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Re: why citations matter
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From: Meghan McCarthy <meghanmccarthy007_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:15:24 -0700 (PDT)
"My own addition to this marvelous discussion is to encourage research that as much as possible goes to primary sources – people and places– which becomes the basis of literary nonfiction with truth anddetail. Tanya Lee Stone’s ALMOST ASTRONAUTS is one example of including information from a variety and depth of resources. Conflicts,disagreements, multiple viewpoints, historical misrepresentations become part of the reader’s awareness that all truth is a slippery fish."
This is probably another discussion entirely but you wouldn't believe how contradictory and wrong primary sources can be! I'm working on that now for my new book (and don't worry, all of the sources will bethere). Every newspaper spelled one man's name wrong, for example, and a book from the time period did as well. And it gets far, far, worse butI won't get into that here. Let's just say that you can't trust primarysources at all. What a nonfiction author must do is play detective and take all of the sources and sometimes even make educated guesses as to what makes the most sense. Some of this is too complicated for small children to understand. I mean, how do we tell them that some of what they learn in school isn't really all that factual?
megahn
Received on Fri 22 Oct 2010 10:15:24 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:15:24 -0700 (PDT)
"My own addition to this marvelous discussion is to encourage research that as much as possible goes to primary sources – people and places– which becomes the basis of literary nonfiction with truth anddetail. Tanya Lee Stone’s ALMOST ASTRONAUTS is one example of including information from a variety and depth of resources. Conflicts,disagreements, multiple viewpoints, historical misrepresentations become part of the reader’s awareness that all truth is a slippery fish."
This is probably another discussion entirely but you wouldn't believe how contradictory and wrong primary sources can be! I'm working on that now for my new book (and don't worry, all of the sources will bethere). Every newspaper spelled one man's name wrong, for example, and a book from the time period did as well. And it gets far, far, worse butI won't get into that here. Let's just say that you can't trust primarysources at all. What a nonfiction author must do is play detective and take all of the sources and sometimes even make educated guesses as to what makes the most sense. Some of this is too complicated for small children to understand. I mean, how do we tell them that some of what they learn in school isn't really all that factual?
megahn
Received on Fri 22 Oct 2010 10:15:24 AM CDT
