Dear Colin
Following your LDHEN posting earlier today I read with great interest
your document 'The Challenge of Referencing'. It raises many interesting
and topical points, of course, and as you asked, I thought I would
respond to just a couple.
Firstly, here at ASK at Portsmouth, I (and I think my colleagues) might
add to (or rather, develop one existing point on) your list of
student-oriented reasons to reference. The pragmatic 'to get more marks'
can perhaps be developed into 'to demonstrate to markers the quality of
your reading'; we hope, I think, that this developed reason might work
as a positive incentive, especially for beginning students (for whom
some of your other reasons - perfectly valid and of value to more
experienced students - might perhaps prove difficult to assimilate). We
are very keen, as you clearly are too, to emphasise the positive when
justifying referencing, especially as within their courses students seem
more likely to be introduced to referencing via the often
negatively-expressed idea of plagiarism. (Perhaps this negativity may
become even more entrenched with the growing use of plagiarism
'detection' software? 'Reference or the machine will find you out!')
As an example of our attempts to communicate this incentive, I've
attached the transcript of a currently-in-production 'podcast'; one of a
series of 'skills' podcasts being made for PRE-ENTRY students (pilot
with just one course this September). (The tone and level of difficulty
are of course adjusted for students once they've started their courses,
and as they progress.) Any comments most welcome!
My second point, a more minor one, I think, concerns multiple citation,
and your point that students may 'over-cite' for ideas that do not
require it, and 'under-cite' for ideas that actually require weightier
evidence. As an academic skills tutor I have often found it useful to
introduce multiple citation as one simple way to help students to start
thinking critically. (My assumption is that part of thinking critically
is having to consider the 'weight' of individual pieces of evidence;
there's a lot more to it, of course!) My experience must be similar to
that of most academic skills professionals, I reckon: 1st year students
tend to think of cited sources - once the obvious 'wrong-uns' are weeded
out - as having equal weight and thus worth. Personally I don't think
that's necessarily a problem in the first year. I have found that it is
a good mark of progress to ask 2nd year students to consider what might
need multiple citation and what might not, and it is usually quite easy
to tie this progress in thinking to the introduction of the word
'critical' in Level 2 marking criteria. Again, any thoughts most
welcome!
Thanks for a thought-provoking paper!
Martin Hampton
>>> C Neville <[log in to unmask]> 21/06/2007 13:15 >>>
Dear Colleagues
Colleagues interested in the referencing practice problems
faced by students - and institutions - may be interested in
the questions raised in the attached paper.
Three questions are raised:
1. To what extent is there agreement within an institution
and/or a discipline on WHY evidence is cited and referenced
in assignments in Britain, as the practice in Britain can
be very different to what happens in other countries;
2.Following from this, to what extent is there agreement
about WHEN sources should be cited - and when it is not
necessary to cite and reference information presented in
an assignment. This raises the thorny issue of what
constitutes 'common knowledge'.
3. The third area concerns what referencing styles should be
adopted by institutions. The issue for institutions is
should they adopt just one or two of these, to encourage
standardisation of practice, or allow the full range of
styles to flourish at the discretion of Schools or
Departments.
Colleagues may remember this latter point was the topic of
some lively discussion on this site about 18 months ago.
I am particularly interested in discussing the issues
raised in the paper with colleagues, who may like to
contact me direct, as I want to pursue the questions for
the 'LearnHigher' project over the next year.
Those of you attending the 'Opening the Gateway' symposium
in Liverpool next Tuesday, 26th, and who interested in
discussing the issues raised are cordially invited to the
'Challenge of referencing' workshop at the symposium.
Best regards
Colin Neville
University of Bradford,
School of Management, Effective Learning Service,
---------------------------------
C Neville
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