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The Essay Guide:

Contents

Understanding the Essay Brief ................................................................................................... 3

Planning Research ...................................................................................................................... 6

Effective Reading ....................................................................................................................... 8

Finding your Argument ............................................................................................................ 14

Structuring your Material ........................................................................................................ 17

Using Sources (and citing them correctly) ............................................................................... 21

Adopting a Critical Perspective ................................................................................................ 24

Developing Points/Depth of Analysis ...................................................................................... 26

The Introduction and Conclusion ............................................................................................. 30

Referencing, Citation and Bibliographies ................................................................................ 32

Referencing - Section 1 The Basics .......................................................................................... 33

Referencing – Section 2 Citation and Referencing – common examples ............................... 38

Referencing – Section 3 More examples of citation and referencing .................................... 47

Referencing – Section 4 Citing and referencing Images ....................................................... 62

Revising and Redrafting ........................................................................................................... 74

Layout for essays and dissertations ......................................................................................... 77

Introduction

This guide presents information about the skills and processes required for essay and

dissertation writing. The advice is intended to be helpful to students on a wide range of

courses at the University of Exeter Cornwall Campus and University College Falmouth.

How to use the Essay Guide

The original Essay Guide has been revised for 2012 and is available in pdf format via the ASK

pages of the Learning Space.

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You do not need to start reading this guide from the beginning, and progress through until

the end. The table of contents is designed to lead you directly to the section of the guide

that you need. Throughout the guide, examples are shown with a shaded background.

The examples are taken from different disciplines and in general the advice is meant to be

useful for students’ writing in different subject areas.

The example sentences / paragraphs are meant to illustrate points about the structure of

writing – building arguments, clear writing, grammar. They are not necessarily valid,

profound, or even true.

We would be very happy to hear any feedback from you. This is the 3rd edition of The Essay

Guide and your comments will be read carefully when making revisions for future editions.

Please let us hear responses, good or bad, by emailing ask@falmouth.ac.uk

ASK: Academic Skills

See the ASK pages on the Learning Space for details of staff, roles, office hours and the

service we provide. We also now have an online booking facility.

http://learningspace.falmouth.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1612

ASK operates throughout the year at both Tremough and Woodlane campuses (although

there may be a reduced service during vacations, particularly at Woodlane).

IT Servicedesk

If you are experiencing problems with a computer on site, the best point of contact is

servicedesk@falmouth.ac.uk . They will reply promptly. See the IT pages on the Learning

Space for details of IT training.

http://learningspace.falmouth.ac.uk/course/category.php?id=164

Library User Support

Please see the Library pages:

http://learningspace.falmouth.ac.uk/course/category.php?id=51

Don’t forget that the Academic Liaison Librarians will be able to give you specific advice on

how to research your particular subject. You can go to the front desk and explain that you

would like to make an appointment to see someone for advice about research. Or you can

look up your subject on the Library’s Study Support pages to find out who your Academic

Liaison Librarian is and how to contact him/her.

http://library.falmouth.ac.uk/7/study-support/section.asp

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Planning

Understanding the Essay Brief

You can save yourself a lot of effort if you spend some time reading and analysing the brief,

rather than grasping the general subject area and then heading off to the library to begin

your research. If you do begin with unfocussed reading and note-taking, the risk is that you

will write down information without having a clear idea of what to look for, and will end up

with pages of unusable and irrelevant notes which make the essay even harder to write.

If you are in any doubt over a brief or question, you could ask

Your tutor (this is the best person to ask)

See an ASK writing advisor

They will not tell you how to answer the question, but will try to help you recognise what it

is asking for.

What the assignment is asking for

This section gives general advice on how to read and interpret the brief, but if you really are

unsure what it is asking for, the best person to ask is your tutor.

Assignments are sometimes presented as questions, other times as more detailed and

extensive briefs (depending on the subject). Below are some examples of different briefs.

Example essay questions:

Does haute couture still have a place in the contemporary fashion industry?

Madness! Hysteria! Murder! Pathos! What part do sensationalism and melodrama

play in the Victorian novel?

An essay brief:

You are asked to write an essay of 1,500 words on an idea/issue/line of enquiry

emerging from your attendance at the Spring Term Lecture Series.

Your essay should do more than describing the work you are writing about. You

should explore why you think things happened. Refer to the Learning Objectives

above, the first three of which show, in general terms, what you should be aiming

for.

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Try to formulate a structured plan to develop your ideas and argument. This will help

you develop your synopsis.

Please include references (Harvard system) for selected reading, and, where

relevant, quotations. You may include illustrations, but only if they are discussed in

the text. If you do so you should also include a list of illustrations before your

bibliography. Ensure that all quotations and illustrations are analysed and form a

coherent part of your argument.

The first thing to do with the question or brief is to read it carefully, then read it again. 2-3

page briefs may seem daunting but the only reason that they are written is to give you a

clear idea of what is required. It can help to also look back at lecture notes to remind

yourself of key course content, topics and ideas. Important instructions are often given by

verbs: ‘Demonstrate an awareness of…’ ‘Frame your discussion…’ Consider the inter-

relationship of…’ If you don’t read (and keep re-reading) the brief while working on the

essay, the risk is that your work will not address the tasks laid out in the brief and you will

lose marks.

Be aware of the different tasks that the question or instructions imply. These verbs are

commonly used but all have slightly different meanings

analyse, assess, compare, consider, contrast, define, demonstrate, describe, discuss,

evaluate, examine, explain, frame, justify, review, state, summarise

Terms used in the brief

You must identify any key concepts which the question is asking you to consider. In the

question about haute couture (given as an example on the previous page), you may have to

consider how haute couture can be defined. In the second example the terms

‘sensationalism’ and ‘melodrama’ may require close examination (not to mention

‘madness’, ‘hysteria’ etc.). The words often used in briefs that cause the most problems for

students are:

Learning objectives and outcomes

A learning objective usually refers to the development of a particular academic skill.

For example: ‘Develop an understanding of how fundamental economic and social

issues affect design’. A learning outcome is a more concrete task that you are

expected to perform in producing the essay: ‘To draw on relevant theoretical

frameworks’ or ‘Develop independent self-management skills and meet deadlines’.

The distinction is a subtle one, but the best way to think of it is that an outcome is a

task you need to perform; an objective is a skill you need to develop.

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Critical approach/understanding/perspective

These phrases are often used in briefs and by tutors to describe a particular

academic skill. The skill is to be able to compare different positions on a particular

subject. It means not judging a statement on its own terms but looking at different

critics’ and theorists’ interpretations of a phenomenon or piece of work; in the same

way, you should not present quotations as sacred statements but as specific

perspectives on a particular subject. To have a critical perspective requires range

and depth of reading.

Creating a proposal for a dissertation or research essay

Some subjects ask for a proposal or synopsis for the long essay / dissertation (and also for

some of the longer research essays); it is also set on some postgraduate courses. Different

tutors will specify how they want this to be presented (with or without bullet points for

example or sometimes you will be provided with a framework or form to fill in), but the

three qualities any proposal should possess are focus, succinctness and detail. It is unlikely

your synopsis will be accepted if it rambles and fails to offer a series of detailed points that

you can expand on in your essay / dissertation.

You are generally expected to explain your overall research objective: what it is you want to

find out. Also, it is normal to propose a number of more detailed research questions (also

called ‘guiding questions’). Your tutor will also expect to see a bibliography of sources that

will help you answer these questions (sometimes called an annotated bibliography). So:

general aim of the dissertation

specific aims of the dissertation

sources to support those aims

The proposal (or synopsis) is not, however, a binding contract of what your dissertation

must be. There is plenty of latitude to change, add to or omit points from the proposal; but

again, you should be in close contact with your tutor about significant changes that you are

making from your proposal.

Section Summary

- Pay great attention to the requirements of the essay assignment.

- The key to the task often lies in the question word that is used.

- You are expected to adopt a ‘critical perspective’ towards your subject.

Researching

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Planning Research

Planning for research is required whether you are doing short projects or major pieces of

research such as final year dissertations. You will need to examine the nature of the project

you have been set and see what is required. You will need to ask yourself various questions

eg: How much depth do I need to go into a subject? What form is the information needed

in? Do I need visuals? The requirements for a group presentation will be different to those

for a short essay. Dissertations are more individualised pieces of work where you effectively

set your own subject. Because of this there is a separate section below.

Planning Dissertation Research

It is crucial to find the right subject for final year dissertations/long essays. The dissertation

gives you the scope to select a subject area that interests you to explore further (obviously

with advice from your tutors), as opposed to you being set a question or brief that you then

respond to. It can take quite a while to decide on your subject, and you will have to explore

various lines of enquiry before you make your decision. You have to allow for the fact that

you might change direction. You also have to decide on what you don’t want to do, what

methodology or style you are going to use, and on what your essential argument is [see 3.3].

To research and complete a successful dissertation the subject area selected needs to be a

feasible one with enough information available to base your research around, and with

clearly defined parameters. You really want to pick a subject you are genuinely interested in

and that you feel comfortable with. The research and the writing will then be a more

satisfying and (hopefully!) enjoyable experience. It may also inform your practice or

understanding of your subject area.

Because this can take some time, it is strongly recommended that you start to think about

this at the end of your second year and over the summer vacation. At the very least you

should have a clear summary or synopsis of what you are going to do by the time the new

term starts. You should be able to identify the types of research you need to undertake. If

you are going to do primary research such as interviewing people, making direct

observations, surveys, or visits then you need to plan for this as well.

The library will usually be your starting point in terms of research, and the library does

remain open over the summer period. If you plan to go away over the summer then it is a

good idea to get together some material (books and articles) to take away with you,

particularly if you won’t have access to a specialist library. You can access our library

catalogue and our specialist subject databases remotely if you have internet access. If you’re

going away to somewhere with a College or University then there is a scheme called UK

Libraries Plus that enables you to have official reference access to another academic library;

you can ask at the front desk for more information on this.

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Good research involves using a range of sources and critically evaluating them. The clearer

you are about your ideas before you start researching the better. Especially when using

online sources there can be a danger that you overload yourself with information (this

happens a lot when using general internet search engines such as Google). Too much

information can be as problematic as too little! If you require visual information rather than

textual, do ask library staff for help, as this could be in a variety of places.

Before you start researching in the library catalogue or academic databases, you will need to

have a range of words describing your subject – just as if you were looking for something on

Google. If you are looking at the work or writings of individual people, then their names are

obvious starting points. If your subject is more thematic then you will need to combine the

right sort of words to enable you to search effectively and you will also need to think of

alternative approaches and terminologies. The better the combinations of words you use

the more refined will be the results. For example, sustainability + architecture is better than

either of those words on their own. Similarly, media + ownership would be more useful than

just media. You can break down your research into parts which relate to the various

sections of your essay. This can be better than trying to research everything at once, which

can often lead to a problem with managing all the information.

Stage 1 Research

When you have identified some search terms you can then start library research. Our main

catalogue will find books, videos, radio and past student dissertations. If you don’t find

material on the catalogue don’t give up! It could be you are using the wrong search terms,

or that there are alternative ways of researching.

Do use the library enquiry service; our specialist reference section is a good place to find

definitions of terms and to check facts. If you need more detailed information, or if you

were unsuccessful in finding anything on the library catalogue ( if your subject is very recent

for example), you will need to go on to Stage 2 research.

Stage 2 Research

This research involves looking at specialist databases which provide you with references to

journal articles. Journals are an excellent source of information on contemporary debate

and on specialist subjects. Increasingly full-text articles are provided. The databases you use

will depend on your subject. There are lists and descriptions of available databases on the

library web page under electronic resources. These will guide you to academic journal and

magazine/newspaper material, which is where contemporary critical debate takes place

(although you can use them for historical purposes as well). You will also probably use

general internet search engines such as Google. However, although you can find some

excellent websites via this sort of search, you may find some of the information on the

internet unreliable or partisan. It can also be quite time-consuming to trawl through the

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results. If you are doing dissertation research and have a problem finding resources, or you

find references to things we haven’t got, then the library can obtain material for you from

the British Library (books and journal articles). We can also help identify specialist resources

elsewhere for you.

Stage 3 Research

This could involve going beyond our resources (as mentioned above) and using other

libraries, or it could mean more primary type research such as contacting and interviewing

people or organisations, doing surveys, making visits and direct observations etc. The library

is happy to help with this sort of research as well.

Organisation and Time Management

The most successful students are those who can manage their time and resources so that

they give themselves the best chance of doing a good job. But for many students, being

organised presents all kinds of problems. For some ideas about developing and improving

your time management skills see the ASK Learning Space pages:

http://learningspace.falmouth.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=1588

Effective Reading

While at university you will be expected to undertake the reading of academic texts.

However, you will not be expected to read all books from start to finish, so to make use of

your time more efficiently, you will need to be selective about your reading.

Reading for Purpose

Firstly, you will need to identify your purpose for reading. Preparation will help you to focus

and concentrate!

Are you reading to:

- Find if the source is useful?

- Look for a specific piece of information (names/dates/places?)

- Look for particular viewpoints from an author?

- Look for background information?

- Find out how to do something?

Once you have identified your purpose, then you will need to determine which reading

technique to use.

