Referencing

and Avoiding Plagiarism

Presentation Outline

• Why do we reference?

• How do we reference?

• What is the Harvard Style?

• What is Plagiarism?

• How can I avoid Plagiarism?

Why do we Reference?
 Reasons
To make clear when a particular piece of information, idea, etc. is not our own
and to tell our readers where it came from. This allows us to:

•show where we got our facts from

•use other people’s work to support This is why it
is important to
our own argument (evidence, examples, ensure each
findings, etc.) reference is
complete and
•discuss what other people or accurate.
organisations have said and done and
give our own analysis of it
•to provide useful definitions, explanations, etc.

To allow other people to find the material we used to support our claims.
How do we Reference?
 Citation Reference List
You make a short reference You make a list at the end of
(author’s last name and year your essay of all the sources
of publication) in the text of you have referred to in you
your essay every time you work – you give complete
refer to someone else’s work. details here including
publisher, etc.

The citation acts as a key so

that your reader can find the
full reference easily on the list
of references at the end of
your essay.
 Quotations
Using the exact words of the author(s) in quotation marks ‘…’. You must
include the author’s last name, the year of publication and the page number.

For example:
Generally, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) covers ‘those educational
activities in higher education, the purpose of which is the teaching and
learning of the English language required by undergraduates, post-graduates
and/ or staff’ (Kennedy, 2001, p. 25).

When should you quote?

•When you are using someone’s definition which is key
•When you want to discuss exactly what someone said
•When the precise detail of what someone says is important – e.g. a law,
policy document, etc.
•When someone has phrased something effectively and succinctly
 Paraphrasing
You paraphrase when you change the information read into your own words without changing the
original meaning.

Why paraphrase?
•It shows that you understand what the writer is saying
•It makes it easier to build you own argument. For example, you can use what someone else says as
evidence or an example to support what you want to say
•It fits more easily with your own writing style

Example:

Original: Employers who provide childcare at the workplace have found that lateness declines and
levels of stress experienced by employees also decline.

Paraphrased reference: There is evidence to suggest that on-site day care is beneficial to employers
because employees are more punctual and appear to suffer less from stress (Smith, 2018).
 Paraphrasing Exercise
‘Employers who provide childcare at the workplace have found that lateness
declines and levels of stress decrease’ (Smith, 2012, p.52).

1. According to Smith (2012), those employees who are provided with

childcare at the workplace have a tendency to be more punctual and less
stressed.

2. Smith (2012) has held the view that when employers offer day care
facilities, their employees tend to arrive on time more and seem to be less
stressed.

3. There is evidence to suggest that on-site day care is beneficial to

employers because employees are more punctual and appear to suffer less
from stress (Smith, 2012).
 Things to note
Why are these different?
1)It is necessary to read research papers critically. In this regard,
Walker (2019) emphasises the importance of understanding the
methodology employed by researchers in their studies.

2)It is important to understand the methodology that researchers

use in their studies (Walker, 2019).

When the author’s name is part of the sentence, it does NOT go

inside the brackets because it becomes the subject of your
sentence.
 More than one author
• Up to three authors: include all the names, in the order they are listed. For example:

A sound business plan is essential to the success of every business (Morson and Child, 2010).

Morson, Child and Smith (2010) state that most single pets live in privileged circumstances.

• More than three authors: give only the first author followed by et al. For example:

Worth et al. (2013) suggest that top CEOs agree income could be raised to 50% on earnings over
£100,000.

Despite technological advances, radio production is less sophisticated than in the past (Howard et al.,
2015).

N.B. Give ALL the names in your reference list:

Howard, C., Smith, T., Jones, L. and Brown, N. (2015) Enemies and Friends. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
 Secondary Referencing
This is a sentence in a book by Grey (2016, p.9):
‘According to Brown’s (2015) study, middle managers feel more stressed than those in
higher positions’.

You want to use Brown’s information but you have only read Grey’s book:

• In your essay:

There is evidence that stress is a greater problem for middle managers than for senior
managers (Brown, 2015, cited in Grey, 2016, p.9).

