3. Referencing – why bother?
• Referencing is important - academic writing
requires you to respond to the ideas and writing of
other people. The skill lies in how well you can
understand and respond to other people's work.
• Referencing your source material also allows your
readers to find your sources and read them for
themselves.
• It stops you plagiarising!
4. When and what do I need to
reference?
Activity 1– write down as many sources you can
think of that require referencing.
• Statistics
• Quotations
• Facts
• Examples from other people's work
• Diagrams
• Images and photographs
• Models
• Equations
• Theories/ideas
5. Activity 2:
Referencing true or false
1. Information on the internet is 'free'. Anyone can
use it without having to reference it.
2. As long as I use speech marks, I don't have to
say where the quotation is from.
3. I can copy pictures/diagrams/photos without
referencing them.
4. If I summarise other people's ideas, I still need
to reference them.
5. If I paraphrase or rewrite the information, I don't
need to reference it.
6. Activity 2:
Referencing true or false (cont.)
6.Some info is 'common knowledge', it doesn't need
to be referenced.
7.Being caught plagiarising can result in the failure
of a degree course.
8.Statistics need to be referenced.
9.If I cite someone once, I can use their ideas later
without needing to cite them again.
10.Plagiarism is copying published work; I can copy
my mate's work because it's not been published.
7. A quick guide to referencing
• In the body text you need to clearly detail the
name of the author and the year their work was
published – citation
• The reader should then be able to cross-
reference this to a more detailed list at the end
Reference List or ‘Bibliography’
• Both should be systematic, uniform and
thorough, and really easy to understand
• Throughout any written report, make sure you
use the same system consistently
8. One good style to use - Harvard
Referencing a book.
• Harvard System in body text
Author (Date)
Darwin (1972) famously outlined his theory of
evolution, based on his close observations of
variations between species around the world.
• Bibliography at the end
Who, When, What, Where & By Whom
Darwin, C. (1972) The Origin of Species.
London: Dent.
9. Referencing Websites &
Journals (Harvard)
General format for journal articles:
Surname[s] of author[s], Initial[s]. (Year) Title of
article, Journal Title, Volume (Part), Pages
Wong, S. T. and Goodin, S. (2009) Overcoming drug resistance in
patients with metastatic breast cancer. Pharmacotherapy, 29 (2),
954-965.
Websites: include the date accessed
http://www.bmj.com/ (Accessed 16/03/2009)
10. Plagiarism
• Plagiarism is the use of any source, published or
unpublished, without proper acknowledgement or
referencing
• It is easy to commit plagiarism accidentally.
Carelessness when it comes to referencing is a
key cause, but so are poor note-taking skills and
inappropriate use of cut and paste from the
internet.
• Many students who don't intend to cheat but,
because of poor academic practice, end up
committing plagiarism with serious consequences.
11. Activity 3: Spot the Plagiarism
• You have been given examples of a
student’s work, and the original source.
• Decide in your groups whether the work is
– Plagiarism
– Bad Practice
– Acceptable
12. Sources
• There are lots of different types of sources you can use while doing
academic work. These can include:
- Books - Journals
- Web pages - Pictures/graphs
- Newspapers/TV - Lecture Notes
• The key to avoiding plagiarism is to make sure that you
acknowledge your sources in the text. To do this properly you will
need to do two things:
1. Take good notes, making sure you have sufficient detail to allow you
to trace your sources.
2. Follow a standard system of referencing
Both these things will help you avoid wasting your time. You will
probably need to revisit sources and ideas and well referenced
notes are the short cut to doing this without starting again from
scratch!
13. The “perfect” notes..
Notes can be useful to help you understand what
you have just read, or they can be used to jot
down any questions that you have, or ideas that
you want to pursue further.
Important things to note down:
• Any facts and figures
• Direct quotations I might want to use
• Paraphrase, not just copying chunks
• Source details!!!
14. Some final hints!
• If in doubt: reference it.
• Make sure you record the source when taking
notes. When taking notes make it clear if you
are copying directly, paraphrasing or
summarising.
• Use different colours when you write down
direct quotes
• ALWAYS make notes in your own words.
• Don't cut and paste!
• Be prepared to go and find a reference for
something you already know, for instance a
scientific claim, in order to back it up
15. In a nutshell..
To avoid plagiarism…
...And to show you’ve really
extended yourself during your
research...
