We are see the documenting backwards epidemic a lot lately too. I think it’s a complicated problem. Many of the teachers I’ve talked to have a very specific way they are asking the kids to take notes and research, have deadlines for specific parts of the project, have requirements about what kinds of sources they can use and how to *prove* they used these sources (ie – notes and a citation from a reference book is not enough: they must bring the book in to class, which limits other students’ access). They don’t have enough time in the school day to let the kids use the school library, and they’re so overbooked after school that they rarely seem to make it in to the public library before their citations are due. Until research instruction becomes more of a priority in our educational system as a whole, I think it’s only going to get worse.

@Marianne, I’ve also worked with parents of teachers who come in doing their “kids’” work. It’s very frustrating. And illuminating.

@Marianne: that is sad on many levels. But you’re right, it’s not just parents/kids, it’s also grandparents, adult/adult, etc – lots of variations in one person doing another’s work for them.

I work in a library at an urban community college, and I run into this situation at least once a week (not that the students always confess, but I can usually tell). I am one of four librarians who regularly work with students at the desk.

I think it reflects a trend in the teaching of writing toward simply putting words on the page, and not worrying about where that information comes from. Some of our developmental English classes don’t even require one source in their short essays.

As a librarian, I am not sure how to correct this. But clearly it’s a problem with deeper roots than I thought if you’re seeing it at the middle school level. Very worrisome.