This week I completed my mechatronics report and in doing so, created a referencing tool for future assignments. My mechatronics draft feedback seemed to be good across the board. All I needed to do was the history section, re-structuring, proofreading and referencing. I found writing the history section more difficult than the other two, despite accounting for less marks. I assume it was due to the lower amount of information on the topic, requiring me to draw more difficult connections between information. Re-structuring and proofreading was straightforward, re-structuring being the harder of the two. Doing this at the draft stage is normal for me, so it did not take long.
Referencing was interesting, as I got a little sidetracked. I usually use a reference generator for my assignments, as I am always too lazy to do it manually once I have completed the writing component. This comes with the consequence of occasional docked marks for minor formatting differences between the generator and the school’s guide. Even though Burgmann uses APA 7, the school guide often varies from the official reference. To combat this, I used python to code a reference generator conforming to the school’s guide. It has three reference types: books, journals, and websites. Each type requires different components; for example, a journal reference needs a volume and issue number. Converesly, each type shares some components, hence there are universal component prompts for all types of references. Once the information has been collected, the reference(s) are stored in a rich text file, as italic characters are needed. There is some trickery needed to add italic characters to a text file in python, each file must start with {\rtf1, and italics start with \i and end with \i0. Getting python to put this into the file was the hardest part. The tool is working now, and it is significantly faster than CiteThisForMe. The only thing that needs to be added is alphabetical organization, however I did not find the time to do that this week. I will keep the tool hosted here.