• In your list of references:

You cannot include Brown because you have not read this author – you can only have
Grey in your list.
 Exercise
According to (Rose Waters and Barry Monk), children love to be scared by
their television viewing provided that, in reality, they know they are perfectly
safe. Certainly, the image of children hiding behind sofas in the security of their
living rooms while watching Dr Who has almost become part of the cultural
identity of British childhood (http://www.kidwatch.org/scifi/falseurl.html,
2011). However, there are programmes aimed at children which cause concern
to parents because they may be too frightening. A recent study by Mabel
Bentley, for example, reported in Amanda Baxter’s book ‘Kids and Monsters’
found that ‘the vast majority of parents interviewed had expressed reservations
about at least one of the programmes their children watched on the grounds that
they felt the child had been genuinely scared while watching or had exhibited a
subsequent reaction, such as a nightmare’. Holmes and other researchers
reported similar findings.
 Exercise
According to Waters and Monk (2013), children love to be scared by their
television viewing provided that, in reality, they know they are perfectly safe.
Certainly, the image of children hiding behind sofas in the security of their
living rooms while watching Dr Who has almost become part of the cultural
identity of British childhood (Kidwatch, 2011). However, there are programmes
aimed at children which cause concern to parents because they may be too
frightening. A recent study by Bentley (2014, cited in Baxter, 2015, p. 69), for
example, found that ‘the vast majority of parents interviewed had expressed
reservations about at least one of the programmes their children watched on the
grounds that they felt the child had been genuinely scared while watching or
had exhibited a subsequent reaction, such as a nightmare’. Holmes et al. (2017)
reported similar findings.
What is the Harvard Style?
 Harvard Style: list of references
• This should list all (and only) the sources you have used in
your assignment

• The list should be in alphabetical order

• Don’t separate different kinds of sources unless you are

specifically told to

• Each reference should follow the format for that kind of text
 The Harvard Style
The way we reference is different for different types of sources (e.g.:
books, e-journals etc.).
• Use Cite Them Right

Available by clicking the ‘Referencing’ tab at the top of the

Blackboard home page. It is also available in the library and
the CCCU bookshop.

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2016) Cite them right: the

essential guide to referencing and plagiarism. 10th edn.
Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
 Reference list - example
Abber, C. and Smith, T. (2016) Book, two authors
Research study methodology. Dover:
Dover University Press.

Wharton, C., Pail, R. and Crumb, F. Print or electronic

journal
(2018) ‘Why businesses fail’, Business
Review, 7 (10), pp. 160-172.

National Health Service (2019) Website

Symptoms. Available at:
www.nhs.uk/livewell/symptoms.aspx
(Accessed: 02 July 2017).
 Reference list - exercise
Look carefully at the information given about each item in this list of references.
Can you identify what kind of source each one is?

Book
Barton, K. (2012) People in paintings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Baxter, F. (2015) ‘Consumer chemistry’, Journal of Chemistry Education, 65 (3),
Journal
pp. 206-219.

Ellis, P. (2017) ‘The ability to think critically’, in Barlow, G. and Freid, R. (eds.) Chapter
Thinking skills: How can we teach them? New York: W. H. Freeman, pp. 197-211.

Hopper, C. (2014) ‘Legal Lingo’, The Times, 24 August, p. 25. Newspaper

Oxfam (2018) E.ON shelves Kingsnorth. Available at:
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/campaign/impact/kingsnorth.html Website
(Accessed: 15 October 2018).

Website Journal Newspaper article Chapter in a book Book

What is Plagiarism?
 Definition
What is Plagiarism?
Choose as many as you like.

a. Copying another student’s work

b. Using a paragraph from your own essay submitted previously
c. Using an idea/ information from someone else in your essay without saying
so
d. Copying something directly from a book, journal or website without
quotation marks or saying where you found it
e. Citing someone else’s idea and discussing it
f. Using a graph from the Internet without citing it
 Definition
What is Plagiarism?
Choose as many as you like.

a. Copying another student’s work

b. Using a paragraph from your own essay submitted previously
c. Using an idea/ information from someone else in your essay without
saying so
d. Copying something directly from a book, journal or website without
quotation marks or saying where you found it
e. Citing someone else’s idea and discussing it (NOT PLAGIARSM)
f. Using a graph from the Internet without citing it
 To sum up

If you have included something in your essay and you

do not make it clear that it is someone else’s idea, then
readers assume it’s YOUR idea simply because it’s in
YOUR essay.

That’s the convention in academic writing. Therefore,

we reference everything that is not our own original
work.
How can I avoid Plagiarism?
 How to avoid plagiarism
• Avoid poor paraphrasing: make sure that you change the words and the way the sentence is
put together. You can also be accused of plagiarism if you only change someone's words
very slightly

• Make sure you understand the sentence(s) you want to paraphrase to ensure you do not
change the meaning.

• Don’t forget to use quotation marks when you borrow somebody else’s words

• Make clear which arguments of your essay are based on other people’s work and whose
work you have used

• List every source you have used and double check your reference list against the citations
in you essay
 References
• http://
wwww.lse.ac.uk/gender/assets/documents/Citing-an
d-Referencing-Powerpoint.pdf
• https://www.slideshare.net/keemanxp/introduction-
to-citations-and-referencing