According to The Style Manual...

by Shelly Blake-Plock

Just caught myself commenting on a student's blog to make sure to cite sources at the end of the post in APA format.

Which is fine. If it's APA format that I want the kid to learn.

But this is a blog post I'm grading. And so, I realize: oh, yeah... I'm using the internets!


And thus I amended my comment to read: "Please remember to link to your sources within your post".

Links make the Internet, well... the Internet. Links are the only thing that gives the Internet the right to be capitalized (well, that's my rationale; and, on a side note, the history of the capitalization of Internet is actually fairly interesting.)

And while as a history teacher, I'll continue to teach and expect the use of APA format and in-text citations in essays and research papers, when it comes to blog posts -- whether in the less formal ones or in totally straight-laced academic-tone posts -- I'm going to remember to teach linking as a fundamental part of writing.

Because you teach good networked writing by teaching the value of links... and the style that goes with it.