Plagiarism and Referencing

Section Plagiarism and Referencing Introduction This section in your Study Skills Manual is going to cover two different, but interrelated areas: plagiarism and referencing When you come to University, one of the tasks that you often perform is reading You will use the reading you to inform your own opinion and to build arguments that you will write in your essays and exams Section of this manual will give advice on effective reading techniques However it is absolutely essential to learn how to reference all of the reading that you have done in your own work, otherwise you could be accused of plagiarism Furthermore, if you have not referenced the reading and your notes properly then you will not be able to use it in your work – which is not a good use of the time that you have spent doing the reading in the first place! Part 1: Plagiarism University of Bristol Guidelines Plagiarism is a term that is often used, and heard, in universities but is often not understood Plagiarism occurs when you use other people’s ideas, concepts, words or theories and either try to pass them off as your own, or so inadvertently This includes using information you have obtained from the world wide web Bristol University’s guidelines define plagiarism as: University Definition of Plagiarism "Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else's work as though it were your own" (JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service 2003) “Passages quoted or closely paraphrased from other authors must be identified as quotations or paraphrases, and the sources of the quoted or paraphrased material must be acknowledged Use of unacknowledged sources may be construed as plagiarism.” (Examination Regulations, 2002) And from the Social Science Student Handbook… Plagiarism is the presentation of someone else's work as though it were your own However, it takes several forms, including: Obtaining an essay, eg from the Internet or another provider, and submitting it as your own work either in part or in full This is completely unacceptable and will be treated with the utmost severity Stealing another student’s work and submitting it as your own work either in colluding with another student to produce work together While we expect you to work co-operatively in some of your seminars and classes, and we are always pleased when students enjoy discussing their work with each other, what you submit for assessment must be your own In very particular circumstances, which will be clearly identified, you may be asked to submit group work, but even then you will be asked to identify your contribution If we cannot distinguish your work from that of someone else, we cannot assess it and it is very likely to receive a mark of zero Copying, or electronically cutting and pasting, sections (ie a whole sentence or more) of someone else’s work, without using quotation marks to clearly mark what is not yours This includes material from the Internet This is still plagiarism, even if you change a few words or leave out some of the sentences in a passage Putting quotation marks round odd sentences and giving the full citation for those will not prevent any material outside the quotation marks from being assessed as plagiarism When students are identified as doing this, they often say that they had made notes, or cut and pasted bits of sources into a notes file, and then forgot that these were verbatim rather than their own paraphrase or re-wording of the original This is not an acceptable excuse It is your responsibility to make sure that you keep track of your notes and material You should always keep a record of where notes come from, including page numbers where relevant This is part of the study skills we expect you to develop as an undergraduate at Bristol, and so you can expect us to treat such plagiarism more severely as you progress through your studies Ultimately, if you this in work submitted as part of your final assessment, you are very likely to receive a mark of zero for that unit, something which could affect your overall degree classification If you are in any doubt about this, please talk to your personal tutor and unit convenors and get advice on good practice in note taking and the use of quotations ‘Borrowing’ the structure of an argument from another writer and following this too closely, presenting it as your own, without acknowledgement You may not actually copy verbatim sections from the original, but you are still presenting someone else’s ideas and work as your own Depending on the extent to which you this, it may make it difficult to assess the work as your own, and result in a mark of zero for the unit Again, please ask for help and support if you are in any doubt about this As you can see the ramifications of plagiarism are substantial: depending on the extent, plagiarism can result in you not being awarded your degree Therefore you have to take care not to plagiarise, either deliberately or inadvertently In order to avoid plagiarism, you should: Give a complete and accurate reference list of all books or articles referred to or otherwise used Give references for all quotations, paraphrases or mention of particular passages Never pretend that something is your own work when it isn't!!! Suspicion of