Referencing and Plagiarism

A Guide for students

Nick Hubbard

For more information see:

• http://www2.hud.ac.uk/cls/library/infolit/index.php• www.apastyle.org

How to use literature in your assignments

• Plan your work• You must acknowledge your sources - failure to do so

may result in charge of plagiarism• Be evaluative - it is a key academic skill and good

projects exhibit this• Be clear and concise and introduce only one idea per

paragraph

How to develop your discussion

• Draw together supportive and contradictory arguments– Hubbard (2010) considered that a literature review chapter

should relate to the topic of the project and hence should have an appropriate title whilst Bamford (2010) indicated that this is not always necessary.

Citations (references)

• Provide citations whenever you use:

– direct quotations– paraphrases and summaries– borrowed ideas– facts that are not common knowledge

Quotations

• Select quotations that:– develop a step in your argument– present striking, memorable phrasing– provide a strong, specific example– introduce a claim open to interpretation– summarize an author’s main points

Quotations

• When selecting quotations, avoid:– quoting details– padding a thin argument with unnecessary quotations– quoting commonly known information– quoting blocks of text that could be summarized or quoted more

selectively– quoting information you could state in your own words

Paraphrases

• rewriting of an author’s ideas in your own words• you must fully rewrite the original language and original

sentence structure

Borrowed ideas

• borrowed ideas come in many forms, including original concepts, observations, data, and logic.

• include a citation when you use:– another author’s tables, maps or graphs– another author’s data– the organisation or logic of another author’s argument

Common knowledge

• you do not need to cite an idea which is standard information in the discipline :– Hong Kong SAR was created in 1997

• you do need to cite a fact which is not common knowledge– the third party logistics market promises unprecedented potential

in China (Zhongliang, 2002)

Develop good habits

Plagiarism often starts in the note-taking stage. As you take notes, distinguish between paraphrases and direct quotations. Copy quotations exactly as they appear, and record all the information you will need for citations and a list of references. If using an on-line source, do not cut and paste text directly into your own draft.

Plagiarism

Do not succumb to temptation

You will be caught

You might not obtain an honours degree

What is referencing?

• Standardised method of acknowledging sources of information and ideas

• We prefer you to use the Harvard style of referencing• Referencing is necessary to avoid plagiarism, to enable

the reader to verify and follow-up quotations• Tests on

http://www2.hud.ac.uk/cls/library/infolit/index.php

Referencing your work using the Harvard system

• See Blackboard• See Blackboard for electronic references

Referencing books

• Author(s) R.R. Jordan • Title Academic writing course• Year of Publication © 1999• Edition (if not the first) 3rd edition• Place of publication Harlow• Publisher Pearson Education Limited

Using the title page (not the front cover) note the:

Jordan, R. R. (1999) Academic writing course 3rd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Referencing Journal/Magazine Articles

• AuthorJ Mercer • Year of publication 2004• Title of article Making the news• Title of journal Media History• Volume number (if present) 10• Part number (if present) 3• Page number(s) 187-199

Mercer, J (2004) ‘Making the news’ Media History, vol. 10, part 3: pp187-199.

Referencing a Web site

• Author/editor/organisation• Year written (or last updated)• Title• URL• Date you accessed it

For future reference, print and keep a copy of the web site