Reference your sources!
Notas do Editor
This session provides some basic pointers that will help you to identify a suitable topic and question for your EP. Even if you already have a topic in mind, the session will offer you tools to use to refine and focus your theme and the questions you ask – it may also lead you to develop ideas you hadn ’t considered yet. It ’s crucial to put some time and energy into this choice in order that you can make the most of project, and hopefully avoid regretting your choice when it’s too late and you’re most of the way through. You may need to revisit some of the activities after the session, or take more time away to reflect or discuss your ideas with friends or teachers – so don ’t feel that you need to have reached any final decisions over the next 40 or so minutes
The first part of the session is all about how to perfect the technique of referencing. We will cover how to “cite” other peoples work and will explain how to create a reference list or bibliography. We will also cover the topic of plagiarism and how correct referencing will help you avoid this in your EPQ and in all other pieces of work you have to do.
Referencing is an important skill that you will use regularly if you go on to further or higher education. Regardless of what subject you end up doing. All types of academic writing requires you to respond to the ideas and writing of other people. To do this well, you must also understand and be able to respond to other peoples work in the field Anyone who reads your work should easily be able to identify all the sources on which you have drawn in your writing It ’s a good idea to think of referencing as “detective work”. If you reference your source material correctly, this will allow the people who read your work to be able to find your sources and read them for themselves. Even if someone has written something that you already thought of, it’s worth acknowledging this if you want to discuss this topic/idea. E.g. if you find a writer who agrees with your view on the Vietnam war, make sure you cite them. This is way of adding more weight to your veiwpoint. It doesn’t devalue your own creativity. It is a good thing to demonstrate that you have really acknowledged the other people who have put hard work into thinking in your area of interest, and that you have actively engaged with their efforts. Referencing your sources also stops you from plagiarising other peoples work!
We are now going to think about the times when we SHOULD be referencing, and also what types of sources we need to reference. WHEN SHOULD WE REFERENCE Ask group – Hands up, when do you think you need to reference a source? - get a few answers, hopefully they will say something along the lines of “ whenever you use someone else's work in your own work. WHAT SHOULD WE REFERENCE? Working in groups of 4-5 write down as many things that you think require referencing. Ask students for a volunteer – hands up – for an example to start us off? Use the flip chart paper and pens provides, you have 5 minutes to write as many things as you can. (go round the groups to make sure they all know what they are supposed to be doing) AFTER THEY HAVE FINISHED. Ok, so now we will go round the groups one by one, and can you shout out one of your examples. Keep going around the groups until all the answers have been given, then show the examples on the slide above, making sure they have them all.
Now we all are clear on what and when to reference, we will now try a short quiz to test your new knowledge! On the screen are 10 statements. You have 5 minutes in your groups to decide whether they are TRUE or FALSE. Write these down on the back of your flip chart paper. (OR WRITE THEM NEXT TO THE QUESTIONS, IF THE STUDENTS ARE BEING GIVEN A PRINTED COPY OF THE QUESTIONS) ONCE STUDENTS HAVE DONE THIS, FLASH UP THE ANSWERS AND HAVE A QUICK FEEDBACK DISCUSSION IF ANY OF THEM ARE STILL CONFUSED / GOT LOTS WRONG
Now we all are clear on what and when to reference, we will now try a short quiz to test your new knowledge! On the screen are 10 statements. You have 5 minutes in your groups to decide whether they are TRUE or FALSE. Write these down on the back of your flip chart paper. (OR WRITE THEM NEXT TO THE QUESTIONS, IF THE STUDENTS ARE BEING GIVEN A PRINTED COPY OF THE QUESTIONS) ONCE STUDENTS HAVE DONE THIS, FLASH UP THE ANSWERS AND HAVE A QUICK FEEDBACK DISCUSSION IF ANY OF THEM ARE STILL CONFUSED / GOT LOTS WRONG
So, how do we actually go about referencing. When you are writing your report/essay/dissertation, if you want to cite someone's work, you should place the name of the Author and the year that the work was published in the main text of your work. This is known as a CITATION. At the end of your essay, you will have a detailed list of all the sources. This is called the REFERENCE LIST, or BIBLIOGRAPHY. It is really important that both the citations and the bibliography are consistent, uniform and really easy to understand! Depending on the type of referencing you decide to use, you may find that instead of the authors name a symbol, or number placed in brackets will be used. Similarly, the bibliography may be set out in several different formats which we are now going to discuss.
