In high school, when term papers were first required, mom had this book with a white cover that gave the basics of writing term papers and theses. It explained how to write footnotes, the op. cit., loc. cit., and ibid. This book served me till college.
The passing time, transfers, and changing needs made this book disappear. It just slipped away from my consciousness until I read Ronnie’s Literati Dos, a sequel to his Literati. Literati enabled a student, especially graduate and doctorate, to navigate through the confusing world of RRL (review of related literature). Literati Dos ups the ante and explains further how RRL techniques enhance scholarly writing and a good grasp of its importance may be a way to lift the status of research in the Philippines from the doldrums it has been wallowing in; kept there by the skewed perspective of scholarly writing -- that it is a necessary inconvenience towards getting those additional acronyms after one’s name and achieving the desired promotion at work or as social status.
Presented in a visually appealing reader-friendly, and research-assisting format, Literati Dos tackles more than just the excitement RRL can bring to research. It starts off with the “Joy of Writing” before buckling down to the “Nagging Issues” of research writing including the prevalence of plagiarism in this copy-paste generation we now live in.
From there, it’s a breezy guide to research writing plus the Q&A that brings deeper insights.
All throughout, the more perceptive reader can pick up vibrations of frustration. The frustration over the greater populace’s disregard for reading, real reading. Not the browsing, commenting, spreading of writeups on social media, majority of which are of dubious sources.
It’s a rant in book form, which can only come from a devout reader who has the privilege (or misfortune) of seeing the state of deterioration from within the academe. As a reader myself, I do not envy his position. *Shudder*.
As I’m not into any research todate, I find the Q&A portion most enlightening as it draws from actual experiences. Overall, it’s an easy read and is a book you will need to keep near your work area for those valuable quick tips on how to cite published materials.
But as it is, Literati Tres is waving because deeper insights, guides, and navigation tools are needed with the way AI is developing. Then there’s that nagging question: Will the students of today take time to read? The underlying question being: How can we encourage reading, develop reading comprehension, and bring back the love for the written word? How can we unskew the skewed perspective of those who seek higher learnings? These are questions that are begging for answers. From whom? The chasm only gives back echoes... no answers...‘swers... ‘swers....
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