avoiding plagiarism and referencing skills areas to be covered in this workshop: ◦ what is...

Avoiding Plagiarism and Referencing skills

Areas to be covered in this workshop:◦ What is plagiarism?◦ How to avoid plagiarism using referencing◦ Referencing: voices in academic writing◦ Referencing conventions: Harvard on-line◦ Strategies to avoid plagiarism

◦ NB: workshop 3: “Summarising and Paraphrasing”

PLC Transition Workshop

Susan, why have you and your brother written the same essay about ‘My dog’?

But Miss Jones; it’s the same dog!

Plagiarism?

Your lecturers want you to demonstrate that:

◦ You have understood your task◦ You have read widely◦ You have understood what you have read and how the

research/findings/ideas/opinions of scholars to give authority to your work

Academic writing is about your understanding of and/or position on a particular topic and requires support from reliable sources

Purpose of Academic Writing

‘Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s work, whether intentionally or unintentionally, as your own for your own benefit’ (Carroll, 2002, p.9)

‘someone else’s’…whatever the source

What is plagiarism?

Reduced grades Failure of the assignment Failure to complete the course Expulsion

University plagiarism policywww.adelaide.edu.au/policies/230

Activity: Where do you draw the line??

Penalties

To avoid plagiarism

To add strength and credibility as evidence to support your position

To indicate the scope and depth of your research

To allow others to independently follow up the presented content

What is the purpose of referencing?

The only unlabelled voice is YOURS! Your voice introduces new points, presents arguments, refers to other sources…”the same dog”

There are 3 ways to refer to the voices of others: A direct voice uses the exact words of the source An indirect voice paraphrases the source and

identifies the source as part of the sentence An external voice paraphrases the source and

identifies the source outside of the sentence(Brick, 2006)

Voices in academic writing

Direct voice

Smith (2004, p45) states that critical thinking is “the most important skill that students develop in tertiary study.”

The exact words of the sourceShould be used for emphasis – do not exceed 10%

Voices in academic texts

Indirect voice

Smith (2004) believes that the development of critical thinking skills is of central importance to all university students

Author prominenceMost commonWritten in your style

Voices in academic texts

External voice

Many researchers have concluded that critical thinking skills are extremely important for all university students (Smith 2004; Jones 2005)

Information/research prominenceWritten in your style

Activity: your turn to try!

Voices in academic writing

www.library.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/.../uow025425.pdf

Google: Harvard Referencing System◦ Harvard referencing guide - Library

Harvard on-line

Time Management

Read widely

Note references as you research

Reference and paraphrase

Ways to avoid plagiarism

Academic writing requires you to use authoritative sources. Your role is to use sources to support your ideas - but you must make clear what is your voice and what is the voice of othersDoing this well enhances your writing and helps you to avoid plagiarism

Academic writing

professions.learningcentre@adelaide.edu.au

Analysing questions…Wed 27th March *Paraphrasing…Wed 10th April* Oral Presentations…Wed 1st May Exam revision…Wed 8th May

Thank you