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It doesn't take much research to discover that research, in all areas of study, is moving more and more toward the use of technology. Yet few of the current style guides, though valuable and informative on many aspects of scholarly writing, address this change directly, with specific examples. This is partly because advice outlining the use of software programs to assist in scholarly writing, when it is included, is very general. Details regarding exactly how to go about accomplishing any specific task are decided not included meant to be "vendor neutral" -- drawing the larger picture.
We all know from experience, though, that using a software program effectively depends very much on the presence of lucid instructions and one's grasp of details (like which key to press to get a certain result). Software vendors, though, tend to provide documentation that focusses on the features available in the program, rather than on how use of the software can be integrated into the research process. The problem is that someone who is clever enough to figure out that there are many sites on the internet where one can search for potential research materials, and that bibliographic software would help them collect research on the internet, organize references, and track sources for notes -- might not be able to figure out how to enter a record for a republished book, a special issue of a journal, a translated multivolume work, or an article published in a journal that is available on the internet but based on the print version. This style guide, then, is not meant to replace the very valuable guides published to help scholars through the intricacies of ... required in different disciplines. It is designed, rather, as an attempt to explain how several programs available to us now through technology: internet search services, portable document format readers, Citation bibliographic and note software, and a word processor, fit into a good research strategy as research writers are preparing studies, reports, papers for classes, scholarly articles, legal memoranda, treatises - or any other sort of reseach writing. |