In the blog last week, we investigated an overview of the 8-step summarising sequence. This week, we shall focus on the critical importance of carefully, accurately, and repeatedly proofreading all the information reported in the summary.
The critical importance of citing and referencing texts
It is essential for students to fully understand the critical importance of accurately citing and referencing all academic texts used in every assigned task. Not only will a failure to fully complete this requirement result in a significant grade reduction, but reported information that is not cited automatically becomes a form of plagiarism. We have briefly reviewed the main types of plagiarism previously in this series. However, in the next series on academic writing style, we shall investigate this issue in more detail.
Within the English-speaking higher education system, there are several different citation and referencing formats. The appropriate format will be shown in the course guidelines and highlighted early in different faculty departments. In this blog, we shall use what is called APA as an example of the key principles common to all formats.
A simplified APA citation and referencing conventions
The citations
Only use family names
Provide the publication date
With texts with 1 or 2 authors, keep repeating the names
With 3 or more authors, only use the name of the first author followed by ‘et al.’
The examples of in-text citations
According to Steel (2010), procrastinators are people who tend to act without thinking, feel unable to control their emotions, and behave impulsively.
Three of Hofstede’s (1986) cultural dimensions are particularly relevant to understand the underlying deeply embedded cultural orientations that underpin teacher-centred learning.
Daiek and Anter (2004) argue that teaching critical reading places pressure on the teacher, as care needs to be taken with the selection of topics and texts to highlight the key stages in the critical reading process.
Research (Buehler et al., 1994) has highlighted that 68% of the students interviewed eventually reported that they had finally submitted assignments either later than expected or at the last minute.
The references
Provide the author's family name(s) followed by the initials of their given name(s)
Provide the publication date in brackets
Provide the title of the book or article
Provide the publisher
In the case of journal articles, provide the number of the volume, issue, and pages
For online materials, provide the links
The example of the reference section
Question 1
Why do weaknesses in citing and referencing academic texts result in such a significant grade reduction?
Question 2
What is the most serious consequence of a failure to accurately cite the original text?
Question 3
How might accurate proofreading significantly increase grade?
We shall explore Question 3 in the next blog.
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