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Skimming

In order to decide which sources are going to be most useful, it is important to get the ‘gist’

of the it, without having to read the whole thing from beginning to end. Skimming through a

book allows you to gain a general sense of the text. Look at the index, contents page,

headings of chapters and sub-headings to give you an idea if the information you are looking

for could be contained within the text. Reading the first and last paragraphs and looking at

any diagrams or pictures will offer more clues. This should give you an idea which

chapters/sections to read and which are not so appropriate.

Scanning

This technique can be used to look for specific information, such as names, dates or to

answer a question. Whereas skimming can give you the general drift of the text, scanning is

useful to locate certain phrases or topics to see if that particular area addresses your

requirements.

Rapid Reading

Rapid Reading is a technique which can be used to confirm knowledge. It is similar to skim

reading as you can progress quickly, but usually because the material is more familiar. You

will not have to read every single word or paragraph as you half read and half fill in using

your memory to fill the gaps.

In Depth Reading

Once you have located an article or a section within a book, you may then decide to read

the chapter/section in full. You may need to work your way carefully through the author’s to

gain a full understanding. This process may take time and if the text is very detailed, then it

may need to be re-read for clarity.

Critical Reading

Critical reading requires gaining a complete understanding of a text (like in-depth reading)

but it means weighing up the arguments and evidence both for and against. Critical reading

takes time and involves identifying and evaluating the ideas put forward by the author and

considering how these ideas fit with other authors in the same field.

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A brief overview of Reading Techniques and their uses

What do you need to do?

Reading Technique What’s involved?

Gain a general overview of the

text Skimming

Use to find main ideas and

sequences and relationships

between chapters/sections

Locate specific information Scanning

Search through the text for

specifics details such as key

words, phrases, names, dates.

Recall information Rapid Reading

Useful for revision – confirming

knowledge

Increase knowledge and

understanding In-Depth

High level of concentration

required, slow, steady and

repetitive reading

Evaluate ideas Critical

Question and analyse author’s

perspective

Your reading style will vary depending on the material you have to read. These techniques

can be useful to quickly switch to and from and to enable you to search for the specific

information. The decision can then be made whether you will need to read the text in full.

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SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recall, Review)

SQ3R is a useful technique for extracting key information from a text. It provides a process

to guide you to the key areas and helps to keep the reading exercise an active, rather than a

passive experience. In particular, asking questions of the text provides you the reader, with

a purpose and helps you to check your understanding.

Reading speed

The speed in which you read can very much depend on the text that you are reading. It will

naturally vary but it is worth cultivating different reading techniques, rather like having a set

of gears to control your speed. Rather than getting stuck in low gear, grinding slowly

through a text, practice reading a bit faster than usual. This will help to train your brain – a

bit like undertaking an exercise programme to get fit.

Survey

• Skim and scan through the text to make sure it is relevant.

• Read the introduction and conclusion

Question

• What do you already know and what do you want to know?

• Who? What? Why? Where? When? How? This helps develop a purpose for reading, in turn enabling you to get more from the text

Read

• Don't expect to understand everything at the first time of reading

• choose a managble chunk to read and look for the main ideas

• Keep your questions in mind!

Recall

• Do you understand what you have read?

• Can you recall the key points without re-reading the text?

• Jot down the answers to your questions

Review

• Look over your answers - did you answer your questions?

• Do you need to re-read the section again?

• This stage should enable you to see how much inormation you have taken in.

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Reading academic texts will offer new challenges. The style of writing is not necessarily

straight to the point and will raise questions, tease out ideas and present you with new

vocabulary. New vocabulary can slow you down which might mean losing the thread of the

text. Making your own vocabulary book (using a small address book will do the trick) and

add in new words as you go along with a definition of each. This will be a useful resource

you can build up over the time of your course.

If you do read a text which is too complicated, then try reading a simplified version before

you proceed or look up the meanings of the words which might be troubling you. Be

prepared to re-read some sections if you do not get the ‘gist’ the first time round.

Something is easy

Something is already known

Something is less relevant

Something is new

Something is complex

Something is important

Your brain reads faster when:

Your brain reads slower when:

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The best way to improve your reading speed is to read more often. Practice makes perfect!

Active Reading

When you are reading a document in detail which requires a high level of concentration, it

can help to highlight, annotate and underline sections (if it is a photocopy or print out).

Reading passively without questioning or marking the text, can be a time wasting activity.

Making your reading more active can help you to interact with the text, emphasise

information and review important points later.

Active Reading Strategies

Colour coding

Using colours for highlighting text can help you to return to important information and using

colours can emphasise the specific information without having to re-read chunks of text. .

For example – argument in blue, evidence in green, author’s position in pink.

Reading alongside note making

Note making is an important aspect of study and is very closely linked to reading. Whether

you read and take notes alongside as you go or read and write later, will depend on what

works for you.

See the note making section of the Essay Guide.

Have a purpose - what do you already

know? Formulate questions

Improve understanding by

reading more general texts/websites. Look

up new/difficult words

When reading - adopt appropriate levels of reading - skim the text for relevant areas to

read first

Read & then map new information with old to help

make connections. How does this relate to what you already

know?

Make useful notes of the important bits that relate to your

questions/essay brief

Review the reading session - did you

acheive your purpose? If not,

what can you change for next time?

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Reading Comprehension

It is quite easy to read a text and then think to yourself ‘what did I just read?’ You may have

felt like you were reading, but you have to be aware of whether you are actually taking in

that information.

Monitoring comprehension

Monitor your comprehension by stopping from time to time to ask yourself what you have

just learnt. Could you write down in your own words what you have just read? If you can,

then your understanding of the text is very high. If you feel you can’t, then re-read the

passage to improve your understanding of the text. Don’t be tempted to copy down big

chunks of the text (unless you will be using it as a quote) as this will not aid your

understanding! Write as much of it as you can in your own words.

Reading length

If you are reading texts which require great amount of concentration then you may find it

more productive to read it in chunks and in smaller bursts. Reading solidly for 20 minutes at

a time can be more productive and lead to a better understanding rather than feeling the

need to read for a lengthier time. This will allow you to stop and reflect on what you have

read and give you the opportunity to write notes if need be. Everyone has their own reading

habits, so see what works best for you.

Finding your Argument

To write a good essay or dissertation, you must have a clear idea of what you want to

achieve. ‘To look at how X influenced Y’ isn’t clear enough, likewise ‘To investigate

Riefenstahl’s stylistic representations of power.’ These only describe a subject area and are

not solid enough foundations for a purposeful essay. Other examples of weak essay

outlines could be:

What the real reasons for X were.

A look at the rivalry between Y and Z.

Some differences between the work of A and B.

What does central argument mean?

A central argument is the backbone of your essay, what you want to persuade your reader is

true. It gives your writing a sense of purpose. It does not have to be ‘argumentative’ (see

below), but it is normally reducible to a single statement (not a question). If you can’t

express it in a single statement, then you may not have a clear enough idea of where your

essay is going. It represents the difference between descriptive and analytical writing.

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Reducing your central argument to a single statement is 1 method of cracking the essay; it

may be frustratingly difficult, but it is an invaluable way to check if you are ready to begin.

Here are some examples of what a statement of the central argument might look like:

X’s photographs of disabled and insane subjects can be seen as self-portraits.

The most important differences between the Art Deco and Bauhaus styles are X, Y and Z.

The 19th

Century Gothic novel allowed women new literary freedoms, in particular X and Y.

X is caused by Y.

This artist’s work successfully overcomes the limitations of Z.

The reason rocks A and B are found in formation X is Z.

Fukuyama’s notion of ‘the end of history’ is flawed because it fails to consider X and Y.

The notion of matrixial space raises questions A and B.

Notice that all of these statements explicitly answer questions about the true nature of the

subject they address: What are X’s photographs about? What were the most important

differences between Bauhaus and Art Deco? In what way did the Gothic novel impact on

gender roles? What explanation is there for X? and so on. A central argument should say

something important about the topic, and say it clearly. Please note, however, that a

central argument can raise questions at the same time as being explicit and clear – as is the

case with the last example.

Testing relevance

The examples above each represent a particular argument, or position on the subject

material. For this reason, they allow you to judge the relevance of everything in your

essay: ‘Does this material support my central argument?’ should be the question

that you keep asking yourself. If it doesn’t then you must either find a way of

making it relevant (and explicitly showing the reader that it is), or leaving it out. In

this way, your central argument is the organising principle of your essay or

dissertation. You might want to write down your central argument and stick it above

your desk to refer to.

Avoiding questions that are too broad

If you are writing about ‘the way architecture reflects political ideology,’ and you

want your first chapter to provide historical background to your essay, you will be

faced with an unmanageably vast amount of possible material. This is because you

do not have a central argument, only a description of the subject area. But, if you

can formulate a central argument on the subject, such as ‘Religious and secular

architecture represent ideology in radically different ways’ or ‘Democracies are

happy to borrow from the architecture of dictatorships’, then you immediately have

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an organising principle which will allow you to choose the material for your historical

chapter in a much more directed way.

Finding the Central Argument

Even though it should be possible to express the central argument in a single sentence, it is

extremely difficult to find the right argument for your essay or dissertation. The process

usually involves pacing around a room, coffee-drinking, etc. It may help if you can find a

patient listener and talk through the thoughts you have on a subject and how you want to

link them. Questions you might ask yourself to help arrive at a possible thesis statement

could be:

What areas have I been researching and what is the connection between them?

What subjects have been the most interesting to read about?

With what subject material do I feel confident (or uncertain)?

What is at the heart of this subject area?

Why does it matter?

Equally, you have to be careful when committing to a central argument, and make sure that

it is not fatally restrictive. In other words, you need to make sure that your essay (and

especially a dissertation) is ‘do-able’. Some points to consider might be:

Does this central argument allow me to cover the subject areas I am most interested in?

Am I able to satisfy the requirements of the assignment brief by pursuing this argument?

Is this really a good way of explaining the subject material?

Can I cover this amount of material in sufficient depth or should I narrow my focus?

The moment when you realise what it is your essay is about could come anytime and

anywhere – make sure you write it down! Few feelings are more frustrating than knowing

that you had a good idea. At the same time, having that breakthrough is very exciting:

Archimedes, according to the story, jumped out of the bath and ran down the street

shouting ‘I’ve got it!’.

However, this is only the starting point for writing your essay. A day or two before the

deadline is too late to be having your eureka moment. You will have to try to find a central

argument relatively early to leave time for writing a good essay; this is even more true of

the dissertation.

Finally, a qualification: some essays may not seem to need a central argument. If the

question asks you to ‘compare and contrast’, the body of your essay may just break down

into 3 sections, each one comparing or contrasting in a different way. In this case it is easy

to think that you don’t have a central argument, but it is still there: ‘3 ways these works can

be compared or contrasted are A, B and C.’

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Section Summary

Come up with a central argument which is clear and directed.

Make sure that it allows you to fulfil the requirements of the question / brief.

Use it as your organising principle and means for testing relevance.

Structuring your Material

Weak essays are a series of loosely connected observations and insights on a particular (not

very well-defined) subject. This is usually due to the lack of a clear structure imposed on the

essay by you; as a result, your reader will find it hard to follow. It would be a good idea to

read about argument before reading this section.

Many guides have tried to teach good essay structure through systems and diagrams; none

that I have read really manages to embrace the endless possibilities of essay writing. This

section tries to identify some of the elements that may belong to a well-structured essay.

Compare and Contrast

Here is a part of a question from a Design course:

Compare and contrast two developing cities…consider the impact of sustainability, climate change, regeneration and new technologies on their development. I have over-simplified the question for the purposes of demonstration. One way to

structure the essay could be:*

Structure 1:

Intro

City 1

sustainability, climate change, regeneration, new technologies

City 2

sustainability, climate change, regeneration, new technologies

Comparative Assessment

Conclusion

And here is another:

Structure 2:

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Intro

Sustainability

- compare and contrast

Climate change

- compare and contrast

Regeneration

- compare and contrast

New Technologies

-compare and contrast

Conclusion

-

Both of these structures look fine, but by looking at the two cities separately, you would

probably find yourself repeating material; in the second, by looking at aspects of the

development side by side, you are in a better position to focus on the important similarities

and differences. In all subject areas, you should try to build your essay around a structure

that allows you to answer the question rather than just describe the topic.

Descriptive vs Thematic Structure

Here is another example of a compare and contrast and a possible (not very good) plan:

Structure 1: Compare and contrast the treatment of gender in 3 of the novels from this unit.

Intro

Frankenstein – Gender

The Monk – Gender

Jane Eyre – Gender

Conclusion

Although it may seem natural and organised to deal with each work separately, this doesn’t

allow for comparison between the novels. The above plan contains no ideas on the subject;

it simply breaks down the question in terms of the works it will refer to. It is generally true

that essays which are structured according to the subject material tend to be more

descriptive than analytical – not good.

The plan below is much more appropriate; it contains ideas on the subject, which are built

into the structure. By structuring the essay around specific issues, each of which seems to

support the conclusion, the essay is likely to be analytical rather than descriptive. You could

call this a thematic approach.

