I protest, for about the hundredth time, against the slipshod method of quoting a mere author’s name, without any indication of the work of that author in which the alleged quotation may be found. Let us have accurate quotations and exact references, wherever such are to be found. […] A quotation without a reference is like a geological specimen of unknown locality.

Walter William Skeat (1835-1912) British philologist and cleric

Notes and Queries, 6th Series, vol. 9 (1884-06-21)
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