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I was pleased to see the references listed with the "From the President" column in the May 27 issue of The ASHA Leader. They provided a nice contrast to the April 29 column, in which Dr. Ochsner wrote that "evidence-based practice has been described as the conscientious, explicit, and unbiased use of current best research results in making decisions about the care of individual clients/patients." She did not refer to Sackett et al. (Sackett, D. L., Rosenberg, W.M.C., Gray, J.A.M., Haynes, R. B., & Richardson, W. S. [1996]. Evidence based medicine: What it is and what it isn't. British Medical Journal, 312, 71-72) who wrote, "Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients." Similarly, I have noted a tendency for letters to the editor of The ASHA Leader to be printed without references, with a note explaining that references provided by the authors have been intentionally omitted by the editors and are available only on the Web site.
We struggle to teach our students about the importance of appropriate citations in professional writing, and about the need for carefully documented support for their claims and decisions. I encourage Dr. Ochsner and The ASHA Leader to continue with the more professional approach to the use of supporting references in columns and letters exemplified by the May 27 issue—such documentation and support from previous literature being central to evidence-based practice, as espoused on April 29.
Anne Cordes Bothe
Athens, GA
Editor's note: The ASHA Leader wants to encourage ongoing member feedback on articles and professional issues by publishing nearly all of the letters we receive. To reserve enough room for letters in print, we have established a word limit of 250 words, edit to include essential references in the body of a letter, and publish reference lists in The ASHA Leader Online letters index. References in feature articles are treated similarly.
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