Structure 2 : compare and contrast using a thematic approach

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Intro

Theme 1 - Relationships between male and female characters

- Family and marriage relationships in Jane Eyre and Frankenstein

- Jane and Rochester

Theme 2 - Different presentations of gender in ‘high’ and ‘low’ Gothic novels

- A distinction can be made between types of gothic novels

- Jane Eyre not driven as much by Gothic genre

- Role of women as sexualised victims in Frankenstein and The Monk

Theme 3 - Jane Eyre as new type of female character

- Female character at centre of plot and controlling rather than reacting to events

- She becomes stronger and Rochester is physically reduced

Conclusion

Discuss / Analyse / Evaluate / Define

These instructions all require slightly different approaches, but I think that they can be

grouped together as ‘discursive’ questions with a more open scope than ‘compare and

contrast’. Here are some different ways of approaching discursive essays in arts and

humanities subjects. The best structure, however, will be the one that best supports your

central argument.

Note that with this structure, it should be clear what does not belong in the essay; for

example, a general history of the Bauhaus movement.

Question: Discuss the extent of women’s participation in the Bauhaus movement.

Answer / Central Argument (not the only possible answer of course!):

There were several women who made important contributions to the Bauhaus movement,

but their involvement has been largely ignored by historians of the period.

Part 1: Description of the contributions of particular women;

Part 2: Analysis of the importance of those contributions;

Part 3: Examination of the way these contributions were ignored by historians.

In the essay below, the structure follows the question but is held together by the central

argument. If you tackle each task that the brief asks for separately, without a central

argument, the essay will be structured but that structure will not be a coherent one – the

different sections will not connect with each other.

Question: Take any past or present advertisement, series of ads, or campaign and analyse

it from the following perspectives: visual analysis; the inter and intra relationships of the

ad(s). Frame your discussion with one or more relevant theoretical considerations.

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Central Argument (focussing on communist logos in Chile in the early 1970s): Abstract

symbols can resonate with political meaning in revolutionary times.

Part 1: Context of the campaign (historical, where and how the logos were presented);

Part 2: Visual analysis of the ads, including inter and intra relationships of different

propaganda art of the time (emphasising the formal simplicity of the images);

Part 3: Theoretical considerations: history shapes culture; meaning constructed between

work and audience.

Dissertations and research essays – choosing your own question

Often the brief defines the subject area of an essay but does not actually ask a specific

question; you are directed to perform a number of tasks in writing about the particular

subject and to formulate the essay question yourself. In this case, you should concentrate

on finding your central argument first (the answer), and then phrasing the question to which

your essay is the answer. There is nothing wrong with making alterations (so long as you

are free to do so) to better fit the essay you have written – even shortly before the deadline.

Key elements of a well-structured essay/dissertation

It has a central argument. [see section 3.3]

The argument is broken down into different sections, each one of which supports it in a

different way (these can be mini-arguments of their own).

The new sections are clearly announced with a topic sentence (see below).

All evidence and analysis should clearly support the section of the essay it belongs to; the

relevance of each section to the central argument should be explicitly shown.

Important terms and concepts are defined.

The introduction and conclusion perform appropriate introductory and concluding functions

Topic Sentences

Topic sentences are like signposts: clear emphatic statements which identify the topic or

theme which will be expanded on in the following section. You do not need to begin every

paragraph with a topic sentence; to do so would give your writing a ponderous and

mechanical feel. Having said that, there will be moments in your essay when you want to

clearly signal to your reader a new topic or a change of direction.

Examples of topic sentences:

• The project also has an ethical dimension.

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• Given the collapse of left and right wing politics in Britain mentioned above, individual

political identity is increasingly being expressed through patterns of consumption.

• The artistic development of Grayson Perry can be broken down into three distinct stages.

These topic sentences contain no brilliant analysis, nor spectacular insights. Their purpose is

to clarify the direction of your essay to your reader (and also to you).

Section Summary

- Thematic structures are better than structures built around the subject material.

- Structure and the central argument are inseparable.

- Essay structure belongs to your answer, not the question.

- Topic sentences remind you and the reader where you are going.

Using Sources (and citing them correctly)

For more information see the ASK Referencing Guides on the Learning Space or the

Referencing Guides in this handbook

You are expected to refer to the work of other writers, theorists, artists, critics in your

academic essays.

Quotation counts towards the word limit of your essay / dissertation. This may make

extensive quotation attractive as a way of approaching the required word count but,

obviously, this approach will not be well received by your tutor. Rather, if you imagine your

own essay from your tutor’s perspective, you can see that he or she will expect you to quote

economically, and to get good value out of the words you use. For this reason, it is better to

be quotation-light than quotation-heavy (but with plenty of source citation – see below).

Having said that, the weight of academic tradition (and the requirements of the assignment

brief) make it hard to imagine an academic essay without direct quotation (strictly speaking,

the noun is ‘quotation’ not ‘quote’). The use of quotation should always be judged against

relevance: Does this quotation really support my point? Can I just cite the argument / idea

rather than using quotation? Are the words themselves particularly important or

illuminating?

Citation without Quotation

Citation is where you refer the reader to the particular work (book, film, article, webpage,

etc) where an idea in your essay comes from. This may be accompanied by a quotation, but

if you want to give examples of critics / theorists who represent a certain position or have

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used a particular argument which you can put into your own words, then it is enough to cite

their work. This is especially true if that writer’s position is very well known. If you are

referring to a specific part of a work, then it is best to include a page number, even though it

is not a quotation.

*

Some educationalists have argued that the rise of a therapeutic ethos in schools and

colleges has led to a culture of dependency among students (Furedi 2004, Ecclestone 2004).

[2 books are cited here.]

An important distinction is that made by Raymond Williams between residual and emergent

culture (Durham and Kellner 2001). [Here, the writer referred to has been cited via an

anthology – Durham and Kellner are the editors.]

Linguists have demonstrated the range of words for women in Mandarin Chinese which

have no equivalent words for describing men (Burridge & Chin 1999: 124-5).

Short Quotation (phrase or sentence)

It is a common mistake to quote an entire paragraph when the key point you want to

illustrate is in only a very short part of that paragraph. In this case, it is best to quote only

the operative part, and embed it into a sentence of your own.

One formulation of postmodernity is that it is not so much a body of ideas as a period when

former beliefs are rejected and abandoned, “an inverted millenarianism” (Jameson 1991).

Humanist intellectuals have traditionally tried to qualify the achievements of science;

Borges, for example, wrote that “scientific knowledge is a finite sphere within an infinite

space” (1999).

Clearly, you could have paraphrased either of these quotations (put into your own words),

but in both of these cases, the original phrase or sentence is particularly resonant and

succinct. In effect, you are signalling your appreciation of the original expression of the

idea.

Longer Quotation (Block Quotation)

There will be times when you need to quote at greater length. This may be because

You want to analyse an argument put forward by a writer;

The writer makes several points on a particular subject, all of which you want to address;

The quotation represents an original piece of analysis which is of central importance to your

essay / dissertation;

The material quoted is particularly complicated, and you feel that by quoting it at length it

will clarify your own writing (for yourself and for your reader).

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One implication of this is that your quotation should have a high ‘density’ of usefulness.

Remember that you can use the ellipsis in square brackets *…+ to cut out unnecessary parts

of the quotation.

Floating Quotation

If you find that in parts of your essay there is more quotation than your own writing, this will

be a problem. If you don’t accompany long quotations with your own analysis, there is the

risk that the most important points in your essay are being made by other people, not by

you. This is NOT an invitation to plagiarise (pass off others’ work as your own). If you put

someone else’s ideas into your own words and don’t give the source through citation, you

are guilty of plagiarism.

The problem of detached or “floating quotation” can apply to any quotation, but happens

most frequently with block quotation. When there is no explicit connection between the

quotation and your essay, the quotation is ‘floating’ in space. It is not your tutor’s job to

interpret the significance of a quotation.

In this example,

Some of Goldsworthy’s ideas on form are relevant to my own work: “I think my idea of

simplicity is related closer to Brancusi: that kind of sensual simplicity that’s very difficult to

achieve” (Goldsworthy 2003: 84). Other artists who have been influential on me are…

The author of the essay has failed to explain how Goldsworthy’s ideas are relevant to

his/her own work. A full explanation would develop this idea of simplicity and how the

author understands it, and also explain how she/he has tried to incorporate it into her/his

own work.

Section Summary

Don’t quote for the sake of it (use citation where appropriate).

Use short quotation where possible.

The great advances in biology of the twentieth century *…+ derive from the realisation that at the heart of life as we know it lies a system of information coding and chemical processing mediated by an alphabet of nucleotides joined into strings of DNA and RNA. We may never unravel the exact origins of life, but we do know that once metabolism becomes entwined with replication, natural selection, as the Darwins [sic] showed us, will do the rest. (Dyson 2003: 2).

Dyson makes two points here which are very important to my own practice. First of all, he points out that all biological life can be represented in the form of code; secondly, he distinguishes between replication and reproduction…

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Longer quotation should be supported with extensive comment from you.

Quotation should illustrate your point; it cannot make points for you.

Adopting a Critical Perspective

Your Opinion

Some students feel confused about whether or not they are supposed to put their own

ideas and opinions into an academic piece of writing. The key distinction is between an

unsubstantiated (not supported by evidence) opinion and a position supported by argument

and analysis. Register (or academic ‘tone’) is also important. In other words you are

expected to present your own argument, but this is an altogether different thing from the

sort of value-judgements and the pre-received, unreflected opinions that make up a large

part of our everyday conversation: ‘A vegetarian diet is terribly bad for you.’ ‘The Brazilian

team of 1970 were the architects of the modern game.’

Compare this weakly written example

This advertising campaign is a complete failure because it is too boring to appeal to young

people, who are the target market. I think that it was a terrible idea to hire agency X for this

campaign.

with this much better, substantiated one:

The fact that this campaign was withdrawn three months earlier than originally planned,

and its rapid replacement by a completely different series of advertisements, supports the

view that the campaign itself was ineffective and inappropriate. Agency X are well-known

for their political party broadcasts, but in retrospect, the decision to hire them seems to

have been a poor one as the campaign failed to appeal to the target market. I would argue

that the key failures to engage a younger audience can be summarised in the following

way…

Is ‘I’ acceptable?

Some students are unsure if it is acceptable to use ‘I’. The above point about substantiating

your opinion is the best answer, but writing style may also affect your reader’s impression: ‘I

feel that that this interpretation is wrong because…’ reads less well than ‘Rather, I would

argue that…’. Some academic programmes insist that you do NOT use ‘I’. If unsure, ask

your tutor.

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A ‘Critical Perspective’

To have a critical perspective on a subject means to be able to compare and discuss

different attitudes towards and interpretations of that subject. Also, to understand the

background of those attitudes and interpretations: the attitudes behind this attitude; the

ideas behind this idea. To have a critical perspective requires a fair amount of reading on

the subject.

If you are going to express an opinion ‘critically’, then you should show awareness of the

different points of view that could be taken on the subject you are writing about, and

explain why yours is the most compelling.

Look at the example below (not to be taken too seriously). The writer is aware that there

are different ways of approaching the subject – in this case the fall of Thatcher.

Thatcher’s fall can, of course, be explained in the positivist terms of Marr (1991) and Blake

(1992); they argue that this was nothing more than the fallout from her disastrous Poll-tax

policy, to which her political reputation had been tied, as well as a succession of stormy

relationships with her chancellors. Other analysts have emphasised the matricidal nature of

her sudden overthrow by the cabinet (Hawkins 1994, Jones 1994), arguing that as Thatcher

aged and her ministers became (relatively) younger, she became less and less acceptable as

the ‘mother’ of the Tory party.

The most penetrating interpretation, however, that all political careers are ultimately

counterproductive, is Gray’s position (2004). He points out the contradiction between

economic liberalism and social conservatism: eventually, Thatcher gave birth to a society in

which both she and her party were irrelevant.

Writing analytically (good), not descriptively (bad)

This is a question of perspective and content rather than style. To write descriptively is to

tell the ‘story’ of what happened; instead, your material should be held together by analysis.

Descriptive writing is:

Trying to give an overview of the subject (eg a chronology of the industrial revolution);

Describing the positions of different critics / writers on a subject without explaining the

relationships between those positions; Simply writing about the subject (often due to not having a good essay structure

Here is an example of descriptive writing, followed by a better, more analytical version:

The Bauhaus school and movement was established in Weimar 1919 by the influential

young architect Walter Gropius. Walter Gropius was not more than 36 years old but he

already had a reputation as one of Germany’s leading young architects. Gropius was born in

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Berlin on the 18th of May 1883; his family had a strong educational background within

academia and architecture. [Weak, descriptive writing]

In the vacuum of the post-war years in Germany, when there were obvious reasons to

break culturally from the past, it is not surprising that authority was handed over to young

and intellectual architects. Walter Gropius had both of these qualities, having been…*much

better]

Formality

The example of good writing above is written in quite a formal style. It is true that writing

from a critical perspective requires careful control of your language, and this control might

result in a dry, analytical, academic ‘voice’. It is certainly not acceptable to use imprecise

expressions, conversational style, or slang – at least not in a traditional academic essay or

dissertation. If you want to submit an alternative piece of work, you will have to have this

approved by your tutor. Also, you will have to find a way of satisfying the assessment

criteria, which will probably include this critical perspective.

