Just do the darn work

So, here's a fun one:

A PhD candidate "heard somewhere" that you don't need to cite a website as long as you have the full URL in text.

Clearly, he thought to himself "that sounds easier - I'll just hope it's right" and proceeded to refer to quite a large number of websites in his text without checking if it was, in fact, what he was supposed to do.

In APA Style, of course, you aren't supposed to mention the URL in text at all unless it is part of the sentence, and you have to cite it correctly and put it in your reference list just like you would any other piece of information.

So, essentially, he was faced with the option of spending a couple of minutes early in the project looking up what was actually expected of him, and then spending a couple of minutes doing it the right way as he was putting the thesis together, or just closing his eyes and hoping the easiest option was going to be "okay" and that he wouldn't be giving himself several hours worth of extra work at the end of the project.

He chose the wrong option.

To save himself two minutes here and there, he cost himself several hours at the end.

If there is one thing I have learnt over the years - one thing I can share with any student working on an assignment or a thesis - it's that things are always "easiest" when you work out what is expected of you ahead of time and just do the darn work as you go along, rather than hoping the lazy route will actually work out well for you (I've made that mistake myself - although with formatting rather than referencing - and it's never worth it).

A stitch in time saves nine, and all that jazz.