A3 – Reference Quest

Review: What a fun idea! As a bad student who has been through all the tumultuous last-minute citation/reference frenzies that erupted during my high school and undergard days, I can see this being an exceptionally useful and successful tool. I have used many tools for citations during university and I have never found one to date that works. Not only does Reference Quest deal with the paint points I experience, it looks like a lot of fun to use and teach with. As a teacher now, teaching my students how to cite is a struggle as it is necessary but rather dull. There isn't any way to sugar-coat it for students and I appreciate your approach, which redefines the learning side of citations altogether. Your Ask page is a bit short as I'd like to know a bit more about your long-term plans as a venture before I invest as an EVA but that wouldn't stop me from investing. I think you've nailed a niche market, done all your homework and have the credibility and skills as the CEO to guarantee Reference Quest's success. Best of luck on the idea, should you continue to pursue it!

Erin, I think that your work has inspired you to develop a venture for a niche market, but it will definitely succeed. I had experience in a library/reference usage "activity" in a previous MET course, and felt that this would be a more engaging and likewise motivating (due to it being GBL) for other students, especially undergrads who are learning about referencing rules. Maybe one day it will be incorporated into the MET program - I got my fingers crossed!

REVIEW: I like this. I can see this working and I believe there is a small market for this. I do however see this being duplicated, reproduced or even streamlined. Then again, what isn't? Overall, I believe you've researched your venture in a way that is compelling and would make me consider investing. I think, personally there is a market for this. I'm one to speak that this something I would likely use or reference. I see this venture working outside or education a lot more strongly than in education specifically. I appreciate the fact that you're encouraging academic honesty. There are some Google Plugins and the likes that offer similar resources, though I think if developed effectively this could work.

Feedback I can identify with the ‘Erin’ in your elevator pitch I to have had a long running struggle to understand the intricacies of citing works and when the time comes, as it does with every course I have taken in the MET program, I would give you cart blanch use of my credit card info to provide a reliable, easy to use solution to citing my work. I think this pitch, as a service, is a great solution to your pitch point and as an EVA “the ask” of $15,000 is appealing considering the market that is available. I would like to know more about how we can make money from this venture as I am not sure from your pitch. I do think you have something here but I would like the business model to be shaped out a little better before committing to it. I liked your presentation elements very much.

This is a very pertinent idea for all of us MET students... prior to learning the ropes on using Word for references and then Citethisforme I would get nailed on the minutiae of this regularly. On a personal level, the citation conventions are a bunch of hogswallop, and denote an era before hyperlinking existed (I had a great conversation about this in Text Technologies, so you threw a rock at the wrong hornet's nest). However, my bat senses tell me that it will not be changing anytime soon, and your solution is both fun and very insightful. The CYOA stories are a great platform for this, and provides good incentive to the text lovers. The ask is reasonable... it is surprising how lean you can be when you want to! As a venture I stand behind this, but don't know if engaging in this is forward thinking. The learning behind citation style is not necessarily deep learning, but does apply forms of logic and following instructions. I am just wondering whether it is worth learning if the process can be automated?

Good work Erin; definitely a well thought out product for an existing problem. I struggled a lot with references during my undergrad and tried Refworks and just google scholar's output ability - but this definitely seems like a far better idea. You're right in that it's sure to help students learn what is/isn't required too. From the investment side of things, I think it would be beneficial to understand/think more about the business model and maybe how you plan on getting students empowered enough to use the tool. I think the major hurdle here is going to be re-educating students that it's easier to use the tool than to ask the questions. Reading the comments below, it seems like this is a legitimately great idea that many educators would endorse, so I think you should definitely explore it more in terms of timelines, costs (you don't mention the pricing model at all) and the recompense on the 15k investors are being asked for. Great work overall!

FEEDBACK: What stood out for me was the caption that it encourages “academic honesty in a fun and engaging way”. When I teach my students how to cite sources and be sure to record references, it is often an onerous task…In other words, it’s usually a ‘stick’ rather than a ‘carrot’. They fear being punished or accused of plagiarism, and this is what drives/motivates them to record their references. I remind them that it’s not just a legal issue, but also a moral one. The concept that you bring forward - having students actually *enjoy* the citation and reference process, could bring a lot more students, particularly K-12 students, on-board with the idea, and will be valuable going forward in their academic lives. Well done! Just one question: was the Reference Quest Mock-up meant to work? (http://referencequestpitch.weebly.com/apa.html) It seems to get stuck on a javascript link...

Hello Erin, I am legitimately interested in wanting to support your venture from both an EVA point of view as well as a UBC MET Program student. Your Pain Point and focus is something that every student would want to have. The threat of being accused of plagiarism is a very serious threat because we live in the "Age of the Smartphone" where in our hands an oracle of knowledge is at our finger tips. But knowing all the rules, is difficult because technology is changing and that change just cannot be kept up in any printed book anymore. As EVA I don't think you would have any problem getting enough investors to support your product.

Hi Erin,

Where do I sign up? Can we get your idea to Kickstarter today? $15,000. Easy let’s do it. I think librarians around the world would dance a Reference Quest rain dance to realize this very simple idea! I think the pain point is understood by all teachers and students alike. I know when I actually had to submit a paper for peer review checking and double checking the in-text citations and end references took weeks. Very hard and tedious work.

I like that you thought about how your tool would be integrated directly with your university website, so distribution is easy and in the hands of learners.

Your idea to bring the product as a solution to your university for that price is excellent. Local solution with far reaching impact. I am wondering do you need to recover the cost of $15,000 to pay back investors with some return? Would you sell this design to other libraries? Or do you see the investment as a one-time expense so you would release the code and graphics as Open Source?

Great idea Erin!

Briar

[Peer comment]: I definitely am going to be a keen customer of Reference Quest. A comprehensive source of when, what and how I do citations is extremely valuable for people in academics including me. The elevator pitch is very engaging. I also learnt about the tool to make animation video (thank you, erin). For this venture to pitch investment, it might be helpful to articulate the business model of Reference Quest (does it plan to have a B2C model or B2B model?) and potential market size and competition.