Section Summary

Your opinion is usually expected, but it must be substantiated (backed up)

It is important to evaluate the ideas you refer to.

Make points, don’t tell stories.

Formal style is not required, but is often the most natural in which to write critically.

Developing Points/Depth of Analysis

Point Evidence Explanation

The Point Evidence Explanation rule is one that is still useful at FE and undergraduate level.

The Point is the analytical insight; the Evidence is the material that you have found, through

research, to support your point; Explanation is the heart of essay-writing: it is a linguistic-

intellectual exercise where you demonstrate the relevance of your point and evidence to

the question and your central argument.

Imagine answering the question ‘Why are film sequels always worse than the originals?’ A

point would be: ‘The Godfather II’ was better than ‘The Godfather’. Note that you have not

substantiated this point, nor have you explicitly shown its relevance to the question. As

evidence, you would have to refer to dialogue, acting, cinematography, film reviews or

audience survey results. This would make your point much stronger. The explanation

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would come when you said that this showed that the original statement is not true in every

case. This example would not constitute an essay of course, only a section of an essay.

The film sequel example may be a trivial one, but most of essay-writing is included in this

process of Point Evidence Explanation. One of the most common faults of essays is to

include extensive description in the place of analysis and evidence; to put it another way, to

present information as if it were evidence for a point which is not made. Giving the reader

(your tutor) a potted history of the subject area (the modern crafts movement, for example)

is unlikely to achieve any of the assessment criteria.

Use of language is important in all three parts of the process.

Points

These are often expressed as topic sentences [see 3.4]: clear statements which will be

substantiated later:

Examples of sentences making a point:

1. Popper’s definition of science offers no room for geography. 2. The ‘dumbing down’ of BBC news output precedes the Hutton enquiry. 3. Digital photography allows for the infinite reproduction of images. 4. The Citroen DS was one of many examples of France’s importance as a design nation in the

1950s.

This kind of sentence clearly signals that you have something to say, and prevents your

reader from wondering what your point is. Of course it also obliges you to have one.

Evidence

What qualifies as evidence? If we look at the 4 statements above, they would have to be

supported by different types of evidence:

Example 1: Popper’s definition of science offers no room for geography.

Popper’s definition could be quoted or paraphrased – in either case it needs to be cited [see

chapter 3.5]. Even if you think the point is self-evident, you still need to show the reader

that it is true; here, you would have to argue why Popper’s definition offers no room for

geography: the implications of his definition, an explanation of what you mean by

geography, why the two are incompatible. In this case, providing evidence also requires

some explanation.

Example 2: The ‘dumbing down’ of BBC news output precedes the Hutton enquiry.

This would be a difficult point to show evidence for. A good idea would be to cite authors

who have argued this position [see chapter 4]. You could provide some concrete evidence

of changes to the format: less time spent on each news item, a breakdown of time devoted

to different types of stories. You could also make some more subjective comments on tone,

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presentation style, and content. Some statements, especially in arts and humanities

subjects, cannot always be supported by ‘hard facts’.

Example 3: Digital photography allows for the infinite reproduction of images.

This point is so self-evident that it hardly requires evidence; it would be enough to say

something like: ‘The replacement of the negative by digital memory space means that the

source material for photographic images cannot degrade or decay.’

Example 4: The Citroen DS was one of many examples of France’s importance as a design nation in the 1950s.

This statement is full of assumptions. To fully support it with evidence, you would have to

show:

other examples of successful French design from the 50s;

that the DS was a successful design (reviews sales volume, etc.).

Explanation

Some explaining has already been required at the evidence stage. The explanation stage

however is the most demanding in terms of linguistic skill and mental dexterity. This is

where you have to explain why this point (now supported with evidence) is important and

relevant to your essay / the question that has been set. To do this, we need to look at the

essay questions that these points were intended to address:

The Questions:

Example 1: Is Geography a science?

Example 2: Is the presentation of news more affected from above by political interests,

or from below by popular demand?

Example 3: Did the arrival of digital images represent a revolution in photography?

Example 4: What were the key features of European design after the Second World War?

The explanation is the most difficult part of the essay-writing process, but is made easier if

you have a central argument [see 3.3], as this is often an easier hook to hang your points on

than the question itself. It would be very hard, for example, to start writing an essay in

response to the 4th

question before you had identified a number of ‘key features’ that you

would concentrate on.

Here are ways you might link the points made to a central argument, while answering the

questions:

Example 1. Popper demanded that science be able to deductively demonstrate the proof of

its findings, thus excluding what were previously known as the ‘natural sciences’, which

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were chiefly occupied with the activities of discovery, documentation and classification.

[Central Argument: Contemporary Geography has developed in response to a series of

exclusions by the scientific community.]

Example 2. The fact that BBC’s ten o’clock news made editorial changes to its format

(reduction in political interviewing, more time devoted to non-political stories) before the

Hutton enquiry suggests that the enquiry was not central to the ‘dumbing down’ of BBC

news output. *Central Argument: The BBC’s main concern is to maximise audience

numbers, therefore its editorial decisions are most affected by popular demand.]

3. Just as photography attacked the originality of painting by allowing multiple copies to be

made from an original negative, digital photography with its multiple and identical copies

attacks the originality of the negative in print photography. [Central argument: Digital

photography is a continuation of the loss of originality in reproduced images.]

4. The spectacular appeal of the DS was apparent when 743 orders were placed within 15

minutes of the car being presented at the 1955 Paris motor show (Wikipedia). The design

features which ensured the car’s success and which defined design in the post-war period

were the combination of classical elegance and new technology: the car’s lines were sinuous

and the name itself was a play on the French word ‘goddess’; the new hydraulic suspension

system was an exciting technical innovation – valued more for its own sake than any

improvement to performance (source date). (Central argument: The key features of post-

war design were A,B and C, especially in combination.)

Order of Point/Evidence/Explanation

There is no reason why the point need come first, followed by evidence and then

explanation. If you wrote like this all the time, your essays would be rather clunky. It is

perfectly fine to start with your evidence, then reveal your point; or even to start with an

explanatory comment – whatever feels most appropriate.

Quotation

This is very relevant to developing points, and is covered in chapter 3.5. The most important

thing to remember about quotation (and images, and tables and figures) is that if they are

left to speak for themselves, you will receive little or no credit for them. If a quotation is

worth using in your essay, then it is worth commenting on.

Ways you can develop quotations Comment on the writer’s choice of language;

Connect the point made to that made by another writer – do they support or contradict

each other?

Apply the point made in the quotation to another subject than the one it originally was

written about (tell the reader you are doing this);

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Agree with the quotation, explaining why (not just repeating the point made);

Disagree with the quotation, explaining why.

Drawing conclusions from the points you have made

This sort of development might take place once you have finished the first draft of the

essay. You may find that the different positions you reach in the different sections of your

essay are worth trying to assimilate later. Take the example at the start of this section:

‘Why are film sequels always worse than the originals?’ If a section of your essay looked at

sequels that were worse than the originals, and another section of your essay looked at

sequels that were as good as or better than the originals, it would be worth taking this

forward by trying to find out if there was a pattern to the sort of sequels that were as good

as or worse than their predecessors; what if you found that sequels made by young Italian-

American directors almost always surpassed the originals? That would be worth pointing

out, and then hazarding an explanation for.

It’s not a serious example, but the point is that being able to stand back from your essay

once you have written a first draft may allow you to see new and interesting points of

connection between different areas of your own analysis which are worth developing. This

type of development may lead to a new section of the essay, or may be ideal material for

the conclusion.

Section Summary:

Point

Evidence

Explanation

The Introduction and Conclusion

People have different ideas regarding the role or introductions and conclusions. This is a list

of some of the functions your introduction and conclusion can perform, though not all in the

same essay of course.

Introductions

Examine key terms. Consider a question such as ‘To what extent was the industrial

revolution responsible for…?’. It would be useful for the introduction to explain exactly

what you understand the industrial revolution to mean: what start and end dates; if you are

concentrating on the technological or demographic aspects of it; if you think that it is best

described as a ‘revolution’ at all.

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Explain how you understand the title. ‘Reality television is the acceptable face of voyeurism.

Discuss.’ You could begin by saying that you think voyeurism always contains an element of

titillation and that you will be examining how important titillation is to reality TV. (This is

similar to examining key terms.)

Give a brief outline of the task / argument. If you have set yourself a particular challenge (to

prove something, test the relevance of an idea or its application to a particular context),

then outlining this task and why you decided it would be worth taking on would be valid

content for an introduction.

Describe / justify your approach to the question. There are always several ways of writing

about a topic. You may feel that a semiotic reading is the best way to get to the meaning of

a particular photograph; that Marxist theory allows you to explain how museums work; or

that looking at linguistic patterns is the best way to approach a play. The introduction can

serve to explain which methods you will use and why.

Acknowledge the limits of your essay. No essay can say everything about a subject; you may

wish to limit your scope to one or a few writers / artists / scientists. If you are an artist

writing about physics (or a physical geographer writing about cultural theory), there will be

holes in your knowledge of your subject area which you may want to acknowledge in the

introduction.

In all these cases, the introduction does not intrude into the body of the essay, which is

where the analysis, evidence, and explanation should be found, but nor is it simply

summarising what will come later. Introductions are boring (and completely redundant in a

short essay) if they simply preview the essay: ‘…and I will conclude by…’.

Another way of opening an essays that some tutors strongly dislike is to begin with a

definition: ‘The OED defines the word hysteria as…’.

Conclusions

It is an obvious point, but the conclusion really depends on the preceding essay. If you are

concluding a report or a piece of research, then it is common to use the conclusion to

suggest directions for further investigation. If your essay has considered the arguments for

and against an idea, then the conclusion would be expected to make a balanced judgement.

A common misunderstanding about essay writing is that your analysis happens only in the

conclusion. This is wrong. Your essay should contain analysis throughout; you should reach

conclusions as you progress through the body of the essay. The purpose of the conclusion

itself is to draw these conclusions together. Another doubtful piece of advice is not to

introduce any new material in the conclusion; also, that your conclusion should summarise

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and restate the key points of your essay. If you followed this advice to the letter, your

conclusion would probably be very dull and repetitious.

You may want to hold something back for the conclusion so that it is more than a

restatement of the points made. For example, if you have a quotation/experiment/artwork

in mind that unites the main ideas of your essay and is strong supporting material for your

central argument, then it might be saved for a real killer point in your conclusion.

Possible functions of the conclusion:

Introduce a final example, so long as it serves to unite some of the key concerns of your

essay.

Refer back to the question: explain how your analysis is relevant and gives an appropriate

answer.

Deepen your analysis; try to take it one step further. For example: if you have argued in

your essay that secondary school education encourages pupils to be more aware of rights

than responsibilities, try to explain why that has happened, or in whose interests.

Extend your analysis; apply the findings of your essay more broadly. For example, see if

your findings on the work of one artist can be applied to others of the same period. If your

analysis has shown that BBC Southwest reports news in a particular way, use the conclusion

to consider if this is particular to the South West, or if it applies to regional news in general

(for example).

End with suggestions for further investigation. This is common in some types of writing

(especially a research project or a scientific report).

Referencing, Citation and Bibliographies

The latest ASK resources on Harvard referencing at UCF are available on the Learning Space

as a series of pdf documents covering:

1 The basics of referencing

2 Examples of citation and referencing

3. More examples of citation and referencing (more unusual examples)

4. Citing and referencing images

5. Sample bibliographies

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You will also find some downloadable helpsheets to help you remember the basic format of

a reference and what information you need to gather from your sources.

Referencing - Section 1 The Basics

At university, you are required to write about what others have found and

argued...and yet... your tutors will tell you that they want you to think for yourselves

and come up with your own ideas and interpretations.(Norton and Pitt 2009: 78)

It is important to make clear in your writing when you have quoted from or used

information or ideas from another writer or speaker. To do this you need to adopt a

referencing system and use it consistently.

Section outline 1. Which style?

2. Which version of Harvard?

3. Harvard at University College Falmouth

4. When you need to reference

5. Where – citation and reference

6. Citation in the text

7. List of references

8. Basic principles – formatting of the reference

9. Web pages

10. Academic integrity and plagiarism

1 Which style?

Your tutor or course handbook will tell you which style to use – this guide is based on the

Harvard style, which is the most commonly used at Falmouth. (You might also come across

MHRA and MLA). Unlike some other styles, Harvard does not have a “rule book” and there

are a number of variations on the style (I have called them versions) but these are mostly

just differences of formatting and punctuation – the basic information remains the same.

2 Which version of Harvard?

No particular version of Harvard is better than any other - the most important thing is to be

consistent with the style that you adopt. Check your course handbook for more

information. For example, in some versions, the date of publication is in brackets but in

others it is not. Some versions show the first names of authors in full, others use just

initials.

34

3 Harvard at University College Falmouth

Some of the courses at UCF have their own guidelines to Harvard. Check your Learning

Space or ask your tutor if you are not sure. ASK Academic Skills provide information about a

generic UCF style which many of the courses use. If in doubt, this is a safe and consistent

style to use.

4 When you need to reference

When you are writing an essay, report or dissertation you will be referring to sources of

ideas and information (which could be articles, books, documentaries, reports, artworks,

etc.).