plagiarism can be aroused through carelessness and is not always deliberate The University recommends that: when you make notes on books etc., you make it absolutely clear in your notes what is quotation, what is paraphrase and what is your own comment; you should then be able to avoid unintentionally quoting or paraphrasing JISC Plagiarism Detection Service people’s work without acknowledgement other JISC – the Joint Information Systems Committee – is a body which supports further and higher education in the use of information and communications technology One of the services it provides is a plagiarism detection service The University of Bristol has signed up for this service as an institution, and in signing the University’s registration form, which makes explicit reference to this service, all students are automatically brought into the scheme Essays will be checked for plagiarism using this software The Plagiarism Detection Service searches the world wide web and extensive databases of reference material and content submitted by other students to identify any duplication of work The software makes no decisions as to whether a student has plagiarised, it simply highlights sections of text that have been found in other sources Part 2: Referencing Different departments and different Universities use different systems for referencing and each referencing system has a different name Within the School for Policy Studies, you are REQUIRED to use the Harvard Referencing System The Harvard system is the system which is used by the majority of social scientists so if, for instance, you did further studies at different universities you would still use this system Initially, it may seem confusing and you may be used to working with different systems, but once you understand this system it will become more straightforward and you will soon develop the habit of always referencing your sources in this way One of the things that can make it seem a bit confusing is that you will be referencing different sources and types of material, including books and chapters in books, journal articles, pamphlets, official government documents, and internet sources, to name but a few The Harvard system provides a consistent style that is used for each specific type of material If you not reference properly, as well as risking accusations of plagiarism, you will be deducted marks in your essays Therefore in any work that you do, from essays to exams to presentations, from now on you are strongly advised to use this system The more you apply this system the easier it will become so as well as explaining how the system works there are a few practical examples at the end of this section for you to ‘practice’ with When to Reference In addition to referencing correctly in your reference list at the end of an essay, there are also conventions that you must follow when you are referencing other people’s work in the body of your own text So before referencing at the end of your essay is discussed, we will look at different examples of referencing within your text i.e your essays Therefore this section will address: Referencing other people’s work: - Single authors - Multiple authors of the one text - Multiple publications by the same author Reference quotations - Quotes of less than three lines long - Quotes of over three lines long Shortening quotes Emphasis in quotes Endnotes and Footnotes Errors Reference list Examples - A Book - A chapter within an edited book - Journal articles - Internet sources - Newspapers - Unpublished documents (e.g leaflets) Referencing Within Your Text When you are writing an essay and you are discussing a theory or a piece of work or an idea from someone else you have to reference the author’s name This means that it is not just direct quotations that you have to reference but that everything that it is not your own work has to be acknowledged Good academic essays will always mention and discuss other people’s theories and ideas, but you will lose marks if you not reference them correctly Single Author If you are using someone else’s theory you have to: write the name of the theory or idea (sometimes you will put single quotation marks around it but not always) then write, in brackets, the author’s surname and the date of when the publication was written An example of this is in the field of male violence, where there is a theory developed by Liz Kelly known as the ‘continuum of violence’ If you wanted to use this in your essay you would write the words ‘continuum of violence’, put single quotation marks around it and after this put the author’s surname, Kelly, followed by a comma and then the date of the publication which is 1988 For example, ‘continuum of violence’ (Kelly, 1988) Alternatively if you want to use the authors name in the body of the text, only the date is bracketed For example, “ in a study by Anderson (1993)” To summarize, when you use someone else’s theory or idea in your work: Write the name of the theory or idea and put single quotation marks around it, write the author’s name, and write the date of publication For example, ‘continuum of violence’ (Kelly, 1988) Or use the author’s name in the body of your text and write the author’s name and bracket the publication date after that For example, “….in a study