Acknowledging Sources

What is included in the content of this module?

This module explains how and why sources used in the creation of students' work should be acknowledged.

The focus questions are: What is meant by 'acknowledging sources'? Why should sources be acknowledged? When and how should sources be acknowledged within the body

of a work? How should sources be acknowledged at the end of a work? What strategies can students use in preparation for the

acknowledgment of sources in their work?

Acknowledging SourcesWhat is meant by 'acknowledging sources'?

Acknowledging sources means providing written recognition of any ideas that are used or adapted for students' work.

•You need to provide the name of the original author and details of where you found the information.

•You may need to acknowledge sources within the body of a work.

•You should acknowledge sources at the end of your work.

•'Referencing', 'citing' and 'attribution' are terms often used to refer to the acknowledgement of sources.

Activity: Acknowledging Sources

WHY SHOULD YOU ACKNOWLEDGE SCOURCES

You should acknowledge materials you use in the creation of a piece of work to clearly identify information and ideas gained from an 'outside' source.

You should acknowledge sources to: demonstrate you academic integrity support your argument by showing the sources of the information from which you

have formed your own ideas make it easy for readers to find the sources you have used, to check the information

you have used and to use the sources for further information fulfil your moral and legal obligations to recognise and acknowledge the author(s) of

the original ideas avoid plagiarism so that you are not falsely claiming someone else's work or ideas

as your own. Moral Rights The moral rights of an author, artist or creator entitle them: to be named as the author and to have their work treated with respect and not be

misrepresented.

To observe the moral rights of an author you should: •attribute any quote, paraphrase, summary or copy of someone else's work or idea •ensure that works are not falsely attributed to an author •reference appropriately.

When you should sources be acknowledged within the body of a work?

When you quote, paraphrase, summarise or copy information from the sources you are using to research your work, you must always acknowledge the source.

There are two places where you need to acknowledge the source: in the text, and at the end of the text.

The place where you use the information in the text of your work should be shown with an 'in-text citation'. At the end of your work, you should provide a reference list of all the works that you have 'cited' in your work.

Your teachers will expect you to use an in-text citation and provide a full reference list of the sources used whenever you:

quote - ie use someone else's words copy - eg a table, map, image paraphrase - ie put someone else's ideas into your own words summarise - ie create your own short account of someone else's information or

ideas

HOW TO ACKNOWLEDGE SOURCES

You must acknowledge the original author and where you found the material within the resource. This can be done using an in-text citation, a footnote or an endnote. As there are a variety of referencing styles, you should follow your teachers' advice on which to use.

Short quotations If you quote an author directly and the quotation is a short quotation (as

a guide, less than three or four lines), you should place the quotation in quotation marks and identify the source.

Long quotations If you quote an author directly and the quotation is a long quotation (as a

guide, more than three or four lines), you should set the quotation off from your text by indenting and identify the source.

The source can be identified by providing the author's or organisation's name, the year of publication and the page number in brackets.

For example, 'The stable world of the nineteenth century was coming down in chaos: security was gone.' (Bean, 1983, p.22)

How should indirect quotes, paraphrasing or summarising be referenced using in-text citation?

When you are using another person's idea but not quoting directly, you must acknowledge the source. In the Harvard system, the source can be identified by placing the author's or authority's name and the year of publication in brackets before or after referring to it.

For example “it was apparent that only the Allies had been the losers.” (Hueysin Uluarslan, 2008)

Footnotes and endnotes Footnotes and endnotes are also ways of acknowledging the

sources of any material quoted, summarised or paraphrased on any page of a submitted work. Footnotes and endnotes are intended to refer readers to exact pages of the works listed in the reference list.

Insert a number (either in brackets or slightly above the line) in your text at the end of the sentence or immediately following a direct quotation or idea that is being used from a source.

For footnotes, the information about the source of each numbered reference is given at the bottom of each page of your text. With endnotes this information is given in a list at the end of your work.

The Reference List

A reference list includes all the sources of information that have been cited in a piece of work. The reference list is located at the end of the piece of work and is usually listed in alphabetical order of the authors of the different sources used.

Each in-text citation must have a corresponding entry in the reference list which is submitted with the assignment.

A bibliography includes all the sources used in the preparation of a piece of work - not just those that have been cited in the text of the work and included in a reference list. The bibliography is located at the end of the piece of work and is usually listed in alphabetical order of the authors of the different sources used.

Different resources, print and electronic, have different characteristics related to their type, format and the content they contain.

Each type of resource is cited and referenced in a slightly different way.

The Reference ListAs you have already learnt, there is no

universal referencing style and you should ask your teachers which style you should follow.

The four most common referencing styles are:

Harvard (author-date) American Psychological Association (APA) Modern Language Association (MLA) Oxford (documentary-note or footnote

referencing).

How to make an endnote in Microsoft Word

http://youtu.be/W0tpx3_NnnY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xkbLwDh4m4

The following types of source materials should be acknowledged

Advertisements other students’ workPersonal interviews picturesMagazines pamphletsJournals artworksTeachers websitesEmails others’ ideasMaps newspaper articles

The Reference List While you will need to look up the specific requirements of the

style approved by your school, your focus should be on consistency in terms of:

punctuation capitalisation italicisation abbreviation

What strategies can students use in preparation for the acknowledgment of sources in their work? Students can: organise notes and record details of where information was

actually found record details of the resource being used on the pages of your

notes, printouts or photocopies of information learn about correct citation and referencing methods before

you begin your research access the information required for referencing different types

of resources (e.g. books, newspaper articles, films, websites) ask teachers for guidelines about the style, format and

amount of detail required to acknowledge the resources used in an assignment

set up a chart to keep track of the basic bibliographic information (i.e. author, title, date, pages used, publisher, etc) of any resource you use

Consider these situations (Write your answers in your workbook)

You had this fantastic internet source that you used a lot for your research project but you didn't record all the details. You really need to list this source in your reference list.

How can you possibly relocate the source?

You have spent months finding information on your chosen topic for your major work and now you are expected to use quotation marks to indicate if you are quoting directly from another source. This is expecting too much.

You think you will just put quotation marks around what looks like a quotation - after all, who'd know?

Tips and hints

Students can manage their responsibilities in relation to the acknowledgement of sources by:

organising notes and recording details of where information was actually found on the pages of notes, printouts or photocopies of information.

learning about correct citation and referencing methods before beginning research

accessing the information required for referencing different types of resources (e.g. books, newspaper articles, films, websites)

asking teachers for guidelines about the style, format and amount of detail required to acknowledge the resources used in assignments

setting up a chart to keep track of the basic bibliographic information (i.e. author, title, date, pages used, publisher,etc) of any resource used

knowing the difference between a quotation, summary and paraphrase.