Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiat_Lux
A few years ago, I ran into a seminary professor, who was surprised at how many students were citing 18th, 19th, and early 20th century books, rather than "current" works. The students were running to Google Books, and the Internet Archive, looking for references to support their position.
I don't remember the title of the 18th century book that is utterly despised by most professors of theology, that is one of the five most cited works, in papers written by undergraduate theology students.
The reason it is cited so much, is that it is on either Google Books or Internet Archive, and "looks like it is theologically reliable".
Amber
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A good way to tell if someone is a serious student of a subject is by seeing what books they cite. I know a lot of people who talk about the American Civil War, but just cite web sites rather than books. A lot of the original source material from the ACW is in public domain, but most of the top books are not. I've run across this on a number of subjects. If it's not on the web, it doesn't exists for a lot of people.