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{"id":29571,"date":"2015-04-11T06:09:05","date_gmt":"2015-04-11T10:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/exploringourmatrix\/?p=29571"},"modified":"2015-04-11T06:09:05","modified_gmt":"2015-04-11T10:09:05","slug":"thus-saith-the-dictionary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2015\/04\/thus-saith-the-dictionary.html","title":{"rendered":"Thus Saith The Dictionary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This\u00a0comic from Robot Hugs<\/a> explores some\u00a0of the many reasons why students should not start an essay with \u201cWebster\u2019s Dictionary defines X as\u2026\u201d I had been thinking about blogging on this topic even before the cartoon was drawn to my attention, and so I decided to share it and offer some thoughts on the subject. The punch line at the end of the comic makes it even more relevant to this blog. More thoughts from me below the comic.<\/p>\n

$\"2014-11-11-Definition\"$ <\/p>\n

Quoting the dictionary without showing an awareness that it is not a definitive answer does seem a lot like quoting the Bible without recognizing that it is a human work which offers answers which come from people, not from some objective non-human source.<\/p>\n

But there are other reasons why quoting the dictionary is a bad idea in student assignments.\u00a0One is that this is so common, particularly in weak high school work, that doing so\u00a0makes your work seem clich\u00e9. Another is that, in most instances, if you are a student at a university, words that you may be defining\u00a0by appeal to the dictionary \u2013 whether love, faith, utopia, or something else \u2013 are words that you should know, and that you can assume your professor knows. And so\u00a0you should definitely turn to the dictionary if you don\u2019t know the word \u2013 but don\u2019t trot out your prior ignorance as though it were a good starting point for your writing. Inform yourself, get caught up, and then write like an adult for other adults.<\/p>\n

But the most important point is\u00a0one that relates to the cartoon but goes beyond it. When a word is central to academic writing,\u00a0there is a strong likelihood that the term itself is under dispute, or that someone is offering a particular vision of what it should mean. And so one can wrestle with Paul Tillich\u2019s proposed definition of faith, or the contrasting visions of utopia in capitalist democracies and in Communism. Looking the words up in the dictionary won\u2019t\u00a0settle those debates and discussions.<\/p>\n

Are there other reasons why appeals to the dictionary are misguided, whether in student assignments or other context?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"