Reference Questions

Sometimes when students have a reference question to ask to the TU Libraries staff, they do not know exactly how to ask it. Questions may be formulated in many ways, from general to detailed. Librarians and other staff may help by encouraging students:

Be specific. What is really needed?

That way, we will not spend time looking for items or information that the student really has no use for. If some technical terms in certain fields of study are unfamiliar, it is always a good idea to admit this. Ask for further information or definitions if it is not clear what the student is referring to. Often in Thai English, acronynms are used. An acronym is a word or name used to shorten some words or phrase. It uses the first letters of words, as in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. Sometimes it uses syllables of words to produce a short expression, as in Brexit, from the words British and exit, meaning the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. These acronyms may be useful and sound stylish. The word acronym derives from Greek terms meaning end or tip of a name. This means we take what is at the very tip of a name or word and add them together, forming an acronym. All Thais know about ASEAN, but there are many other acronyms that are much less familiar. Most people who work in international offices recognize an acronym such as FYI which means for your information. Or on many websites, there is a section labelled FAQ, for frequently asked questions. A good test of whether an acronym is confusing is if we Google it and there are either too many definitions, or no definitions at all for a combination of letters. If this is the result of our search, then we have reason to believe that the acronym is not familiar to everyone. Some acronyms have too many possible meanings, because they are used to mean different things. So the acronym APAC can mean Asia PACific; Asian-Pacific American Council; Asia Pacific Activities Conference; Asian Pacific American Caucus; Anabolic Protein Activation Catalyst; Asia Pacific Affairs Council; and many other possible meanings. For this reason it is essential to follow the rule that in any academic article or thesis, always mention the full name or term before adding the acronym in parentheses:

Anabolic Protein Activation Catalyst (APAC)

After we have defined the acronym by mentioning the term we mean it to refer to in any research, we may use the acronym, because we have politely informed the reader what we mean. If we do not say what we mean, it gives the impression that we do not really care if a reader understands what we are discussing. Some puzzling acronyms annoy people, as Tech in Asia, a media, events, and jobs platform serving Asia’s tech and startup community, reported. One Tech in Asia writer argued:

O2O is a terrible, stupid acronym and we should stop using it. For those who don’t know, O2O stands for “online to offline.” It’s a term used to describe a variety of ecommerce services that provide online information, services, or discounts to consumers that enhance their offline shopping experiences. Group buying sites like Groupon are O2O services; they provide online discounts for real-world shopping experiences like restaurants and movie theaters. O2O as an approach to commerce is great; if you’re running an O2O business, more power to you! But as an acronym, it’s awful. First of all, the two Os stand for different things, which makes O2O unnecessarily confusing. If you’re not completely clear on the concept and trying to remember based on the acronym, O2O could mean “online to offline” or “offline to online”. If you can remember that B stands for business and C stands for consumer, then you can grasp the meaning of acronyms like B2C or C2C at a glance. But with O2O, even if you remember one O stands for offline and one stands for online, you still don’t know what the acronym means.

In any case, whatever acronym may be used in a question from a student, never be afraid to ask:

What does that mean?

This type of question does not show that we are ignorant. It shows we are interested in a subject and want to learn more, which is a good attitude for everyone on a university campus. If library staff does not ask when we are not sure what the student is talking about, then we will need to look up terms. This could take time and also lead to confusing results. Finding out what steps the student or ajarn has already taken to research a subject may also be useful. This can prevent us from repeating the same steps, if there was no result. So it is a good idea to ask:

What you have found out already?

Where have you looked?

What search terms were you using?

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)