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UNDERSTANDING REFERENCING
Part 1 gives an overview of what referencing is, why it matters and how it is part of the overall task of understanding, researching (and using referencing tools), planning and writing an assignment.
What’s different about writing at university?
Quite a lot is different. That’s true no matter where you studied before.
Universities are research environments. Most tutors and lecturers do research of some sort and base their writing on the style used in the books, articles and reports they read for their research: that’s where they, too, publish. So it follows that students are also expected to develop the ‘academic’ style that matches their field of study.
So what is UK ‘academic’ style?
Well, of course, it varies from subject to subject – dance, science and business are massively different, so the style of writing expected in different areas of study will vary too. But let’s try a few generalisations!
You are NOT expected to:
Write out facts, describe events, and just summarise your reading or lectures (unless you are expressly asked to – for example, to draw up a timeline, outline, describe a process or observation or do a ‘summary’).
You ARE expected to:
Consider a question or topic from several angles: if you are asked to ‘outline’ different theories, studies or interpretations of ‘facts’ or events, you will almost certainly be expected to ‘discuss’ or ‘evaluate’ them too.
You are ALWAYS expected to:
Show the EVIDENCE for the statements you make. You will need evidence if the statement is a ‘fact’, or mentions the approach of a particular writer, or describes the findings of a study.
So on to referencing
You provide evidence by telling the reader about the source of your information. The reference is the link between what you write and the evidence on which your writing is based. It turns what you write from being just your thoughts and reactions into something that links your ideas with the writings of other people who have thought and written about the same issue. It is how you carry out and share your research process.
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1
The essentials of referencing
This chapter gives a quick overview of why and how to reference. From here you can read on through Part 1 to get a better understanding of referencing as central to your research and writing. Or you can decide to fast forward to another part of the book. You can always come back later!
Reference, reference, reference – why do I have to reference everything?
The one overarching reason why you need to reference is to show your reader where the evidence for what you say has come from. This will enable them to:
go and check the source themselves –
traceabilityunderstand the nature, strengths and limitations of your source –
authority and
credibilityform their own view about the source and the use you make of it –
reliability.
The reader will also be able to see:
the range of sources you have found and used, from textbooks to the reading list and beyond –
reach and
scopeyour acknowledgment of the value of the efforts and findings of others –
politeness.
All this feeds into your reader’s impression of your competence as a researcher and your ‘professionalism’ as a student. Your tutor will approach your work feeling positive – and that has got to be a good thing!
What does your reader need to know? The bare essentials
The six strategic questions1 make a useful checklist of the information you need to know about your source.
The answers you need to give to your reader in your reference are:
Rachel Aldred and Katrina Jungnickel wrote an article (published) in 2014. The title is Why culture matters for transport policy: the case of cycling in the UK. It was published in the Journal of Transport Geography in volume 34, the January edition, on pages 78–87. And this is where you can find it: doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2013.11.004.
In reference form (author-year Harvard style), this becomes:
All referencing styles provide details that answer the same questions – they are just set out differently.
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI or doi) is a unique and permanent number used to identify sources, especially academic and scholarly articles, research reports and datasets, and official or government publications. The DOI will take you directly to the source or ‘object’ in a search.
Help your reader to find your source
It isn’t good enough just to list everything you have read for an assignment at the end of your writing. At best this just tells your reader that you’ve been busy; at worst it gives the impression that...