You must include a full reference for each source which gives details of the work so that

your reader can locate the source. As shown in the example on the next page, this means

that you must include:

the author’s name

the year the work was published

the title

the place where the work was published

and the publisher

Tip: remember to record all these details when you are using a source – trying to find them

just before your essay deadline can be very frustrating!

All this information takes up space and so it is not all included in the main part of the essay

or report. Instead all sources are listed alphabetically (by author) at the end of your work in

a List of References.

5 Where – Citation and Reference

There are two places in your work where you put information about a source:

the citation – the author’s name, year (that the work was published) and the page number.

You type this in the body of your essay when you quote from a source. It directs the

reader to:

the List of References – this comes at the very end of your work and here you type a list of

all your references. The list should be in alphabetical order and show all the details about

each source.

6 Citation in the text

Below is an example of “in-text citation” from a book. The exact words have not been

copied, but the ideas have been summarised.

For Klimt the traditional distinction between artist and craftsman was an artificial one

Author’s surname date: page

number

Punctuation brackets: colon

(full stop comes after the

brackets)

35

(Vergo 1993: 38).

u should add the page number if you have taken the idea from a particular place (as

opposed to a more general summary of the ideas behind the whole book / article / etc.).

7 List of references

The grey boxes show the information you need to gather from each book you refer to. You

should be able to find all you need at the front of the book, on the page opposite the

contents page. The layout below shows how you should set out the reference in the List of

References at the end of your work.

This example refers to a book with a single author. This is the basic pattern for all

references. Things get a bit more complicated for some sources but, don’t worry, our

guidelines cover all the common sources you will come across. Once you become familiar

with the principles, it is usually possible to work out a sensible solution for most source

types. If you get stuck we can help you out; just email ask@falmouth.ac.uk or book to see

an advisor via our Learning Space.

8 Basic principles – formatting of the reference

Author’s name comes first, in capital letters – then comma- followed by their forename or

initial – then full stop and space eg VERGO, Peter.

Date of publication – full stop and space eg 1993.

Title of work – in italics (Edition number (but not if first edition) – in brackets) then full stop

and space eg Art in Vienna 1898-1918 (3rd ed.).

Publisher

colon

VERGO, Peter. 1993. Art In Vienna 1898-1918 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon.

Author’s surname

and forename Title Year of

publication

Publisher

colon

Aurthor’s surname, date, page Aurthor’s surname, date, page

Edition (if not

the first)

Place of

publication

Publisher

colon

colon bracket

s

colon

full stop italics colon comma brackets and full stop

36

Place of publication – followed by colon: Name of publisher – then full stop. London:

Phaidon.

For lots of examples of citation and referencing, see sections 2 and 3 of the referencing

guides

9 Web pages

Good websites will give you the name of an author; this could be at the top or bottom of the

page and is often next to the © symbol. You should use the author’s name in the citation,

just as you would for a book (more information on referencing online sources in section 2)

GONTAR, Cybele. 2006. ‘Art Nouveau’. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York : The

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Available at:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/artn/hd_artn.htm [accessed 07/09/11].

Title of

page

Title of

website

Website

URL

Date viewed

or

downloaded

Italics (for the main title of

a large work or collection

eg book, journal, website)

Author’s

name and

forenames

Year

single inverted commas

(for title of a part within a

larger whole eg article,

essay or web page)

Place of

publication;

publisher

(optional)

37

Author’s name comes first, in capital letters – then comma - followed by their forename or

initial – then full stop and space eg GONTAR, Cybele.

Year (in which page was created) followed by full stop and space eg 2006.

Title of webpage (look at the top of the page) in single inverted commas followed by full

stop and space. ‘Art Nouveau’.

Title of website – in italics then full stop and space Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.

(optional – if known, you might want to include information about the place of publication

and the publisher – follow the pattern set in the book example)

Available at: followed by the full web address; eg

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/artn/hd_artn.htm

In square brackets, accessed plus the date you viewed or downloaded the page followed by

full stop eg [accessed 07/09/11].

10 Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Academic knowledge advances as writers build upon what has gone before acknowledge

their sources of information and inspiration. This means that when you use information or

ideas from a source, you give credit to the person who “owns” or originated that work or

idea. If you deliberately copy someone else’s work (even if it is not word for word) and fail

to acknowledge the source, this is known as plagiarism. Plagiarism goes against the spirit of

academic endeavour and is seen as dishonesty. If you are thought to have plagiarised some

or part of your work, you will be marked down and receive a warning or, in extreme cases,

be expelled from your course. It is possible to plagiarise accidentally – this is sometimes

called ‘technical plagiarism’ – and although it is a less serious offence, there are still

penalties. Being familiar with and practised at referencing can protect you from any

accusations of technical plagiarism.

The important point is not to put ideas or the expression of ideas into your writing that

come from something you’ve read without acknowledgement. Questions you might ask

yourself about your writing are:

Is that a rephrasing of something I read?

If so, you need to cite and reference the source.

Is what I wrote a development of or a new way of interpreting something I read?

In this case, you should phrase your writing and place your citation so that it is clear what part of

your idea comes from the source and what part is your own. For example:

38

Richard Jefferies should be linked to the tradition of utopian thought (Ebbatson 1971), but his

utopia belongs to the sphere of culture rather than nature.

Does this idea ‘belong’ to the author I read, or is it commonly accepted?

You do not need to cite Newton every time you refer to gravity; some knowledge is established

enough to be public. However, it is easy to read a claim and be so persuaded that it’s true that you

assume everyone knows this. If in any doubt, cite the source and you will be safe. Providing sources

(so long as they are credible) will only make your writing stronger.

For more information about including quotations in your text – Section W1 Using Sources

List of References

NORTON, Lin and Edd PITT, with Kathy HARRINGTON, James ELANDER and Pete REDDY.

2009. Writing Essays at University. London: WriteNow CETL.

Referencing – Section 2 Citation and Referencing – common examples

Citation and referencing are the two parts of the referencing process, as is explained above

in Section 1.

Section Outline 1. Books by a single author

2. Books by two authors

3. Secondary referencing (source

within a source)

4. Articles published in an edited

book

5. Articles published in a journal

6. Articles published by a journal

online

7. Articles published by a

newspaper

8. Online newspaper articles

9. Website with a named author

10. Website with no author

11. TV programmes

12. Radio programmes

13. Films

If you can’t find an example here for the referencing type you need, look in Section 3 where

there are examples of less common types of source.

1. Books by a single author

This is the basic template for referencing a book. This placing of full-stops and use of italics

can be applied to all books used. If you are quoting or using material from a source that is

specific to a particular page (or number of pages), the citation will need to have a page

reference.

Citation:

39

The importance of sustainable design was an issue that design theorists were beginning to

raise (Papanek 1974).

or:

Papanek dismisses Le Corbusier’s house as a machine for living as “a perversion of

aesthetics and utility” (1974: 8).

or: Papanek (1974: 8) dismisses Le Corbusier’s house as a machine for living as “a perversion

of aesthetics and utility”.

In the second example, the surname is not in the citation as it has already been given; the

page number is provided to locate the quotation. Note that sentence punctuation comes

after the citation, not at the end of the quotation – unless the quotation itself ends in a

question or exclamation mark.

Reference:

PAPANEK, Victor. 1974. Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. St

Albans: Paladin.

Note that first letters of all words in the title of a source are upper case, apart from articles

(a, the), conjunctions (but, and, etc.), and prepositions (for, to, in, etc.) – though the first

word is always capitalised. Also, the surname of the author is all in capital letters in the

reference (but not in the citation).

Some authors use an initial or initials instead of a full christian name. You should follow the

author’s name as it appears on the source.

Reference:

THOMPSON, E. P. 1966. The Making of the English Working Class. New York: Vintage

Books.

2. Books by two authors

Use ‘and’ when the authors’ names go into the citation.

Citation: (McCarthy and Hatcher 1986)

or: McCarthy and Hatcher (1986) have pointed out that…

40

MCCARTHY, Patsy and Caroline HATCHER. 1996. Speaking Persuasively: Making the Most of

your Presentations. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.

3. Secondary referencing (source within a source)

This is where you want to use a source that is referred to in the source that you are reading.

For example, you want to use a quotation by Walter Benjamin in an essay by Salzani. The

best advice is to go to the original source as this will allow you to check you are not using it

out of context – and then reference the source in its original form. If that isn’t possible, you

would cite and reference as below:

Citation:

Benjamin said that the figure of the flaneur, “lies at the origin of the detective story” (cited

in Salzani 2007: 171).

…an eighteenth century view that staying in bed weakened the body: “the flesh is as it were

parboiled, and becomes soft and flabby” (John Wesley, cited in Thompson 1993: 392).

The references in these cases would be to Salzani and Thompson; always reference the

source that is in front of you.

4. Articles published in an edited book

The reference for an article or report gives its author, not the editor of the book it comes

from – although you need to provide information about the editor in the reference. Note

that the date refers to the date of publication for the book in your hand, not the date when

the material was originally published.

Citation:

This presents the important distinction between science as a field of testable knowledge

and as a form of religion (Szasz 1999: 278-9), which…

A page range is given in the citation because the section referred to spans two pages.

Reference:

SZASZ, Thomas. 1999. ‘Ceremonial Chemistry’. In Mike JAY(ed.). Artificial Paradises: A

Drugs Reader. London: Penguin, 278-82.

There is quite a lot of information to include in this kind of reference. Notice that:

the article title goes in inverted commas and the book title in italics;

the editor’s name goes in normal order (not surname first);

41

the page spread for the article is given after the publisher;

when there are two parts to a title, you should separate them with a colon (:) if they are not

separated with any other punctuation on the title page.

5. Articles published in a journal / magazine

This is similar to an article in an edited book (above). The title of the journal goes in italics,

and the volume / issue number information shows to the reader that the source is a journal.

Citation:

Cook argues that children have wrongly been excluded from theories of consumer culture

(2008).

Reference:

COOK, Daniel Thomas. 2008. ‘The Missing Child in Consumption Theory’. Journal of

Consumer Culture, 8(2), 219-243.

The numbers after the title of the journal refer to the volume number first, then the issue or

part number in brackets. Some journals or magazines don’t follow the volume / issue

formula, in which case you can use the information they provide – ‘Spring’ or ‘May’ for

example.

6. Articles published by a journal online

Some journals allow free access online and your access to the library resources gives you

access to many more. In most cases, you read the journal in PDF format, which gives you an

electronic version of the printed journal, complete with page numbers. In this case, the

citation and reference are exactly the same as if you were using the paper version and there

is no need to give the url address or the date of access.

Some journals are viewed in HTML and the page numbers are inserted into the text (usually

in the form: [end page 67]). This again gives you all the information you need to cite and

reference the source as you would the paper version.

It is only when you do not have the page numbers of the article you are looking at that you

need to reference it as an online source, in much the same way as accessing a newspaper

online (see below), including the url address and the date accessed.

Citation:

… (Villard and Nudds 2007).

Reference:

42

VILLARD, Marc-André and NUDDS, Thomas D. 2007. ‘Making the Most of Science during

the New Environmental Fervor’. Avian Conservation and Ecology 2(1), [online]. Available at:

http://www.ace-eco.org/vol2/iss1/art8/ [accessed 18 July 2008].

7. Articles published in a newspaper

A newspaper source could be used to support your essay in a different way from an article

in an academic journal, for example when you are giving examples of how the media has

reacted to an issue.

Citation:

There have been attempts in the media to link the panic over teenage knife-crime to

Britain’s aggressive foreign policy (North 2008: 25).

Reference:

NORTH, Rachel. 2008. ‘Drop the Knife – But We’ll Keep our Missiles, Thanks’. The

Independent, 21 July, 28.

8. Online newspaper articles

This is much like the example above, but you need to provide the full link to the article (in

place of a page number) and the date you accessed the web-page. In the citation, no page

number is given. Below is how the citation and reference would work for the online version

of the example above.

Citation:

There have been attempts in the media to link the panic over teenage knife-crime to

Britain’s aggressive foreign policy (North 2008).

Reference:

NORTH, Rachel. 2008. ‘Drop the Knife – But We’ll Keep our Missiles, Thanks’. The

Independent 21 July [online]. Available at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/rachel-north-drop-the-knife-ndash-

but-well-keep-our-missiles-thanks-872835.html [accessed 21 July 2008].

9. Website with a named author

You should ask yourself if material published on a website has sufficient credibility to be

used in your essay – if you are presenting that material as authoritative rather than just as a

point of view. There are, however, plenty of websites that are not peer-reviewed that are

excellent sources; there are also times when referring to material from a website as an

example of a point of view or way of writing is relevant.

43

Citation:

…expressions of this idea (Betancourt 2006).

Leni Schwendinger emphasises the importance of communication and collaboration

(Schwendinger ca. 2007.).

The first citation is straightforward, but the second has no date of publication - ca 2007

means about 2007. If the year of publication is not given but you can have other

information which tells you the year then you should give that year. If you can’t work out

an exact year but know approximately then you should use ca. before the year or follow the

year with a question mark.

Reference:

BETANCOURT, Michael. 2006. ‘Same as it ever was: Acts of Digital Re-Authoring’. VJ

Theory.net [online]. Available at: http://www.vjtheory.net/web_texts/text_betacourt.htm

[accessed 22 July 2008].