There are lots of different ways to reference – choose one style and stick to it throughout your project. One good easy to follow style that is commonly used is the “Harvard system” This is an example of how you would reference something you have used from a book. This uses the AUTHOR, DATE method as shown in the example above for the CITATION in the body text. In the bibliography at the end of the essay/report, the following information is given Who wrote it (Author name) When was it written (Year) What was written (Title of the book) Where and by whom was it published (Publishers name and city) Lots of information about different referencing styles is available on the internet, so if you are unsure, then it’s easy to look it up. As I mentioned before, there are lots of different styles, it’s easiest to pick one method and then stick with it!
When referencing a website or a journal article, the principles are the same as for a book, you just have to put in some other information.. For a journal article, in the body text, you would cite the author and the date. In the bibliography, you also need to give the following information. Who wrote it- Surname[s] of author[s], Initial[s]. When was it written - Year What was written - Title of article, Where was it published –Journal title Where can I find it in the journal – Volume of the journal, part number, page number An example is given above. For a website, you should list the web address as your citation and then again in your bibliography, list the web address and the date that you accessed the website. If the website has a title, for example – Cancer Research UK website, you can also write this down next to the web address.
Plagiarism is the use of any source, published or unpublished, without proper acknowledgement or referencing Proper referencing is good for everyone – it makes your work easier to follow up on and it illustrates that you have engaged with other people ’s ideas and have been able to use them and incorporate them into your own original work. This is a really useful skill! It ’s surprisingly easy to accidentally plagiarise, but this is easily avoided by thorough referencing… DON ’T GET CAUGHT OUT – it can have serious consequences!!
The next activity you are going to look at some examples of a (fictional) students work. You will also be given a source that the student has used. Working in your groups, read through the examples and you have to decide whether the student has Plagiarised from the original source Has used the source correctly and has cited and referenced the source well Has made some attempt at referencing correctly, but has made some errors that are bad practice and should be avoided. You have 10 mins to do this. Once the students have all attempted this, discuss the answers, getting the groups to feed back why they decided which was which, particularly in the case of the “bad practice” examples, pull out what was wrong, and how could these mistakes be avoided.
There are lots of different sources that you will be using in your projects, and this remains the same for any sort of academic work you will undertake. Hands up – give me some examples of sources The key to avoiding plagiarism is to properly acknowledge these sources EVERY TIME YOU USE THEM You need to be able to take good notes, which will allow you to trace your sources. Chances are you'll need to revisit sources and ideas and well referenced notes are the short cut to doing this without starting again from scratch! And, we have already discussed that as well as good note taking, using a standard referencing system, like Harvard will make your life much easier.
Note taking is a skill that you will develop over time, and practice makes perfect. Notes are a good way to help you understand what you have just read, and can be used to formulate any questions you may have coming from that source, leading to ideas that you want to investigate further. As you study and write your notes, don't copy chunks of text directly out of the book, instead always write your study notes in your own words (but note which book or article your notes were drawn from). Once you have taken notes from the original source, work only from your notes: put the original article or book away. Check your writing against the books and articles you are using as sources. If the words you've written are too similar to the original, you should try to revise your own wording. Things you should be noting down are Any facts and figures Direct quotations you might want to use Practice paraphrasing - When you paraphrase another author's writing you are rewriting their argument using your own words, phrasing and interpreting it in your own way. Source details!!! – this is most important, get into the habit of writing down as much information about the source (Author, date, title, etc)
Some final words of advice If you are in any doubt about whether or not you should cite a source, cite it. When you are making notes, make sure you record the source at the time and make it clear if you are copying directly, paraphrasing or summarising. This will save you time in the future as you will not have to come back to the source to check! A good tip for doing this is to have a “colour coding” system, so get some nice coloured pens and use different colours when you write down direct quotes! If you can, try and ALWAYS make notes in your own words. Don't cut and paste! When using information from the internet, write it down in your own words rather than just copying and pasting. Be prepared to go and find a reference for something you already know, for instance a scientific claim, in order to back it up. This will make your research much more credible.
Finally, the best way to avoid plagiarism and end up with a really excellent extended project report is to ALWAYS REFERENCE YOUR SOURCES!!!!