by Kelly (1988)” Multiple Authors If you are referencing a theory that came from more than three authors, you only have to write the first author’s name plus et al in your actual essay, instead of listing all of the other authors, and then as before write the date of the book Et al is an abbreviation of et allii (and others) which indicates that there was more than one author of the book or article, for example (Roberts et al, 2004) As before you can use author names in the body of the text and date alone in brackets, for example “Community Mothers Programme undertaken by Johnson et al (1993)” or “Bennet, Wolin and Reiss (1988) highlight the possible protective value for children ” When including multiple authors in the body of you text you may use et al., as in the example above or you can write “Johnson and colleagues (1993)” either is acceptable When you write up the full list of references at the end of your essay you cannot write et al but you have to write all of the authors’ names (this will be discussed more in the bibliography section) To summarise, when there are multiple authors in the theory or idea/s you are quoting from in your work: Write the first author’s name and add et al, and then the date of the publication For example (Roberts et al, 2004) Or you can write in the body of your text the first author’s name and add et al, and then write the date of the publication “Community Mothers in brackets Programme For example undertaken by Johnson et al (1993)” Or you can write in the body of your text the authors’ surnames and put the publication date in brackets For example “Bennet, Wolin and Reiss (1988) highlights… ” In your full list of references at the end of your essay, you must include all the names of the authors in the publication used Multiple References When referencing more than one source at the same time work should be ordered by date, earliest first for example (Canavan et al 2000, Foley et al, 2001) If you are referencing two or more publications by the same author in the same year, you have to differentiate between them by putting ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’ and so on after the date, in order that the reader can distinguish which book or article it is that you referring to, for example, (Blackburn, 1993a; 1993b) This is so that the reader knows that there was more than one publication in the same year and can identify the specific material you are referring to In order to identify which publication came first you list them alphabetically according to the title of the article or book The distinguishing letter ‘a’, ‘b’ or ‘c’ is also be used to identify the publications in the reference list at the end of your writing To summarize When you reference from different authors who have written about the same or a similar theory or idea: Write the name of the author with the earliest publication date first and then write the others For example (Canavan et al 2000, Foley et al, 2001) When you are referencing an author’s work where he or she has written about the theory or idea in more than one publication: Write the name of the author and put the publication dates starting with the earliest, separate them with a semi-colon, and distinguish them using ‘a’, ‘b’ or ‘c’ For example, (Blackburn, 1993a; 1993b) Remember to give a full description of them in your list of references at the end of your essay Quotations As you will have noticed from the above examples, because we were not referencing particular quotations from the authors we did not include page numbers When you quote other authors you have to include the page number(s) Thus, you would still have the author’s name and the date but in addition you also write the page number You would reference in exactly the same way if there was more than one author following conventions according to the number of authors However there are different conventions about how you write quotations depending on their length Less Than Three Lines If the quotation is less than three lines long – and please note, this is three lines, and not three sentences long - then it can stay within the body of the text and you would just write it as part of your sentence So you put ‘single quotation marks’ around the quotation and then the author’s name, the date and the page number or numbers all in brackets When you are writing the page number some people write ‘p’ for page, others use a colon after the date and then give the page number There are not fixed rules about this, but you must be consistent choosing one format and sticking to it Quotations Within the Text – Less Than Three Lines Long - Single quotation mark Name, Date, Page Numbers (in brackets) Example Integral to Kelly’s critique of sociology is that ‘it ignores feminist research in other areas’ (Kelly, 1988: 3) Over Three Lines Long If the quotation is over three lines long it is written separately so that it stands on its own You have to indent it and italicise it; because you are italicising and indenting the quotation you Over not Three have to use quotation Quotations Lines Longmarks As before, write the author’s name, date and page number after the quotation - Indent - Italicise - Name, date, page number (in brackets) Example Thus, integral to Kelly’s argument, is that the critique