Citation, citation, citation

I've been working with the head of the Writing Center for a while now preparing for a presentation we were going to give our faculty on the citation tutorial we created. Both of us have been really nervous, not so much about the public speaking as about the actual content. We don't have the be-all-and-end-all answer, no one does.

I think might have done things in a slightly different order than Shanna expected (oops), but everything went very smoothly. The reception we got was better than either of us could have expected and we nailed the timing (something we have both had issues with in the past. We had ten minutes of questions and discussion after our official presentation. We got lots of cheering for the actual tutorial, but also great compliments on the actual presentation. One professor said it was the most useful teaching effectiveness lunch so far this year, and when I got back to my desk I had an e-mail from another professor saying:

Thanks for the great presentation on citing and the demonstration of the online tutorial. I gained several ideas that I can immediately implement in my W courses. Excellent work!

I think we can both write off the day as a huge success. Though it makes me feel like my work today is done and that I should be able to go home now!

Funny citing question

This one is all me, not something I can blame the reference desk for. I'm presenting my citation tutorial on Thursday to the faculty, and I'm summarizing the notes I took on articles talking about teaching citation. I came across a blog entry called Why I Bother to Teach MLA Style Even Though It Makes Me Want to Slit My Wrists by Dr. Crazy. There's some interesting stuff in this post and I want to include it in the handout I give to professors.

So my question is, when someone "publishes" something under the pseudonym Dr. Crazy, how do you include that in the citation? Would it be "Crazy, D." or just "Crazy" with no first initial?

Citation Tutorial and Cat Update

I met with the head of the Writing Center this morning to discuss the citation tutorial we have been working on since Christmas. I think it's almost entirely done!!! There was one suggestion I haven't followed up with from an English professor, but it should be minor. I just wonder which version he saw, because today we found lots of technical glitches that were making the interactive parts not work properly. I can't believe I didn't check to make sure it ran smoothly before sending it out.

Now I need to brainstorm a way to find out how effective this tutorial is. I have two instructors involved at different levels, and could probably talk another one or two into participating. I would want a survey as well, but effectiveness is a key thing to measure.

Cat update: My girl cat is a week into her antibiotics for her bladder infection. That's cat #2 with a UTI in the past 2 months. While I was getting dressed this morning, I noticed my boy cat was backing up against the wall in a strange posture. I asked him what he was doing (because talking to a cat is always so productive), then he started peeing. I went to pick him up and he continued to pee. I described this to the vet this afternoon, who said it sounds more like a behavioral issue than a UTI symptom, but it doesn't hurt to get another sample. Sigh, it's not over yet!