SCHWENDINGER, Leni. *ca. 2007+ ‘How can we help designers get the right skills?’. Design

Council [online]. Available at: http://www.creative-net.co.uk/Live-Issues/How-can-we-

make-sure-designers-have-the-right-skills/ [accessed 31 March 2011].

The title for the Schwendinger reference is taken from the title at the top of the page; if

there is no title, you can try to use something appropriate from the site. Although this is a

good website to use, you can see from the link that the source is quite thin. Ideally, you

would look for a more substantial source. The ca. 2007 is in square brackets to indicate that

it is information not taken directly from the source (ie we have added it in).

10. Website with no author

Some online materials have a named author; others don’t give a name but use the ©

symbol. For example, unauthored information on the University College Falmouth website

has ©UCF 2011 at the bottom. In this case, you would use University College Falmouth as

the author and 2011 as the date.

You need to be very clear on why you are using a source with no named author and from a

source which is not peer-reviewed or traceable in any way. There are lots of reasons why

websites without a named author might be valuable sources; and sometimes the nature of

the site is seen to have enough credibility – because it is the official site of an authoritative

institution. But you are advised against using a web source as an authority if there is not a

good reason to treat that source as authoritative. You are advised against using Wikipedia as

a source – due to the fact that its content can be adapted by users.

44

There are sites which provide data that can be used, for example

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/

The following would not be acceptable for reliable data:

http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2006/12/14/01828/236. If in doubt, you should ask your

tutor whether sources are usable or not.

Citation:

“The theory behind the readymade was explained…” (Tate.org ca. 2011).

Data from the Met Office on April 4 2011 shows a typical… (Met Office 2011).

Reference:

TATE.ORG. ca. 2011. Glossary entry: ‘readymade’. Available at:

http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=239 [accessed 31 March

2011].

MET OFFICE. 2011. ‘Latest Marine Observations (04.04.11)’. Met Office *online+. Available

at: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/marine/observations/ [accessed 4 April 2011].

As you can see from these references, the name of the website can stand in for the author.

You have to use what you think is the most appropriate title for the page, though what is

given in the tab title by your browser is usually appropriate.

11. TV programmes

Television programmes don’t have an author in the way that an article does. You have to

choose who or what would be most appropriate to stand as the author; the most common

are the director, the speaker or the name of the programme.

Citation:

In a Newsnight interview in 1997, the Prime Minister only agreed to apologise for the ERM

disaster if his critics acknowledged the achievement of low inflation (Major 1997).

…the view that contemporary debates about the liberty of the individual in society derive

from Cold War mathematics (Curtis 2007).

…the appeal of BBC’s longest running dramas (Eastenders; Casualty).

In the first example, it is the speaker who is cited (and his role as presenter or interviewee is

given in the reference). In the second, the director is cited, much like the author of an

article or book. In the last example, the titles of the programmes are used; they are

45

italicised, like book titles. Given that it is the whole series that is referred to (not a

particular episode), it is not appropriate to give a date of broadcast.

Reference:

MAJOR, John. 1997. In interview with Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight [tv broadcast]. BBC 2,

5 March 1997.

CURTIS, Adam. 2007. The Trap: What Happened to Our Dreams of Freedom? Part I: Fuck

You Buddy [video: DVD]. BBC 2, 11 March 2007.

EASTENDERS. BBC 1 [tv broadcast].

You would give the format by which you watched the source in square brackets.

12. Radio programmes

There is very little difference between referencing TV and radio programmes, although it is

more likely that you will have to indicate place of production for radio, as in the reference

for the second example.

Citation:

In interview with the chairman of the BMA, Jim Naughtie suggested that the move would

make the profession less attractive to potential doctors (2008).

…campaigns on local radio to overturn the decision to close the recycling centre at United

Downs (Pirate FM 2008).

Reference:

NAUGHTIE, Jim. Presenter on The Today Programme [radio broadcast]. BBC Radio 4, 23 July

2008.

46

PIRATE FM. 2008. [radio broadcast] Redruth: Pirate FM, 23 July 2008.

13. Films

Some versions of Harvard allow you to choose between the director, the screen-playwright,

producer and even the director of photography for the film’s ‘author’ in the citation and

reference. We prefer a simplified system in which the director(s) is consistently used. Also,

to clarify the referencing for your reader, the director and date should always be provided

at the first mention of the film in your writing. Later mention of the film does not need to

provide the date, unless you it is needed to distinguish which film(s) by a director you are

talking about.

Citation:

Alex Garland’s screenplay for 28 Days Later (Boyle 2002) recast the zombie genre for new

audiences.

…other films such as Performance (Cammell & Roeg 1970).

References:

BOYLE, Danny. 2002. 28 Days Later [DVD].

CAMMELL, Donald and Nicholas ROEG,. 1970. Performance [Video: VHS].

47

Referencing – Section 3 More examples of citation and referencing

This section supplements section 2 and shows how to cite and reference other types of

source.

Section Outline 1. Work by three or four authors

2. Work by more than four

authors

3. Work with an editor or editors

4. More than one work by a single

author

5. More than one work by a single

author from a single year

6. More than one work by

different authors

7. Translated book

8. Material you translate

9. Lecture notes

10. Book with multiple editions

11. Secondary referencing (source

within a source)

12. Interview (TV, radio, magazine,

online)

13. Blog Entry

14. Web discussion post

15. Dictionary or encyclopaedia

entry

16. Exhibition or museum catalogue

17. Work in Galleries or Museums

18. Theatre / Dance performance

19. Music performance

20. Music score (published)

21. Audio recording

22. YouTube video

23. TV or magazine advertisement

24. Email, written or telephone

correspondence

25. Government whitepaper

26. Act of parliament

27. Conference paper

28. Unpublished thesis /

dissertation

29. Referring to material generated

by questionnaires

48

1. Work by three or four authors

You should use ‘et al.’ in the citation for more than two authors, but should include all

authors’ names in the reference.

Some research (Fisher et al. 2001) has emphasised that the work done by Holstein was in

direct conflict with that produced by Greene.

FISHER, Roger, William URY and Bruce PATTON. 2001. Getting to Yes: Negotiating an

Agreement Without Giving In. 2nd edn. London: Century Business.

2. Work by more than four authors

You would use ‘et al.’ in both the citation and the reference. This is quite rare but does

sometimes apply to co-written documents such as reports.

Citation: (Metz et al. 2007)

METZ, Bert et al. 2007. Climate Change 2007 Mitigation. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

3. Work with an editor or editors

References are most often to individual essays within an edited book – in which case it is the

author of the essay that you would use for the citation and reference [see 6.2]. Only if you

want to reference the work as a whole would you use the editor.

Citation:

In Beyond the Ferris Wheel (Danaher 1998) the contributors discuss aspects of postmodern

consumer culture...

Reference:

DANAHER, P. (ed.) 1998 Beyond the Ferris Wheel. Rockhampton: CQU Press.

4. More than one work by a single author

If you are working closely with an author, you will probably read more than one work by her

or him. If you want to show an author’s position that spans several works, you could cite

more than one source. Put the dates in chronological order.

Citation: Crary has shown that the consumption of optical entertainment is driven by more

than the availability of the technology (1992, 1999).

49

Or: It has been shown that the consumption of optical entertainment is driven by more than

the availability of the technology (Crary 1992, 1999).

The sources are separate, so would be referenced separately.

5. More than one work by a single author from a single year

If you cite two or more works by a single author, published in the same year, they need to

be distinguishable by letters, as below. This applies if they are cited together or in different

parts of the essay / dissertation.

Citation:

The West’s idealisation of suffering in other countries is open to criticism (Žižek 2008a,

2008b).

Or: Žižek describes the way that the western media simplify the relationship between China

and Tibet (2008b).

Reference:

ŽIŽEK, Slavoj. 2008a. In Defense of Lost Causes. London: Verso.

ŽIŽEK, Slavoj. 2008b. ‘Tibet: Dream and Reality’. Le Monde Diplomatique [online], May

2008. Available at: http://mondediplo.com/2008/05/09tibet [accessed 4 April 2011].

6. More than one work by different authors

Sometimes, you will want to show that a position has been taken by more than one author,

a good thing to do if you want to show that it is a well-established position. Separate

sources in the citation with a semi-colon (;).

Citation: The rise of self-esteem as an educational issue has been criticised for creating

student dependency on praise from their teachers (Ecclestone 2003; Furedi 2004, 2006).

The texts (three in the example) would be referenced separately.

7. Translated book

Information on the translator should be provided. The date refers to the date of publication

of the translation in your hand, not the original date; if you want to tell the reader the

original publication date, this can be given in parentheses after the title (not in italics).

Citation:

50

… (Tolstoy 2006).

Reference:

TOLSTOY, Leo. 2006. Anna Karenina (1877). Translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa

Volokhonsy. London: Penguin.

8. Material you translate

If you a confident to translate from another language into English, this enables you to

comment on primary and secondary material in other languages.

Citation:

*…+ which Skorupki refers to as “the triple bind” *my translation+ (2003: 39).

During Portugal’s match against Germany, the Portuguese commentator referred to the

“heroic struggle against Germanic aggression” *my translation+ (Santos 2008).

You may also want to translate the title of a book or film that has not been translated into

English. If subtitles or a translation exists, you would probably use these – unless you

wanted to present a translation which was more accurate than the one given. (The

references below don’t correspond to the citations above.)

References:

KĘDZIERZAWSKA, Jadwiga. 2008. Chciałbym się Zgubid... [I Would Like to Get Lost… (My

translation)]. [cinema].

VOYER, Jean-Pierre. 1971. Discrétion est Mère de Valeur [Discretion is the Mother of Value

(My translation)]. Paris: Editions Champ Libre.

9. Lecture notes

Your lecturers have probably given you concise definitions of terms, overviews of

movements, concepts etc. which you may want to use in your writing. Lecture notes are not

the best source to cite and reference however – which is not a comment on the quality of

lectures of course! The problem is that you cannot direct your reader to the original

material you are referring to, so it is always better to reference a traceable source. If you do

decide to cite and reference lecture notes, it would look like this:

Citation:

… (Creighton-Balfour 2007).

Reference:

51

CREIGHTON-BALFOUR, Yola. 2007. ‘Arts and Crafts’ *lecture+. Histories and Theories, Level

1 undergraduate. Falmouth: University College Falmouth, 18 November 2007.

10. Book with multiple editions

This information goes in the same place as the translator (above). It can be tricky to

establish which edition you are working with and requires some interpretation of the

information you are given. In the example below, the publishing information states:

First published in this translation 1955

Second edition (revised) 1974

Reprinted with additional revisions 1987

Reissued with new further reading 2003

In this case, you would probably treat the book in your hand as the second edition although

more revisions were made – using the 2003 date will cover this.

Citation:

(Plato 2003).

Reference:

PLATO. 2003. The Republic. 2nd edn. Translated by H. D. P. Lee. London: Penguin.

11. Secondary referencing (source within a source)

The common examples document showed how to do secondary referencing (but if possible,

you should go to the original source). You may also want to refer to someone’s work, which

is cited in another work that you are reading. This is more common in science subjects.

Citation:

*…+ as previous studies have shown (Brown 1966, cited in Hodge 1988).

The reference would be as normal – for (Hodge 1988) of course.

12. Interview (TV, radio, magazine, online)

These follow the format for regular references for these types of sources, with some extra

information added. For the citations, you would use the name of the person interviewed.

Citations:

(Major 1997).

52

(Browne 2008).

(Pezzetti 2000).

As Richard Dawkins made clear in an online interview (2004).

References:

MAJOR, John. 1997. Interviewed by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight [tv broadcast]. BBC 2, 5

March 1997.

BROWNE, Des. 2008. Interviewed by Nick Robinson on The Today Programme [radio

broadcast]. BBC Radio 4, 25 July 2008.

CELLI, Carlo. 2000. Interviewing Marcello Pezzetti in Critical Inquiry, 27 (1), pp. 149-157.

DAWKINS, Richard. 2004. Interviewed by Jim Holt in Slate [online]. Available at:

http://www.slate.com/id/2110249/ [accessed 4 April 2011].

Notice that for the Celli reference, it is the interviewer who is cited and referenced.

13. Blog Entry

These follow the format for website material with an author.

Citation:

The web has enabled the rise in citizen journalism, especially private bloggers operating in

warzones (Pax).

Reaction to this policy soon appeared on the web (Farago 2008).

There is no date shown for the Paz citation because we are not referring to a specific entry,

but rather to the existence of the blog.

Reference:

PAX, Salam. Where is Raed? [online]. Available at: http://dear_raed.blogspot.com/

[accessed 4 April 2011].

FARAGO, Alan. 2008. ‘Where’s the Outrage?’ Counterpunch, 25 July [online], 2008. Eds.

Alexander Cockburn & Jeffrey St. Clair. Available at:

http://counterpunch.org/farago07252008.html [accessed 25 July 2008].

53

14. Web discussion post

Posters often use monikers or nicknames, which you would use for the author’s surname if

necessary. Be careful to consider how useful these sources will be – how much weight they

will lend your essay. See the comments on web sources in section 6.2 for more information.

