On 12/21/06, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com> wrote:
No, you
absolutely cannot do that, for reasons eloquently stated
elsewhere. The claim that it is not in the Cornell University Library
is a novel conclusion based on your own original research; this seems
so trivially obvious to me that it astonishes me that others would
claim otherwise. You might as well promote a novel claim in physics,
and point people to the calculations you have made to prove your
theory. If a reliable source says "the book is not found in the
Cornell University Library", then quote them. Otherwise, move on.
What's novel about "It doesn't appear on the such results, therefore
it isn't in the library"? Seems like an obvious conclusion to me...
(might not be 100% reliable, depending on search terms, accuracy of
the library's index, etc, but that doesn't make it novel).
Read your own words; "Seems like an obvious conclusion to me..." You
are drawing your own conclusions, rather than quoting others who have
drawn those conclusions. In addition, by definition it is a *novel*
conclusion; if it weren't novel, then you'd be able to quote someone
who had come to the same conclusion.
Jay.