Over my academic career, I’ve created many documents to help my students. Three strike me as universally useful. They are presented here in no particular order. Check back from time to time – more are likely to appear.
- How to Reference like a Pro.
- Most undergraduate students find university level citation, referencing, and bibliography at best a pain in the proverbial, and at worst incomprehensible. The rules seem arcane and archaic. Every prof seems to want something different. This document takes a lot of the mystery out of the process. The first two pages explain why referencing exists and the two basic formats. The next two give examples of 98% of all the types of things you might have to reference. The rest is a reference work (pun intended) to cover all sorts of oddball situations. It also includes a sensible approach to citing on-line resources. Feel free to link to it, or copy it for course use – as long as copyright is respected!
- What is a University Professor?
- I wrote this because a lot of students, parents, university staff, media, and university administrators have serious misconceptions. Here’s a clear description. Feel free to pass it around, as long as credit is given.
- Jobs for Arts Grads.
- Over the last 30 or so years, there has been an increasing emphasis in the popular press, and in popular western culture generally, on the ‘practical’ value of university education (e.g. STEM). At ‘open days’, at least half the parents ask some version of “What are the job prospects like in English/History/Archaeology/Anthropology/Classics?” (substitute the humanities subject of your choice.) The short answer is good to great. The long answer is this document. It details the career paths of some of my former students and fellow students, and explains the real value of a university education.