Citation:

*…+ the view that questions remain about “the overarching frameworks which make grand

hierarchies of knowledge in society (and for society)” (Jha 2008).

An argument which is rehearsed in discussion forums is that it is inconsistent to support US

troops but oppose the war (Kinetic 2004).

Reference:

JHA, Avinash. 2008. Re: The social production of hierarchy,and what we can do about it:

Notes from Asia. Posted 18 January 2008. Edufactory discussion list.

http://listcultures.org/pipermail/edufactory_listcultures.org/2008-January/000121.html

[accessed 4 April 2011].

KINETIC. 2004. Re: For the Anti-War Crowd. Posted 24 November 2004. US Politics Online

[online]. Available at: http://www.uspoliticsonline.net/war-peace/10173-antiwar-

crowd.html [accessed 11 February 2005].

The difference between the two sources above is that the first is an email discussion list and

the second is from an online discussion forum. In the former case, you should contact the

author to make sure that you can have his or her permission to use the material – even

though discussion lists are in a (semi) public domain.

15. Dictionary or encyclopaedia entry

A dictionary or encyclopaedia entry can be a useful source, but they are not often used in

essays. The key terms you are using often have more open or contested meanings than the

definitions offered by a dictionary. Encyclopaedia entries are usually authored.

Citation:

The word ‘cypher’ has 11 separate definitions (Collins English Dictionary 1998: 293).

Canada has one of the highest rates of consumption of recorded music per capita (Théberge

2000: 245).

References:

COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY. 1998. Millenium edition. Glasgow: Harper Collins.

54

THÉBERGE, Paul. 2000. ‘Music, Technology and Media in Canada’. Garland Encyclopaedia

of World Music, vol. 3., pp. 245-249.

16. Exhibition or museum catalogue

This is difficult because there may be texts in an exhibition catalogue by the author, the

curator or a commissioned writer who has provided an essay. For information on how to

cite and reference images from a catalogue, see section 4.

The first example is quite straightforward and the reference makes it clear what type of

source this is. The second example looks just like a book because it is a book which forms

the documentation of the work – not really an exhibition catalogue at all. The third is an

example of a catalogue which contains individual essays which are cited and referenced.

Citation

Flanagan’s sculptures are said to celebrate performance (Dawson 2008).

Nils Norman has compiled a glossary of terms which are related to urban homelessness

(2008).

*…+ the rise of portrait photography in Medellin in the first decades of the twentieth century

(Oldfield 2008: 61).

References:

DAWSON, Barbara. 2008. Catalogue introduction. Barry Flanagan: Sculptures 2001-2008

[exhibition catalogue]. London: Waddington Galleries.

NORMAN, Nils. 2008. Charing Cross. London: Koenig Books.

OLDFIELD, Pippa. 2008. ‘Rivers of Photos: Popular Portrait Photography in Columbia’. Once

More with Feeling: Recent Photography from Columbia [exhibition catalogue]. London: The

Photographers’ Gallery, pp. 58-69.

Publishing information is often found at the end of the exhibition catalogues.

17. Work in Galleries or Museums

For this type of work, you should put the date the work was viewed and if appropriate, the

title of the exhibition.

Citation:

… as in the work Godrevy Lighthouse (Hilton 2003).

55

Reference:

HILTON, Rose. 2003. Godrevy Lighthouse [oil on canvas]. St Ives: Tate St Ives Gallery.

Exhibition from 26 January – 11 May 2008: The Beauty of Ordinary Things: A Selected

Retrospective 1950 – 2007.

18. Theatre / Dance performance

Theatre performances are authored (the play existed before the performance) or they are

devised (written for the production). In both cases, you would give the director. For dance

performances, you would normally give the choreographer as the ‘author’. If you would like

the emphasis of the reference to be on the performance rather than the composer or

originator, you can use the title of the work in place of the author.

Citation:

(Ibsen 1991)

(Preljocaj 2004)

(Souterrain 2007)

References:

IBSEN, Henrik. 1991. Peer Gynt [theatre]. Dir. David Thacker. Dramaten, Målarsalen. First

performance 27 April 1991.

PRELJOCAJ, Angelin. 2004. N [dance performance]. Montpellier Dance Festival: Ballet

Preljocaj. First performance 1 July 2004.

Souterrain. 2007. [theatre]. Dir. Bill Mitchell. Dolcoath Mine, Camborne: Wildworks. First

performance 13 July 2007 [performance viewed 13 August 2007].

The only differences between the first and second references are due to missing

information (production company for the first, theatre for the second). The third reference

is for a devised production (written for the performance) and a performance site rather than

a theatre is given. If the performance is discussed from having been viewed, the date of

viewing is given.

19. Music performance

As with theatre and dance, authored performances usually come under the surname of their

composer, with performance information later. If you would like the emphasis of the

reference to be on the performance rather than the composer, you can use the title of the

work as the author.

56

Citation:

(Górecki 1997)

Reference:

GÓRECKI, Henryk. 1997. Symphony no. 3 opus 36, The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (1976).

Bovard Auditorium: University of Southern California, 3 October 1997.

The date of composition can be given in parenthesis after the title, if you want to provide it,

as it is with the Górecki reference.

20. Music score (published)

This is cited and referenced almost exactly like a text source.

Citation:

(Lauridsen 2001)

Reference:

LAURIDSEN, Morten. 2001. Nocturnes. London: Faber Music.

21. Audio recording

These follow the book format, with different possibilities for the ‘author’.

Citation:

(Chopin 1999)

(TV on the Radio 2006)

*…+ in Richard Burton’s recording of Under Milk Wood (Thomas 1999), …

In the last example, you would want it to be clear from the context that the citation refers

to the audio recording, not the original play.

References:

CHOPIN, Fryderyk Franciszek. 1999. Piano Concerto No.1 Opus 11 & No.2 Opus 21 [sound

recording: CD]. Perf. Krystian Zimerman, Polish Festival Orcestra. Universal.

TV ON THE RADIO. 2006. Return to Cookie Mountain [sound recording: vinyl]. Touch and

Go Records.

57

THOMAS, Dylan. 1999. Under Milk Wood [sound recording: CD]. Perf. Richard Burton.

Decca.

The Chopin reference has added information about the lead performer and the orchestra;

the Thomas reference gives the reader of the ‘first voice’.

22. YouTube video

YouTube may not give you essential information, such as the broadcast date if this is a video

of a tv broadcast. In this case, you will need to look it up – Wikipedia is useful for this.

When a film is homemade, you will have to reference it differently.

Citation:

(Meades 1990)

(Summerhill)

References:

MEADES, Jonathan. 1990. In Search of Bohemia [online]. Available at:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yUH62mXuT6I [accessed 8 August 2008].

SUMMERHILL. Date unknown. Summerhill School X Conventional Schools [online].

Available at: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=abzUqdh6yKY [accessed 4 August 2008].

23. TV or magazine advertisement

Most tv adverts will be available on YouTube, but probably not with all of the information

you need to provide: the director’s name, the agency who produced the ad and the name of

the campaign if there is one. You will have to find this information and provide it in the

reference.

Citation:

(Staav 2006)

Reference:

STAAV, Yael. 2006. Evolution [Ogilvy & Mather (Toronto), for Unilever. Dove Campaign for

Real Beauty]. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U [accessed 22

August 2008].

There may not be a usable title for the campaign, in which case the product name could be

used instead. There may not be the name of the director either, in which case the name of

the agency can stand for this.

58

Citation:

(180/TWA 2008)

Reference:

180/TWA. 2008. Adidas [180/TWA (China)]. Available at:

http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/adidas_group_2?size=_original [accessed 1

September 2008].

For an essay that dealt with several advertisements, it would make sense to have a separate

List of Advertisements in the List of References (see 6.5 for advice on organising your List of

References / Bibliography).

24. Email, written or telephone correspondence

Some referencing guides ask you to provide the email address of your source – we would

recommend you do not as this puts a personal address into the public domain. Also, you

should contact your correspondent and ask permission to use the correspondence for your

academic work.

Including correspondence as an appendix helps your reader evaluate your source and is

worth doing if you attach importance to the material in your writing. You can record,

transcribe and include a telephone conversation as an appendix, but this clearly requires

permission. Also, transcribing can take a very long time.

Citation:

(Soloway 2001: Appendix B)

(Pringle 2007)

(Hatch 2005: Appendix D)

Reference:

SOLOWAY, Jason. 2001. Email to Ben Carver re: Exchange Possibilities, 12 December 2001.

Appendix B.

PRINGLE, Chris. 2007. Letter to Simon Watkins, 15 July 2007.

HATCH, Barney. 2005. Telephone conversation with Simon Templar, 1 August 2005.

Appendix D.

59

25. Government whitepaper

These are normally unauthored, so you would use the department as the author. The

publisher is the Stationery Office.

Citation:

(DfEE 1999: 33)

Reference:

DfEE (Department for Education and Employment). 1999. Learning to Succeed: A New

Framework for Post-16 Learning. London: Stationery Office.

26. Act of parliament

The date is included in the name of the act, so it is used for the citation and reference – all

in italics as this is the name of the text. The chapter number is given and the publisher is

given as the Stationery Office, as with government whitepapers.

Citation:

An injunction can be granted in relation to behaviour “(a) which is capable of causing

nuisance or annoyance to any person, and (b) which directly or indirectly relates to or

affects the housing management functions of a relevant landlord” (Anti-Social Behaviour Act

2003: 10).

(Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Consolidation and Amendment 1855)

References:

Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 (c.38). London: Stationery Office.

Nuisances Removal and Diseases Prevention Consolidation and Amendment 1855 (c.121).

Available at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1855/pdf/ukpga_18550121_en.pdf [accessed

20.7.2008].

27. Conference paper or report

The citations for published and unpublished conference papers would look the same but the

references would be different. If the unpublished paper is available electronically, give the

url address. Conference reports are often unauthored, in which case the name of the

conference is used.

Citation:

(Schäbler 2007: 3)

60

(Fauvier Associates 2006)

(BMZ 2004: 44)

References:

SCHÄBLER, Daniel. 2007. ‘Killing off Humanity – Ethics and Aesthetics in Garland/Boyle’s

Apocalyptic Thrillers 28 Days Later and Sunshine’. Paper presented at the 8th Erlangen

graduate conference, Ethics and/or Justice after Postmodernism: Revisioning Media, Politics,

and the Arts in the 21st Century. Erlangen, Germany, 23-25 November 2007. Available at:

http://www.gradnet.de/english/index.html [accessed 1 December 2007].

FAUVIER ASSOCIATES. 2006. ‘The World Economy: A Washington Perspective’. Paper

presented at the 2006 G8 Pre-Summit Conference: G8 Performance, St. Petersburg

Possibilities. Moscow, 29 June 2006. Toronto: University of Toronto Library.

BMZ (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung). 2004.

Conference report [English language version]: International Conference for Renewable

Energies. Bonn, 1-4 June 2004. Mühlheim: H. Reuffurth GmbH.

28. Unpublished thesis or dissertation

Citation:

(Sargent 2003)

(Wonnacott 1989: 160)

References:

SARGENT, Andrew. 2003. Utopian Impossibilities: Literature, Architecture and Function. BA

Dissertation, University College Falmouth.

WONNACOTT, Gavin. 1989. The Simulation of Circuit Regrind Requirements. PhD Thesis,

Camborne School of Mines.

29. Referring to material generated by questionnaires

There are two types of information you will probably be using from a questionnaire:

numbers (how many people said what) and quotations (what people actually said).

Respondents may be anonymous or named – but if named, you should of course make it

clear when interviewing whether the material will anonymous or not when you disseminate

the results. When you refer to your own questionnaire, you should include the findings in

an appendix; you should also outline how and why you organised the questionnaire as you

did.

61

Don’t be tempted to make too much of statistics when your number of respondents is low

(“25% of respondents said…”). There will be research methodologies in your subject area in

the library to give advice on when your data merits quantitative analysis.

Citation:

Only one of the respondents was aware of the issue (Cult film questionnaire: Appendix B).

*…+ as one comment showed: “I never trust the fair-trade certification anyway” (Respondent

F [Sustainability questionnaire]: Appendix A).

“I don’t think that there’s a difference between fashion and style in a place like Falmouth.

There’s different groups that dress differently but there’s not a lot of change and no feeling

that any group is really keeping up with a ‘mode’ at all” (Smith *Fashion awareness

questionnaire]: Appendix A).

As you have directed your readers to the appendices in the citations, no references are

needed.

62

Referencing – Section 4 Citing and referencing Images

When working with images you need to consider how you will: 1. Relate the image to your writing

2. Place the image with the text

3. Create a caption – what does the image show and who does the work belong to?

4. Create a full reference in your List of Figures

How to create the caption and the full reference for: 5. Specific works of Art, Design, Photography, Film Stills or Performance

5.1. Image from a journal or book

5.2. Image from the internet

5.3. Design work

5.4. Photography

5.5. Image from a database

5.6. Image from film or TV

5.7. Performance

5.8. Your own work

5.9. Your photograph of another person’s work

5.10. An Image from an exhibition catalogue

6. Other images – street scene, landscape, plants and wildlife

7. Understand copyright restrictions

Please read through sections 1 to 5 first and remember to check your assignment guidelines

for course specific instructions.

