Hi Zena,
Personally I think reference management software masks but doesn’t solve the problem – I think it can actually be counter-productive because it gives the illusion of everything being
simple and sorted.
I think when many lecturers say that students have problems with referencing it’s oftentimes actually a problem with citation i.e. it’s pretty straightforward and mechanical to put
a reference together (author goes here, date here etc.) The difficult bit is knowing when to reference, rules around quotes (quotation marks or indented paragraph), paraphrasing, integral or non-integral citations, whether to use page numbers, secondary sources
etc. I’d clarify this with them first.
My ‘referencing’ sessions are now based on this aspect – for the referencing bit I direct students to our libguide and/or a reference manager – and focus on the source integration bit.
I generally find students have many more questions about this than writing a reference.
I’ve started been playing around with using children’s picture books to teach it. They complete a short booklet (5 pieces of paper folded in half) and we cover different elements of
source integration (direct quotes, paraphrasing, summarising etc.) using the picture book as a source (I use the picture books because they’re short so can be flicked through quickly unlike a real article). I’ve done it about 10 times with different student
groups and it seems to work pretty well, is practical and they have something to take away after. I can send you more details if you’re interested.
Darren,
Darren Flynn
Academic Liaison Librarian: Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Operating Dept. Practice, Paramedic Science, Pre-Hospital Emergency Care
Lanchester Library: Coventry University
Tel. 07557425548
From: Information literacy and information skills teaching discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
On Behalf Of Zena Ali
Sent: 20 December 2018 15:11
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Referencing
Hi all,
Is now a good time to talk about referencing??
We are thinking about redesigning our referencing sessions, and I feel like I am missing something. We have Cite Them Right, so I feel like students should just be able to reference correctly. They don’t need to LEARN
how to do it, they just need to COPY the examples/formulas, right? But according to multiple lecturers, they’re still getting something wrong: what is it??
I plan to meet with some lecturers to discuss in the new year, but in the meantime, I’d be interested to know:
1)
What do you cover in your referencing sessions?
2)
What questions are you asked repeatedly? What explanations do you give??
3)
Have you found successful ways to make the sessions more interactive?
Thanks and Happy hols
Zena
Zena Ali | Liaison Librarian (Medicine and Biomedical Sciences)
Information Services
St George’s, University of London
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