of sociology must be extended to acknowledge that it often disregards feminist work in other disciplines: Being a feminist sociologist means that my own discussion of research practice refers directly to my own discipline but many of the points I want to make apply across disciplinary boundaries Part of my criticism of the discussion within sociology is that it ignores feminist research in other areas (Kelly, 1988: 3) Shortening a Quotation If you are quoting from an author and it is a long sentence but you only need part of it then there is a technique to shorten it You should include an ellipsis (three dots) in the quotation to show that you have taken part of it out For example, the above quotation from Kelly can be shortened by removing the middle section However in order to let the reader know that we have shortened it we insert an ellipsis in the section which we have removed To Shorten A Quotation Example Being a feminist sociologist means that my own discussion of research practice refers directly to my own discipline … Part of my criticism of the discussion within sociology is that it ignores feminist research in other areas (Kelly, 1988: 3) Sometimes in removing part of longer section of text to shorten it you will need to insert a new word to retain the sense of the quotation Most often this is when you remove a Noun and retain a pronoun In this case the word you insert must be enclosed in square brackets and should not be italicised For example, ‘their’ has been replaced in the following sentence “For inclusion in [Durlak & Wells] metaanalysis, studies had to have ” Emphasis As you may be aware, you can use italicisation when you want to emphasise what you are writing It may be the case that you are using a quotation from an author in which they have done this If so, then you must also emphasise the words that the author has Thus, you copy the quotation exactly as it is written but after you write the quotation and the author’s name, date and page number you must write, also within 10 the brackets: ‘emphasis in original’ This is so that the reader knows that it is not you but the original author whom italicised and emphasised this Emphasis In Original Example ‘It is perhaps unsurprising that the women were happy to take only 75 per cent of the equivalent male wage’ (Smith, 2002: 84, emphasis in original) However if you are quoting an author and you want to emphasise what they are saying through italicising the quotation (or part of it), then you must write ‘emphasis added’ after you write the author’s name, date and page number Emphasis Added Example ‘It became evident that the most devoted workers were the women’ (Smith, 2002: 54, emphasis added) Errors If you are quoting someone but there is an error in the text, you should copy the quotation exactly, even though you know that there is an error What you can do, however, is show the reader that you know it is an error by writing (sic) in brackets after the word ‘Sic’ is taken from Latin and means ‘like this’ or ‘thus’ This can also be done for political reasons such as when sexist or racist language is used For instance, if you were quoting from an author who referred to a group of people as ‘he’ when in fact some of the group members may be female then you could write (sic) after ‘he’ in the quotation Footnotes and Endnotes 11 Footnotes and Endnotes are used by the author when they want to direct the reader to an explanation or associated material that is not contained in the main body of writing They are used when you want to explain, expand or add something to what you have written but which is not integral to the text The main body of writing should still read fluidly and make sense without the footnote/endnote A footnote is at the bottom of the page and endnote is at the end of the chapter or essay The Harvard System uses footnotes rather than endnotes To insert a footnote in a Word document, place the cursor where you want it to be positioned in the main body of the text Using the mouse, click on ‘insert’ on the main toolbar and click on ‘footnote’ This will give you the option of inserting a footnote References at End of the Essay Before we go on to referencing in the bibliography, there are a few explanatory details in relation to how items are listed which have to be addressed Never put numbers in your reference list as you not need them Instead all references must be listed alphabetically by the first author’s surname If the author has more than one publication, list the earliest publication first; if there is more than one publication by an author written in the same year, list them alphabetically by the title of the article and adding ‘a’, ‘b’ etc., as explained earlier If some books are included by a sole author, and others by the same first author writing with others list all the single author books first, and the rest alphabetically For example, Smith (1975) would come before Smith (1976) and finally Smith & Jones (1975) How to Reference Your reference list always goes at the end of your essay or article and as previously mentioned you not need to number items in it You must always have a reference list so that you can direct the reader to the sources you have used However, there are variations in how you reference according to the format