General
Learners are required to cite where they have obtained information that is not their own original work. It is standard practice in academic writing to include references or citations in assignments and projects and it is important to acknowledge sources. Someone might think that their assessment will be better if they pass off someone else’s work or ideas as their own. This is plagiarism and is a serious form of academic dishonesty and is a breach of Scoil Mhuire Community School assessment procedures. Plagiarism applies to the use of material or ideas from published or unpublished sources without acknowledging the source. The sources can include books, journals, websites, newspapers and audio-visuals. By stating the sources of information in assessments the following are accomplished:
The easiest way to decide if you have to reference something or not is to ask the question “is this point common knowledge or not?” Common knowledge is generally defined as facts, dates, events and such information that are expected to be known by someone working in a particular field. Such information does not generally have to be referenced. An example of common knowledge would be a statement such as Cork is in Munster. In all situations, if in doubt, reference. Consistency and accuracy is very important in referencing to enable your reader to find what you have referenced. A source needs to be acknowledged every time you use their information. Generally, references are made in the main body of an assessment and the introduction and conclusion are the learners’ own ideas. Referencing is not required in examinations.
There are many different types of referencing systems. Scoil Mhuire Community School recommends the Harvard (or author-date) Referencing System. Brief details are given in the text regarding the source of the information so as not to interrupt the flow of the text and full details of the source of the information are given at the end of a document so that the reader will be able to source the original text or information. These guidelines outline how to reference for the two elements of referencing (1) in- text references and (2) Reference list or bibliographies.
When you quote or make references to someone else’s work, ideas or information in your assessment you should include their surname, the year of publication or production and the page number in brackets at the most appropriate point in the text. For example (Kennedy, 2000: p.69) after a quotation indicates that the work referenced was produced by Kennedy in 2000 and the quotation is from p.69 in that book. If you are making reference to the author's whole work you do not need to reference a page number. For example: This view has been supported by Kennedy (2000) or for more than one source: Recent research (Kennedy, 2000; Jones, 1998; O’Sullivan, 2005) shows that…Where there are two or three authors being referenced you should use the following formats respectively: (Kennedy and Jones, 2000: p.46) and (Kennedy, Jones and O’Sullivan, 2000: p.55)Where there are more than three authors the you can use the name of the first author followed by et al. Et al. is an abbreviation of the Latin et alia meaning “and others”. For example (Kennedy et al., 2000: p.65).Where there is more than one source referenced by the same author in the same year, you should differentiate between them as follows (Kennedy, 2000a) and (Kennedy, 2000b).There are two main types of in text referencing:
Short direct quotations (up to two or three lines) should be enclosed in quotation marks and included in the body of the text. Give the author, date and page number that the quotation was taken from. For example: In the scientific world “elements combine together to form a product” (Kennedy,2000: p.69).Longer quotations (more than three lines) should be entered as a separate paragraph and indented from the main text. For example: Stephens (2001: p.22) describes the process of finding the right market product as: “It is not enough to be better than the competition. You need to get the product straight to the right type of client. You also need to establish yourself as a leader in the particular product. All this will give you the necessary edge. ”This is an important factor to consider in marketing …..If the quotation extends across two pages the abbreviation pp. for page range should be used. For example (Kennedy, 2000, pp. 33-35)
Paraphrasing is expressing someone else’s ideas in your own words. Summarising is providing a brief statement of the main points of a piece of work. These are alternate ways of referring to someone else’s ideas without using direct quotations. The original meaning must not be changed and the source of the information must still be cited and referenced. For example: Jones (2011: pp. 35-36) on the other hand, in a different study examines the historical and cultural links between Canada and Ireland over the last decade.
It can be more difficult to reference information found on websites. Articles from a web-based magazine or journal are referenced in the same way as paper magazine or journal. When referencing a web page every effort should be made to identify the author of the information. Where an author is not specified the organisation responsible can be referenced instead. Reference to the date or ownership of a webpage may be found at the bottom of a web page with copyright details. If it is not possible to identify the author or the organisation responsible for producing the information the quality of the information provided on the website may be questionable. In the example in the screenshot below the information should be referenced as (Stewart, 2016). If the author was not identified the organisation could be referenced as (patient.info, 2016). The full reference details including the URL must be given in the reference list at the end of the assessment.
