Thursday, May 3, 2012

I can't cite knowledge

So I had an essay to write. I was asked questions about topics I actually have a working knowledge on. I had to defend against a 60% do to lack of citation!

WTF? To be honest I have not read the textbook since midterm. No point really, the concepts in this section are not new information to me. I know a lot about disease processes and can put the big picture together, so that I can spout off my knowledge in a paper that sounds pretty put together. After all, this is NOT my first rodeo into the world of A&P and Patho.

To be honest isn't the point of going to college to actually LEARN the shit? How do you cite stuff that came out of your head? To be fair I did preface the essay by stating that, "From personal knowledge and experience..."

So how on earth does citation and APA format fit into an essay that you answered based on learned, aka retained knowledge? If I were there in person and had to write it on a test I would not be citing. I would be expected to know it to regurgitate it back out onto the paper. Right?

2 comments:

  1. I totally feel ya!
    I had that issue when writing a paper for one of the online classes I took, lame.

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  2. I think nursing instructors WAY overuse APA expectations. We had a couple classes where we had to write our personal reflection (journal, critique, etc.) and guess what -- each one of those had APA citation requirements. How can you cite your own thoughts/opinions? Ridiculous!

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