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Much harder than I ever expected. When reviewing my draft, I realized how easy it can be to make careless mistakes, including taking quotes out of context, falsely attributing quotes, and even plagiarism. I recently noticed, for example, that in a couple spots of my draft, I accidentally plagiarized a couple sentence fragments. Apparently, I initially paraphrased and cited the source appropriately, but then (not remembering how it was originally phrased) I changed the wording back while proofreading. I am glad that I was able to catch these slip-ups and correct them. I never realized how easily this sort of thing can happen. I wonder how many FARMS reviewers realize this. I sure didn't when I reviewed Abanes' "One Nation Under Gods." This got me thinking... How many of the most vicious FARMS reviewers have ever written a book before? Has Hamblin?

"vicious FARMS reviewers?" Wow.

The edit of my longest FARMS piece took about a year and over twenty exchanged drafts. FARMS cite checked every cite, unlike the University of Oklahoma which apparently did not cite check any of the footnotes of the book I reviewed.

rcrocket wrote:"vicious FARMS reviewers?" Wow.

I certainly do not consider all FARMS reviewers viscious, but some have been (from my observation) more viscious than others.

The edit of my longest FARMS piece took about a year and over twenty exchanged drafts. FARMS cite checked every cite, unlike the University of Oklahoma which apparently did not cite check any of the footnotes of the book I reviewed.

If FARMS did not have such a stringent review process, do you think your piece would have had several more mistakes in it?

In situations like the book you reviewed, do you think the author should bear the brunt of the criticisms or the publisher?

Upon realizing that the author didn't have the same cite-check process, did you look at the author more sympathetically?

Do you think writing a book of your own would help you to be more sympathetic, and thus less critical?

Mike Reed wrote:Much harder than I ever expected. When reviewing my draft, I realized how easy it can be to make careless mistakes, including taking quotes out of context, falsely attributing quotes, and even plagiarism. I recently noticed, for example, that in a couple spots of my draft, I accidentally plagiarized a couple sentence fragments. Apparently, I initially paraphrased and cited the source appropriately, but then (not remembering how it was originally phrased) I changed the wording back while proofreading. I am glad that I was able to catch these slip-ups and correct them. I never realized how easily this sort of thing can happen. I wonder how many FARMS reviewers realize this. I sure didn't when I reviewed Abanes' "One Nation Under Gods." This got me thinking... How many of the most vicious FARMS reviewers have ever written a book before? Has Hamblin?

I nearly went loopy trying to avoid accidental plagiarism, the method you describe - paraphrasing into your notes, then paraphrasing it right back to the original was a huge fear. In the end several lab mates got together to get a turn-it-in account, so we could run theses and stuff through. You get quite a good report back so it was well worth it.

Danna wrote:I nearly went loopy trying to avoid accidental plagiarism, the method you describe - paraphrasing into your notes, then paraphrasing it right back to the original was a huge fear. In the end several lab mates got together to get a turn-it-in account, so we could run theses and stuff through. You get quite a good report back so it was well worth it.

Great idea. If I have time before my deadline, I just might do that.

T-Shirt for you:

Mike Reed wrote:Has Hamblin?

Yes, Hamblin has written books.

Danna wrote:I nearly went loopy trying to avoid accidental plagiarism, the method you describe - paraphrasing into your notes, then paraphrasing it right back to the original was a huge fear.

Just directly quote your original source and there won't be a problem.

Trevor wrote:

Mike Reed wrote:Has Hamblin?

Yes, Hamblin has written books.

Really? What are their titles?

Mike Reed wrote:Really? What are their titles?

Solomon's Temple: Myth and History, co-authored with David Seely

Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC (Warfare and History)

HarperCollins College Outline World History to 1648, co-authored with Jay P. Anglin