of the text you have used This section is going to show you how to reference a book, a chapter within an edited book, a journal article, a parliamentary acts, published reports and Internet sources The boxes below contain an explanation of how to apply the proper Harvard 12 formatting for each type of reference, including the correct punctuation Where a choice is presented (e.g underline or italicised) either will be acceptable, but you must apply a consistent style Conventions exist for other types of references (e.g images, unpublished material) and you should research the correct referencing style for each Book Author Surname, then Initials.Co-author Surname, then Initials (if applicable) Year of Publication (in brackets) Title of Book, (in italics or underlined) Place of Publication: Publisher Example: Kelly, L (1988) Surviving Sexual Violence, Cambridge: Polity Press Chapters within Edited Books Chapter Author Surname, then Initials Year of Publication (in brackets) ‘Chapter Title’ (in inverted commas), in Book Editor Surname, then Initials, (Ed) or (Eds) (to indicate they were Editor/s) Book Title, (in italics or underlined) Place of Publication: Publisher, Page Numbers of Chapter Example: Brittan, A (2001) ‘Masculinities and Masculinism’ in Whitehead S M and Barrett F.J (Eds.) The Masculinities Reader, Cambridge: Polity Press, 51-55 13 Journals Author Surname, then Initials Year of Publication (in brackets) Title of Paper, (in inverted commas) Name of Journal, (in italics or underlined) Journal Number and Issue Number, (if applicable note commas) Page Numbers of Article Example Russell, R and Tyler, M (2002) ‘Thank Heaven for Little Girls: ‘Girl Heaven’ and the Commercial Context of Feminine Childhood’, Sociology 36, 3, 619-637 Parliamentary Act Some authorities suggest country of publication should precede all other information This is optional Name of the Act (intalics or underlined) Year of Publication (in brackets) Parliamentary reference, this will vary according to year of publication (different form pre 1963) and will also vary in parliamentary papers other than acts Publisher (HMSO) Example Children Act 1989 (c.41) London, HMSO Or Great Britain (1989) Children Act C.41 London, HMSO 14 Report Aim to give as much information as possible that will enable the reader to locate the report Author Surname, then Initials if given or publisher if not Year of Publication (in brackets) Title of Report (in italics or underlined) Report number, report series, or other identifier if given Place of publication Name of publisher Website address if applicable Example Audit Commission (2002) Special Educational Needs: A mainstream issue London, Audit Commission www.auditcommission.gov.uk Or Dickson, M (2003) Special Educational Needs in the early years Highlight No 200 London, National Children’s Bureau www.ncb.org.uk Using Internet Sources Type I when the source details are clear Author Surname, then Initials (NB: This may be an organisation or institution, rather than an individual) Year of Publication (in brackets) ‘Title of Article’, (in inverted commas or italicised) Name of Webpage/Website Web Address Date and Time you accessed the Webpage Example Crook, F (2000) ‘Howard League Welcomes Prison Service Action on Portland Allegations’, Howard League for Penal Reform, http://web.ukonline.co.uk/howard.league, 18.09.00, 14.15 15 Using Internet Sources Type II when the source details are not clear Web source (no author) Title of document Publication year and version number if it is stated in brackets Name and place of the sponsor of the source if it is stated Web address Date and time you accessed the Webpage Example Educating America for the 21st century: developing a strategic plan for educational leadership by Columbia University 19932000(initial workshop draft) 1994, draft workshop report, Institute for Learning technologies, Columbia University Accessed 2/8/2007: 14:00 Web source (no publication date) Author (and write ‘date not specified’) Title of document and version number if it is stated Name and place of the sponsor of the source if stated Web address Date and time you accessed the Webpage Example: Sherman, C (Date not specified) The invisible web, Free Pint Limited, UK, Accessed 2/8/2007, 14:00 16 Referencing a web-site Author (the person or organisation responsible for the website) Year of Publication in brackets (that the site was created or last revised) Name and place of the sponsor of the source Web-site address Date and time you accessed the web-site Example: School for Policy Studies or Webmaster Alison Leach, (Last revised 15.07.2005), University of Bristol, UK http://www.bris.ac.uk/sps/index.html Accessed 2/8/2007, 14:00 Electronic books Author Year of Publication in brackets Title Name and place of the sponsor of the source (publisher & place) Web address Date and time accessed Example: e-library Elephant (1764) A letter from the elephant to the people of England English Short Title Catalogue, Printed for E Sumpter, London http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/ECCO? dd=0&locID=univbri&d1=1288902500&srchtp=b&c=46&SU=0 LRI&d2=3&docNum=CW3307987020&h2=1&l0=1764&vrsn=1 0&b1=KE&d6=3&ste=10&dc=tiPG&stp=Author&d4=0.33&n=1 0&d5=d6 Accessed 2/8/07, 14:00 17 Electronic books continued… Example: free book or article Loye, D (1998)The knowable future: The Psychology of forecasting and prophecy , Harvard University Press, New York http://books.iuniverse.com/viewgiftoc.asp? isbn=0966551451&page=1 Accessed 2/8/2007, 14:00 A Chapter in an electronic book Author, Year of Publication in brackets 'Chapter title', in book editor(s) (ed.), Book title, name and place of the sponsor of the source Web-address Date and time accessed Example: Anheier, H (2003) ‘Movement Development and Organizational Networks: The Role of ‘Single Members’ In the German Nazi Party, 1925–30’ in Mario Diani & Doug McAdam (eds.) Social movements and networks: relational approaches to collective action, Oxford University Press, New York, USA http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/private/content/politicals cience/9780199251780/p004.html Accessed 2/8/2007, 14:00 18 Newspaper article on the WWW Author Year, 'Article title', Newspaper Title, Day Month, page number (if given), Web-site address, Date and time accessed Example: Glancey, J (2007) ‘Think before you build’, The Guardian, Friday 27 July, http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/architecture/story/0,,2136154,0 0.html 2/8/2007, 14:00 Referencing from a voice-file (from a radio programme or talk) available on the WWW when and if you have quoted words from the voice-file in your text Example: When quoting in your text, for example ‘in a radio programme about the experiences of families caring for family members with a mental illness, one of the speakers mentions “I panicked and I did not know who to turn to….”(Caroline, 2006; Caring beyond Reason, BBC Radio 4) In your reference list: Person(s)/Author(s) speaking, Year in brackets, Title or description of radio programme or talk, Date, time and Place (where applicable), Source or Sponsor of the voice-file source, Website address, Date accessed Example: Philip, Caroline et al (2006) Caring beyond reason, Thursday March, 8pm – 8.30pm, BBC Radio 4, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/pip/c1oam/ Accessed 2/8/2007, 14:00 19 Practical Exercise All of these examples may appear to be a bit confusing so the best remedy for this is to practice referencing different sources! The next box contains ten references that all have something missing from them This exercise involves recognising what type of reference they are, i.e a book or a journal article for example, and then identifying where the missing information should go STOP! Hang On there! Before you look at the answers in the second box, make sure you have carefully gone through and spotted the mistakes in all the references on the list 20 Harvard Referencing System Practice Examples Acker, J., Barry, K and Esseveld, J ‘Objectivity and Truth: Problems in Doing Feminist Research’ Women’s Studies International Forum, 6, 4, 423-435 Cook, J A and Fonow, M M (1990) ‘Knowledge and Women’s Interests: Issues of Epistemology and Methodology in Feminist Sociological Research’ in McCarl Nielsen, J (Ed.) Feminist Research Methods: Exemplary Readings in the Social Sciences, Boulder: Westview Press Cotterill, P and Gayle, L (1993) ‘Weaving Stories: Personal AutoBiographies in Feminist Research’, 27, 1, 67-79 Owen, P & agencies (2007) ‘Benn defends climate bill’ in The Guardian, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/green/story/0,,2141194,00.html Finch, J (1991) in Maclean, M and Groves, D (Eds.) Women’s Issues in Social Policy, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 194-204 Hanmer, J (1990) ‘Men, Power and the Exploitation of Women’ Women’s Studies International Forum, 443-56 Abd-Allah, UF, A Muslim in Victorian America http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/oso/public/content/religion/97801951 87281/toc.html Kelly, L., Burton, S and Regan, L (1994) ‘ Researching Women’s Lives or Studying Women’s Oppression? Reflections on What Constitutes Feminist Research’ in Maynard, M and Purvis, J (Eds.) Researching Women’s Lives from a Feminist Perspective, London, 27-48 Winter, D (2006) ‘Changing Places’, Sustainable Housing, BBC Radio 4, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/science/ 10 Ltd Stanley, L and Wise, S (1983) London: Routledge and Kegan Paul 21 Answers to the Harvard Referencing Practice Examples Journal Article – Year of Publication Chapter in Book – Page Numbers Journal Article – Name of Journal Newspaper article on WWW – Date of Publication, Date accessed Chapter in Book – Name of Chapter Journal Article – Volume and Number E-Book – Year of Publication, Name of Source & Place, Date accessed Chapter in Book – Publishers Voice-file from WWW – Date and time of programme, Date accessed 10 Book – Title of Book 22 ... have been found in other sources Part 2: Referencing Different departments and different Universities use different systems for referencing and each referencing system has a different name Within... your personal tutor and unit convenors and get advice on good practice in note taking and the use of quotations ‘Borrowing’ the structure of an argument from another writer and following this... confusing and you may be used to working with different systems, but once you understand this system it will become more straightforward and you will soon develop the habit of always referencing