My Challenging Experience as a Writer - Essay Example

Referencing in literary terms refers to the act of making mention of source documents that are used to compile any literature. Neville argued that today’s society and especially the field of academia, any work submitted is an addition to knowledge and, therefore, there has to be mention of authors who have gone before one (2010). The mentality that one cannot chart their own path, but always has to follow in the footsteps of others, vindicates the use of references today. The most elephantine issue with referencing to me is the unavailability of ready and authentic sources when need be.

I find it hard to believe that every issue has to have pioneer writers or authors. Eby illustrated that the requirement of getting a source document in an area that is least navigated is as hard as trying to get sand dunes in highlands (2011). It consumes a lot of mental energies, trying to unearth what appears to be hidden in a metallic case. What this implies is that I end up quoting substandard material that appears to border on the perimeter of the actual subject matter. Sometimes references are available but the content coverage is not particularly convincing.

For example, the writer may pay too much attention to a given area that is of interest to him at the expense of the overall objectivity of his work. In such circumstances, I wish the burden of quoting such kind of works is lifted from me. References come in many forms and styles. Being an individual with little ability to distinguish between very narrow border lines, I suffer most of the times from wrong referencing. According to Eby (2011), there is the APA style, the MLA, Harvard and a couple of others, each with their own specification.

I wish the system would have been such that only the main items are captured without due regard to the order in which the items are presented.