A Reference List is a list of all the complete reference details for ideas or information referred to in the assessment. A Bibliography is a list of all the documentation and other information you have read in preparation for your assessment but may not necessarily be quoted or referred to in your assessment. The Assessment Brief will specify if a reference list or a bibliography is required as part of your assessment. Both lists appear at the end of your assessment in alphabetical order by the last name of the first author. The reference list or bibliography needs to contain enough information for the reader to be able to find the source again. The format for presenting information in a Reference List or Bibliography is generally: Author/Editor last name, initials. (year) Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher. For example: McDonagh, S. (2001) Why are we Deaf to the Cry of the Earth. Dublin: Veritas. Books and Journal titles are generally in italics and where more than one source is referenced by the same author you should list them in date order with the oldest publication first. Every reference or quotation should correspond to an item on the Reference List. For example:
| Example of in-text referencing | Corresponding Reference List entries |
|---|---|
| “As yet there is no vaccine or medicine available in the UK that prevents these infections so the only protection is to avoid mosquito bites.” (Stewart, 2016)…..The impact of our influence on the environment is continuing to deteriorate. McDonagh outlines how human beings and the natural world are on a collision course (2011).…“An individual microtubule may grow or shrink by a process of polymerisation of α-tubulin and β-tubulin” (McGeady etal., 2006) | McDonagh, S. (2001) Why are we Deaf to the Cry of the Earth? Dublin: Veritas. |
| McGeady, T.A, Quinn, P.J., Fitzpatrick, E.S. and Ryan, M.T. (2006) Veterinary Embryology. Oxford: Blackwell. | |
| Stewart, M (2016) Zika Virus: Should I worry about it? [Online] Available at: http://patient.info/wellbeing/health/zika- virus-should-i-worry-about-it [Accessed 10/8/16] |
The following is a list of some common types of sources with how they are referenced both in text and in the bibliography using the Harvard Referencing System:
Books with one author:
In text citation:
Author’s last name (year) used at the beginning of a citation. For example, According to McDonagh (2001) …
(Author’s last name, year) used at the end of a citation. For Example: As has been argued …. (McDonagh, 2001)
Bibliography:
Author/Editor last name, initials. (year) Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher. For example: McDonagh, S. (2001) Why are we Deaf to the Cry of the Earth. Dublin: Veritas.
Books with two authors:
In text citation:
First author’s last name and second author’s last name (year) used at the beginning of a citation. For example: Shalloway and Trott (2001) suggest that…
(First author’s last name and second author’s last name, year) used at the end ofa citation. For Example: It has been suggested that …. (Shalloway and Trott, 2001)
Bibliography:
First author’s last name, initials and second author’s last name, initials. (year)Title. Place of publication: Publisher.For example: Shalloway, A. and Trott, J. (2001) Design patterns explained: a new perspective on object-oriented design. London: Addison Wesley.
Books with more than three authors:
In text citation:
First author’s last name et al. (year) used at the beginning of a citation. For example: McGeady et al. (2006) suggest …
(First author’s last name et al., year) used at the end of a citation. For Example: It has been suggested …. (McGeady et al., 2006)
Bibliography:
Authors’ last name and initials. (year) Title. Place of publication: Publisher. For example: McGeady, T.A, Quinn, P.J., Fitzpatrick, E.S. and Ryan, M.T. (2006)Veterinary Embryology. Oxford: Blackwell.
Website:
In text citation:
Author’s or organisations name, year. For example: Stewart (2016) suggests… or Patient. Info (2016) outlines how…
Author’s or organisations name, year. For example: It has been suggested that …. (Stewart, 2016) suggests… or It was recently outlined that …. (Patient. Info, 2016) outlines how…
Bibliography:
Stewart, M (2016) Zika Virus: Should I worry about it? [Online] Available at:http://patient.info/wellbeing/health/zika-virus-should-i-worry-about-it[Accessed 10/8/16]
Class Material:
In text citation
Author’s last name (s) (year) used at the beginning of a citation. For example, According to Abraham (2017) …
Bibliography:
Author’s last name(s), Initial(s). (Year) Title of course material, Module code: Module title, Centre, unpublished For example: Abraham, R (2017) Teamworking: Qualities and Characteristics,5N1367: Teamworking, CSN, unpublished
Journal Articles:
In text citation:
Author’s last name (s) (year) used at the beginning of a citation. For example, According to Fauci and Morens (2016) …
(Author’s last name(s), year) used at the end of a citation. For Example: As has been argued …. (Fauci and Morens, 2016)
Bibliography:
Author’s last name, Initials. (Year) Title of article: subtitle of article. Title of journal [in italics], Journal volume [in bold] (Journal issue), Page numbers. For example: Fauci, A.S. & Morens D.M. (2016) Zika Virus in the Americas--Yet Another Arbovirus Threat. New England Journal of Medicine. 374 (7), 621-604.
Newspaper Articles:
In text citation:
Author’s last name (s) (year) used at the beginning of a citation. For example, Conroy surmises …. (2016)
(Author’s last name(s), year) used at the end of a citation. For Example: As has been argued …. (Conroy, 2016)
Bibliography:
Author’s last name, Initials. (Year) Title of article: subtitle of article. Title of journal [in italics], Journal volume [in bold] (Journal issue), Page numbers. For example: Conroy, C. (2016) Gloria Steinem: ‘You can’t control the flesh of a person. That’s called slavery’. The Irish Times, 6th August, 15-16
Note down the full bibliographic details including the page number(s) from which the information is taken. In the case of a book, ‘bibliographical details’ refers to: author/editor, year of publication, title, edition, volume number, place of publication and publisher as found on the front and back of the title page. (Not all of these details will necessarily be applicable).In the case of a journal article, the details required include: author of the article, year of publication, title of the article, title of the journal, volume and issue number of the journal, and page numbers. For all electronic information, in addition to the above you should note the date that you accessed the information, and database name or web address (URL).Endnote Online is a limited online version of EndNote and is perfect for anyone new to research, writing and referencing. https://www.myendnoteweb.com/EndNoteWeb.html?returnCode=ROUTER.Unauthori zed&SrcApp=CR&Init=YesZOTERO is available free to download from www.zotero.org.http://referencingguidelines.com/index.phphttp://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/files/Harvard_referencing_2015.pdf