[Michael Cantor]

Well, Shaun, I had the same reaction as Janice. Kristin is a student at the U of Wisconsin, and if she didn't google until her fingers bled to come up with the information that Janice did - and more - before joining the Sphere, getting on line, and asking a pack of strangers to do her homework for her; then she's taking advantage of the kindness of others, gaming the system, etc. If, on the other hand, she's done a good deal of basic research and is using the Sphere to augment her other work - bless you, Kristin.

Either way, however, I agree with Janice that - once you get beyond simply suggesting a book or article - Kristin's request was sketchy. Lesson for today, Kristin - if you're going to ask people to help you in writing a paper it's both gracious and extremely helpful to your cause if you take some time to introduce yourself, and provide more background on where you are, what you know, and where you want to go. The more you provide in terms of defining your request, the more informative and responsive our guys are going to be.

(And, whatever you do, don't mess with the word "nonce". It's one of my solid alibis. Whenever I'm lost, or screw up a form, or cheat, I can wave a hand airily in the air and mutter something about "nonce". It's the formalist's equivalent of It's Chinatown, Jake.)