib and Zotero were compared and both were checked to the MLA and APA guidelines. The
other factor that was looked at included how much additional manual input was
required and how "intuitive" manual completion was.
Print
book
All results
were comparable, EasyBib added "Print" as the format, which is
correct, where Zotero didn’t, but EasyBib did not state the edition, whereas
Zotero did.
Journal
Article
EasyBib
could not find the citations using the DOI. Trying "autocite"
using the name of the journal also didn't work, so manual input was required.
For
MLA, once again, EasyBib correctly includes the format (Web), which Zotero
doesn't. For APA, only the Zotero result is in fact correct and up to date with the latest APA guidelines as
it includes the DOI. The lack
of EasyBib's ability to extract data from the DOI can be seen as a drawback
particularly for older students who use journal articles more frequently.
This seems to be a result of the fact that EasyBib is only linked with
JStor and Proquest.
Internet
resource
A
considerable amount of information was missing. In fact the only item
that was correct was the URL, and every other piece needed to be found.
However, every step of the way EasyBib gave helpful hints as to what
information was needed and where the information could be found. A particularly
useful feature was the way that the "finished" citation evolved
alongside the fill in boxes - the "LearnCite" feature.
For
MLA, the EasyBib citation was the correct one, mainly as a result of the fact
that Zotero doesn't have an entry space for the publisher / owner of the
website. In the case of APA, neither EasyBib nor Zotero were fully correct.
2. Answers
to the following questions:
What
did you learn?
Despite the
appearance of ease and automatic citation generation, one needs to have a
healthy dose of scepticism and the willingness to be familiar
with the citation rules and to check results or input against these rules. When
I contacted the APA and Zotero about the discrepancies in citations, both
organisations got back to me within a few hours, the APA to confirm the correct
form and Zotero to say that the error would be fixed.
How
was the activity relevant to your professional practice?
I can now
better serve my student clients and find the information needed for them to
manage the citation and referencing needed in the MLA format using the EasyBib
tool for their research.
Were
any gaps in your knowledge revealed? How might you fill those gaps?
I
had gaps both in the use of the EasyBib tool and in the MLA citation method. I am more comfortable with EasyBib now, and have
found some good resources on both APA and MLA that I can consult when in doubt
as to the correct citation form.
3. Websites consulted and references:
Barnes, D.
(2013, February 5). EasyBib Bibliography tool – a student review [Blog
post]. i see teach. Retrieved August 6, 2014, from
http://daibarnes.info/blog/easybib-bibliography-tool-a-student-review/
Burkhardt,
A. (2011, July 11). A Tale of Two Citation Tools [Blog]. Information
Tyrannosaur. Retrieved August 6, 2014, from
http://andyburkhardt.com/2011/07/11/a-tale-of-two-citation-tools/
Griffith,
E. (2012, September 27). Abandoned for Years, Web 2.0 Tool EasyBib Is Now a
Thriving Business [News Article]. PandoDaily. Retrieved August 6,
2014, from http://pando.com/2012/09/27/abandoned-for-years-web-2-0-tool-easybib-is-now-a-thriving-business/
Hamilton,
B. (2012, March 27). Easing Their Citation Pain: Putting the Focus on Critical
Thinking in Research with EasyBib [Blog post]. The Unquiet Librarian.
Retrieved August 6, 2014, from http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/easing-their-citation-pain-putting-the-focus-on-critical-thinking-in-research-with-easybib/
Hamilton,
B. (2013, January 14). Get Started with EasyBib - EasyBib 101 - [Library
Guide]. LibGuides at Creekview High School. Retrieved August 6, 2014,
from http://www.theunquietlibrary.libguides.com/easybib
Hume-Pratuch,
J. (2014, July 25). How to Use the New DOI Format in APA Style [Blog
post]. APA Style Blog. Retrieved August 6, 2014, from
http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2014/07/how-to-use-the-new-doi-format-in-apa-style.html
Kessman,
J. (2013, October 23). EasyBib Listed as a Great Mobile App to Help Research.
Retrieved August 6, 2014, from
http://content.easybib.com/category/product-reviews/#.U-J4woCSyIA
Lipson, C.
(2011). Cite right: a quick guide to citation styles--MLA, APA, Chicago,
the sciences, professions, and more (2nd ed.). Chicago ; London:
University of Chicago Press.
OWL Purdue
University. (2014a, August 4). APA Formatting and Style Guide. Retrieved August
6, 2014, from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/
OWL Purdue
University. (2014b, August 4). MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web
Publications). Retrieved August 6, 2014, from
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/08/
Provenzano,
N. (2011, April 18). It’s an Easy Choice! My Review of EasyBib. The
Nerdy Teacher. Retrieved August 6, 2014, from
http://www.thenerdyteacher.com/2011/04/its-easy-choice-my-review-of-easybib.html
Teaching
Blog Addict. (2011, September). EasyBib: a Free Bibliography Maker [Blog
post]. Teaching Blog Addict. Retrieved August 6, 2014, from
http://www.teachingblogaddict.com/2011/09/easybib-free-bibliography-maker.html
UWCSEA-East
Campus. (n.d.). EasyBib - Citation - LibGuides at United World College of
Southeast Asia. Retrieved August 6, 2014, from
http://research.uwcsea.edu.sg/c.php?g=33290&p=211365
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