>  i have a param tag with a text value, example
>  
>  <xsl:param name="name" select="sdf"/>

I'm guessing you want to use

  <xsl:param name="name" select="'sdf'"/>

This should give you a 3-character string with the letters
s, d, and f.  Without the quotes, you are attempting to
select the child element named sdf.

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James A. Robinson                       jim.robinson@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Stanford University HighWire Press      http://highwire.stanford.edu/
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