PDF Know why it's important to provide references in your work ...

Know why it's important to provide references in your work for resources you have used

What is referencing?

Referencing involves noting down the source for any information that you access. In other words, you need to record in a systematic manner where you got the information from.

What's your level?

If you have already completed some study at university level, you should already be aware of the importance of providing references in your work, and know a system for putting references in place.

If it is some time since you last studied, if you have not previously studied at university level, or if your study has not been undertaken at a UK university, then there may be quite a lot to learn about our referencing system and why it is so important.

It's worth checking that you understand the principles behind referencing, whatever your past experience.

What kinds of sources need referencing?

Quick quiz Which items from the following list do you think would need a reference (provision of details of the source) in a coursework essay?

Information and ideas from: books magazines newspapers academic journals TV adverts TV programmes academic internet sites internet `blogs' university course handouts

old A level or GCSE handouts DVDs and CDs radio programmes lectures seminars tutorials group discussions food or product packaging

Answer on next page...

PGT: What skill-reference, The University of Sheffield

Page 1 of 4

The answer is...

that they all need a reference when you use them in your work!

First steps

It makes sense to record the source of the information you use at the time you access it, so that you:

DO have the information ready to put in coursework DON'T have to scrabble around looking for the source again to get the details. This can take a lot of time and you may not be able to find the source again, meaning that you can't safely use the material can check back to the original source if necessary, for example to verify any notes that you took from it.

Your tutors may also want to check out your sources, so they need an accurate reference too.

Why is referencing important?

Scenario 1 Imagine that you have come up with a great original idea for a story. You work really hard on the idea and produce a written summary that you plan to submit to a publisher.

When you do submit it, you are told that somebody else has already submitted virtually the same proposal. It turns out that someone managed to get hold of your notes, used the information, and then submitted the ideas as though they were their own.

They get all the credit (though it's your work) and you get none.

How would you feel?

Scenario 2 You have developed a new technique for helping children to learn to read and have published it as a guide.

However, you soon find that someone has taken your ideas, changed them only very slightly, and has published another guide. This guide makes no reference at all to your work, without which it could not have been developed.

How would you feel?

How should the publisher of the second guide react if they discover that it is largely based on an earlier, unacknowledged one?

PGT: What skill-reference, The University of Sheffield

Page 2 of 4

Some reasons for referencing

In the above scenarios, you would probably feel that the person benefiting from your ideas had not been honest, and that the outcome was unfair. You would be right!

The publisher in scenario 2 would also be concerned if something published in their name was actually not the result of honest scholarship, research or development. Their standards would appear poor.

This is how you might feel if: somebody stole your university work and submitted it as if it were their own you were an author/researcher who had worked hard to produce information, only to have others (even students) pass it off as their own you were a university that awarded degrees to students on the basis of agreed standards of scholarship, and it was discovered that a student had gained an award on the basis of work that wasn't their own.

But doesn't reading other people's work, and then using it in my essays, make me look as though I don't have any ideas?

Students starting at university are sometimes confused about whether they `can' or `should' refer to other people's work in their essays.

You may have heard the expression (still used on the UK BBC TV show University Challenge!) `reading for a degree'.

An essential dimension of studying for an academic award is reading the work of others, assessing it critically, and developing an informed response to it. This is the response that you present in coursework, and this is a key way that your work can be `original'. What is meant by a `critical' response is discussed in the Sheffield University `Learning to Learn' online module, recommended elsewhere on this site (see Places to find further information on note-taking).

In a sense, you are showing off your scholarship by referencing other people's work in your own, as long as you are able to show critical understanding of it. First, though, you need to read...!

What happens if I don't reference?

Like all universities, Sheffield has guidelines both on: how to reference

and penalties for poor referencing and plagiarism.

PGT: What skill-reference, The University of Sheffield

Page 3 of 4

When you start your course, you will be directed to information about how to reference, including the format that references should take within your essays and in the lists of references at the end.

You should not encounter problems if you get to grips with this information and take it seriously.

However, if you don't, you run the risk of: losing marks for poor or incomplete referencing facing charges of plagiarism

We will give you more information about using references and avoiding plagiarism when you start the course.

PGT: What skill-reference, The University of Sheffield

Page 4 of 4

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download