More evidence that you shouldn’t always trust Google Scholar to deliver the best research papers. I decided to look up my name to see if my paper on genetic bottlenecks was searchable even though it’s in a book. That’s the third link listed. The first and fourth aren’t me, just some other poor J McCreight who has had their Google image search ruined forever by boobquake. But to my surprise, the second link is also mine (click image for larger):
…It’s a pdf of a paper I wrote my senior year of high school for AP Composition titled “Creationists in Scientists’ Clothing: Scientific and Legal Reasons Why Science Classes Must Omit Intelligent Design.” It’s pretty damn good considering I was 18 when I wrote it, but I derive endless amusement at how serious it’s being treated. Apparently my English teacher is second author, and the journal is ImageShack.
I mean, come on Google Scholar, how unprofessional. You forgot to mention it was 3rd period! What will happen to my academic reputation if someone thinks I was in 2nd period?!
21 comments
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Jeffrey A. Myers
October 29, 2010 at 12:11 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
It will come back to bite you in the ass as soon as you run for Congress.
Thomas Everett Haynes
October 29, 2010 at 12:12 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Hey, what’s wrong with 18 year olds! They are capable of thought at times…
Stevarious
October 29, 2010 at 12:13 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
…said the 18 year old.
Mischieveiouslymysterious
October 29, 2010 at 12:43 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
you get a lot more results if you capitalize the J, M, and C (the second one)
LS
October 29, 2010 at 12:45 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
So, wait, how did it get on google? Did your highschool teacher publish it without your permission or something? In other news, this is awesome.
Rbray18
October 29, 2010 at 12:47 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
yeah then you reach adult hood and forget every fucking about your and your friends childhood and teenage years and seemingly loose understanding and empathy assuming ya ever had it in the 1st place.sorry someone hit my rant button :D
Jen
October 29, 2010 at 12:55 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
…I’m not sure that saying my writing skills have improved over the last 5 years really = losing empathy >.>
NotThatGreg
October 29, 2010 at 12:58 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
‘Other scientific theories such as gravity and plate tectonics lack opposition by “Intelligent Falling” and “Intelligent Continent Moving” because no religious motivation exists to contradict these sciences.’Ha! Nice!And surely Intelligent Falling would allow the righteous to jump from falling chairs and not die…
Alley
October 29, 2010 at 12:59 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Jen, they have “P. 3″ written in there for you, right before your teacher’s name. Google doesn’t forget since it knows everything! Google is all powerful =P
Fiona
October 29, 2010 at 2:58 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
So many things there under F Moore :D
Konrad
October 29, 2010 at 9:23 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Arguably worse, Google Scholar lists my supervisor as the first author of my bachelor’s thesis, and my name isn’t mentioned at all. :-( No idea why this is, or how to prevent it.
DHB
October 29, 2010 at 11:14 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
You had your third period when you were 18? Wow… late bloomer. :^)
WhatPaleBlueDot
October 29, 2010 at 1:54 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
HOORAY! I hadn’t thought to look up my paper on Google Scholar. I feel special now.
guestpest
October 29, 2010 at 2:02 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Off Topic Question: Where do I go to ask this: Why have the RSS feeds for this blog stopped working? I’m using “My Yahoo!” and it shows the latest blog post being from four weeks ago. It stopped at “Atheists and agnostics are most religiously literate”. How can this be fixed?Sorry if this is inappropriate, but there are a few other blog sites having this problem as well.
Gus Snarp
October 29, 2010 at 3:00 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Google scholar has such promise. Google books too. Really, the whole Google project leading to all the world’s knowledge readily available online to everyone from a powerful search tool. Sadly, it isn’t always executed well, plus we’re still dealing with the issues of paying for it all and really, should one company be in charge of it all? It’s really not so hard to imagine a future where Google rules the world. But it’s also nice to imagine a world where knowledge isn’t buried behind pay walls and in the stacks of far away libraries and is as easy to find as firing up your laptop.
Andrew S
October 29, 2010 at 3:03 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Works fine for me with Google Reader…
zen
October 29, 2010 at 5:03 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
“that was pretty random…..”- my 15 year-old-daughter
Jen
October 29, 2010 at 5:48 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
You should be using this RSS feed: http://www.blaghag.com/feeds/p…I use Google Reader, so it may be a Yahoo problem :\
guestpest
October 30, 2010 at 2:58 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Thanks, Jen. I just tried that link now, but it still works the same way. All posts listed still show from 1 month ago, nothing more recent. You’re probably right, it’s likely a Yahoo problem.(At least I can access the recent posts from the website home page.)
Moky
October 30, 2010 at 7:47 PM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
You saved my life, I’m stealing your citations.
Sue
January 26, 2011 at 2:50 AM (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Hey! I’m on Google Scholar, too! And I’m not even an academic. Nor are the two books anything more than personal memoirs; one is written for kids.It wouldn’t have occurred to me to check, if I hadn’t seen this post. :)(Susannah Anderson)