Postby Technomancer » Sat Jul 05, 2003 6:11 am
Some comments about the updates (from an academic perspective).
It's usually better to do your refrences in terms of footnotes/endnotes. This allows a reader to check the source much more easily (if you read any academic journals this is how things are done. Typical styles of refrencing are APA, MLA and IEEE.
I note that the webpage you reference does not reference any of its assertions (big no no). This is especially important since the content is so at variance with current theories. Also the author makes some logical leaps without any support.
It's a good idea never to make internet sources your primary resource. If I'd done this in undergrad I'd have gotten slammed by my markers. For that matter when I was marking papers as a TA myself, I would have nailed (and sometimes did) anyone who likewise relied heavily on internet material. The reason for this is simple: there is no peer review or quality control on the interent. Anyone can post anything. Research is still possible of course, but you need to develop a knowledge of what makes for a reliabe source (and always check anything you read).
An excellent guide to writing papers and conducting research by the way is Jeannette A. Woodward's "Writing Research Papers: Investigating Resources in Cyberspace". I picked up the book six years ago in my first Public Policy course, and have been using it ever since.
As far as the actual material goes, if you like I can provide you with a list of books on Japanese historical linguistics the next time I'm on campus.
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.
Neil Postman
(The End of Education)
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
Isaac Aasimov