The Fister Maxim

Any good idea I come up with, Barbara Fister has already thought of, and published on, years ago.

I’d been feeling so proud of myself for “discovering” and beginning to teach information literacy as an arm of rhetoric, so enthused by the reaction it’s been getting from the faculty I work with. And look, there’s this article by Barbara from 1993.

Fister, Barbara. “Teaching the rhetorical dimensions of research.” Research Strategies 11, no. 4 (1993): 211-219.
If students perceive that the research process consists of merely locating, synthesizing, and presenting information from library sources, they will not fulfill the demands of college-level inquiry. This article examines the importance of teaching the rhetorical dimensions of research and suggests several relevant approaches that BI librarians can use when explaining access tools and research strategies.
Excuse me please while I read all about my theory that Barbara predicted.

2 thoughts on “The Fister Maxim

  • Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 at 8:22 pm lris
    This may be the best article I've read this year, and maybe last year, too. Quite possibly quite a bit longer. "If librarians fail to place their advice to students in the rhetorical context of research, they may reinforce the misconception that the main point of research is to report on knowledge found elsewhere." (p. 213)
  • Friday, July 15th, 2011 at 7:35 pm Inward Cologne
    Reading Barbara's article now. She's a wonderful writer. You're no slouch, though (see Alice in Libraryland, above)
  • Friday, July 15th, 2011 at 7:47 pm lris
    Isn't she, though? I wanna grow up to be her. (And thank you, very much.)

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