When working with images you need to consider how you will

1. Relate the image to your writing

In essays and dissertations you are expected to make specific reference (citation) in your

text to each image that you have used. Only include images that support your writing – you

should not be adding them in “for decoration”.

Citation:

Picasso’s printmaking at this time (see Figure 1) foregrounds his preoccupation with…

See Sections 3 & 4 below for information on writing captions and full references

2. Place the image with the text

Check your assignment brief or dissertation handbook carefully for specific instructions.

Some courses specify a minimum size for images (usually a quarter of a page) or require that

63

images are placed on a separate page (within the text). In this case you should place the

image on a new page following the page where you have referred to it – but you do not

need to break off the text at this point. See illustration below:

Inserting images on a separate page

3. Create a caption – what does the image show and who does the work

belong to?

Each time that you include an image in your work you will need to create a caption to

appear alongside or below the image. If you are working in Word, it is easiest to insert a

text box for the caption (but remove the line around the box). You should number the

images figure 1, figure 2 etc and begin the caption with this number. The caption then

shows the “maker” of the image itself or “the maker” of what it the image shows - see

Section 6 below. Captions also include a date of origin and generally a title or brief

explanation – see Section 6 for details. Check your assignment brief or handbook – some

courses request that you include source information in the caption too!

4. Create a full reference and a List of Figures

At the end of your work, before the List of References, you should create a “List of Figures”.

You should list the images in the order in which they appear in your work and include the

same information as the caption (see section 3 above and section 6 below) but you can add

in details such as first names. You must also now include the source of the image ie where

you got it from – see Section 6 below for how to format this information.

NB Some courses ask that for a Dissertation, a List of Figures is included at the beginning of

the work, immediately following the contents page.

………………………….………………………….………………………….………………………….………………………….…………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………

………………………….………………………….see fig 1 ………………………….…………………………………………………….…………………………

……………………..see fig 2 ….……..………….. …………………

Fig 1 ….

Fig 2….

………………………….………………………….………………………….………………………….………………………….…………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………………………

64

How to create a caption and full reference for:

5. Specific works of Art, Design, Photography, Film Stills or Performance

The example of Picasso’s print is straightforward: we are interested in this image as an

example of Picasso’s work. You will see that in addition to the reference to the work in the

text, the image itself has a caption.

Citation:

Picasso’s printmaking at this time (see Figure 1) foregrounds his preoccupation with…

Fig. 1: Picasso 1904. Le Repas Frugal. [etching]

Above we have the image with a caption and below is the full reference from the List of

Figures:

Reference :

Figure 1. PICASSO, Pablo. 1904. Le Repas Frugal. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

[online]. Available at :

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/drawings_and_prints/the_

frugal_repast_pablo_picasso/objectview.aspx?collID=9&OID=90004093 [accessed April 13th

2011].

5.1 Image from a journal or book

You are able to use images from journals or books so long as it is for academic, non-

commercial purposes - see section 7 on copyright restrictions below. Here is an example of

artwork from a journal:

65

Fig. 10: Twombly 1990. Nicola’s iris [acrylic on paper]

Reference:

Figure 10: TWOMBLY, Cy. 1990. Nicola’s iris [acrylic on paper]. From: Sarah Whitfield.

2002. ‘Edinburgh: Cy Twombly’ (p. 703). From: The Burlington Magazine, 144(1196), pp.

703-4.

This reference includes the page where the image appears in the journal or book (p703).

Because this is from a journal article, we also have, at the end of the reference, the page

numbers recording the location of the article. You will see that the caption and the full

reference here contain information about the medium [acrylic on paper]. Using square

brackets allows you to add in extra information about the image – for instance, you might

also want to specify the size. You will notice the use of italics for titles of works

5.2 Image from the internet

Here is another example from the internet but with fewer details about the creator and

title:

66

Fig. 4: Anon. ca. 1680-1688. No title

When there is no author, use ‘Anon.’ When there is no title, use ‘No title’ or give a

descriptive name for what the image is. ‘ca.’ is short for ‘circa’ which means ‘about’.

Reference (in ‘List of Figures’):

Figure 4. Anon. ca. 1680-1688. No title. [lining paper, print]. V&A [online]. Available at:

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78128/lining-paper-print/ [accessed 19 April 2011].

5.3 Design work

Fig. 5: Eames 1952 [moulded plastic]

Reference (in ‘List of Figures’):

Figure 4: EAMES, Charles. From: Lesley Jackson. 1991. The New Look: Design in the Fifties.

London: Thames and Hudson, pg. 38.

67

5.4 Photography

Fig. 2: Meisel 2000. Versace campaign photograph

Reference (in ‘List of Figures’):

Figure 2: MEISEL, Steven. 2000. Versace Campaign photograph. From: Vince Aletti. 2006.

‘Meisel-en-Scène’. Modern Painters, November 2006, pp. 44-46.

In this case, we are interested in crediting the person who created the image rather than

what the image shows (compare with Design example above). This image does not have a

given title (that would appear in italics) so we have described what it is: ie Versace campaign

photograph.

5.5 Image from a database

Images from one of the UCF image databases (Artstor, Bridgeman Education & The Image Space) are available through the library web pages and are copyright cleared for educational use, including downloading into essays. We recommend using the Harvard style of referencing which has been adapted by UCF, and generally follows similar rules to those already described in these pages, for example:

Citation:

Fig. 8: Le Corbusier 1927. House at the Weissenhofsiedlung [architecture].

Reference:

68

Figure 8: LE CORBUSIER. 1927. House at the Weissenhofsiedlung. Artstor [online image]

Available at:

http://library.artstor.org/library/secure/ViewImages?id=%2FThWdC8hIywtPygxFTx5RnguXX

4sfVA%3D&userId=gDhKfz4i&zoomparams [accessed 17th October 2011]

5.5 Image from Film or TV

Video material in the library and available by streaming is subject to the terms of the ERA

license – the license which allows the material to be recorded and made available. You can

find more information on the license at the ERA website (www.era.org.uk).

The basic conditions for student use are that extracts from films may be used, for example

in a Powerpoint presentation (so long as the broadcast details are fully referenced – see

Section 2). You may NOT, however, use film stills which have been grabbed from films or

programmes held in the library – this would violate the license terms.

If you take screengrabs from another source (the internet, books, privately owned DVDs,

etc.), then you are able to use those images in essays or dissertations (non-commercial,

academic use). You must, however, provide full referencing information regarding the

source (Sections 2 and 3).

69

Citation:

Fig. 8: Spielberg 2001. A.I.

Reference:

Figure 8: SPIELBERG, Steven. 2001. Artificial Intelligence: A.I. [film still]. Available at :

http://filmstills.netfirms.com/artific1/index.html [accessed 14 February 2007].

If you use a film still from a book, you would give the information on the film in the caption,

and for the film and the book in the reference.

Fig. 7: Eisenstein 1944. Ivan Grozny I.

Reference:

Figure 7: EISENSTEIN, Sergei M. 1944. Ivan Grozny I [film still]. From: Roland Barthes.

1977. ‘The Third Meaning ‘ (image VII). In Image Music Text. (Trans. and ed. Stephen

Heath]. London: Fontana Press, pp. 52-68.

In the example above, the image is not on a numbered page but in the non-numbered

illustration plates.

70

If you are taking a film still from a DVD or VHS (not from the library collection), you should

reference the source as you would a TV broadcast or film (see Section 2), and give the time

on the recording of the still in the square brackets after the film or programme title: [film

still, 23:12]

5.6 Performance

If you are showing an image from a performance, please consider what your focus is - the

work itself or the performer(s). The default option is to begin with the title of the work. So

this example would read:

Fig 8: Troy Game. Choreography by Robert North. London Contemporary Dance Theatre.

Full reference:

Fig 8: Troy Game. Choreography by Robert North. London Contemporary Dance Theatre.

Performer: Darshan Singh Bhuller. Photographer Graham Brandon 1986. Available at:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/black-dance. [accessed 26 May 2011]

If you wish to focus on a particular performance of the work (which you may have

attended) then include the date of the performance in the caption.

If you wish to emphasise the performer shown, you can begin the reference with his/her

name. For example:

Fig 8: Bhuller 1986. In Troy Game. London Contemporary Dance Theatre.

The full reference would then read:

71

Fig 8: BHULLER, Darshan Singh (Performer). Troy Game. Choreography by Robert North.

London Contemporary Dance Theatre. Photographer Graham Brandon 1986. Available at:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/black-dance. [accessed 26 May 2011]

Just remember that

You need to acknowledge the work of the key people involved in creating an image –

so you might end up with quite a bit of information in the full reference but you

need to decide what to include and how to order it.

Also you must always say what the source of the image was – usually in the full

reference

Remember to keep the caption clear and informative. Check your assignment brief

or course handbook for specific instructions.

In your text you will be writing about the image and what it shows, so the caption is

just a label.

5.7 Your own work

If you are referring to a piece of your own work, you can name yourself as the creator:

Citation:

Fig. 9: Byrne 2009. Nutters on the Moor

Reference:

Figure 9: BYRNE, Brendan. 2008. Nutters on the Moor. Private collection: Ben Carver.

72

5.8 Photographs of another person’s work (from exhibition)

If the photographic image is used to show a piece of work, then you would say who took the

photograph in the full reference (but not the caption). If your photograph is of work from a

private collection, you would put “Private collection: owner’s name” at the end of the

reference, as in the example in 5.7 Your own work.

Citation:

Figure 10: Attia 2006. Arabesque [detail]

Reference:

Figure 10: ATTIA, Kader. 2006. Arabesque [mural, detail]. Paris: Palais de Tokyo. Exhibition

20 January to 25 May 2006: Notre Histoire. Photograph taken by Magda Tyzlik-Carver 23

February 2006.

If you have taken photographs of something (eg a street scene, a view, a shop display)

other than a specific piece of work see the examples in section 6.

5.9 Catalogue Images

73

Fig. 11: Wesley 1979, Cliffs in Brittany

Reference:

Figure 11: WESLEY, John. 1979. Cliffs in Brittany. From: John Wesley. 2008. Works on

Paper & Paintings [Exhibition catalogue]. London: Waddington Galleries.

6. Other images – street scenes, landscape, nature

You may want to include images in your work which are not of any particular person’s work

but show a general scene. If these are your own photographs then, rather than formally

credit yourself as photographer, you may wish to simply create an informative caption. Two

examples:

Fig 12: Bumblebee on lavender plants

Fig 13: Light bulb shelf display in large supermarket (Asda Penryn)

The entries in the list of figures could look like:

Figure 12: Bumblebee on lavender plants. June 2011 at The Eden Project, Cornwall.

Photograph by the author.

Fig 13: Light bulb shelf display in large supermarket. June 2011 Asda Penryn, Cornwall.

Photograph by the author.

7. Copyright restrictions

Using an image in an essay is for academic and non-commercial purposes and you are free

to use most types of image from most types of media. Exemption of copyright in

educational use of images is laid out in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988),

section 32 (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1988/ukpga_19880048_en_3#pt1-ch3-pb3-

l1g32).

However, you should ask for permission to use images in some circumstances: if you

photograph or scan work from a private collection, or if you take an image from an

exhibition catalogue. The less access there is to a work in the public domain, the more

appropriate it would be to ask for permission to use the image.

Images: figures, plates or tables?

In some situations, you would distinguish between figures (charts, graphs etc.), plates

(reproductions of images) and tables (for information). However, for most essays and

dissertations, you should label all images as figures and your work will include a “List of

Figures”

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PIRATE FM. 2008. [radio broadcast] Redruth: Pirate FM, 23 July 2008.

14. Films

Some versions of Harvard allow you to choose between the director, the screen-playwright,

producer and even the director of photography for the film’s ‘author’ in the citation and

reference. We prefer a simplified system in which the director(s) is consistently used. Also,

to clarify the referencing for your reader, the director and date should always be provided

at the first mention of the film in your writing. Later mention of the film does not need to

provide the date, unless you it is needed to distinguish which film(s) by a director you are

talking about.

Citation:

Alex Garland’s screenplay for 28 Days Later (Boyle 2002) recast the zombie genre for new

audiences.

…other films such as Performance (Cammell & Roeg 1970).

References:

BOYLE, Danny. 2002. 28 Days Later [DVD].

CAMMELL, Donald and Nicholas ROEG,. 1970. Performance [Video: VHS].

Reviewing

Revising and Redrafting

Your tutor will try to identify both strengths and weaknesses when reading your essay. Be

aware that:

The positive features of your essay are probably not as clear to your reader as they are to

you.

Mistakes and faults are bound to be more obvious to your reader than they are to you.

It is at the revision / redrafting stage that you can clarify what you most want to say (what is

most worth saying tends to be what is most difficult to say); also, this is the time when you

can work on accuracy and make any final corrections and improvements. Leave time for

this essential stage!

Correction

These are some areas to concentrate on when checking your essay:

1. Layout / referencing conventions [see chapter 4]

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2. Written accuracy (spelling, grammar, sentence construction [see 5.1] 3. Vocabulary (right meaning, sufficiently precise, appropriate to task and subject area)

For most people, it is much easier to spot mistakes when reading from a paper copy than off

the screen.

The before and after texts below show the level of improvement that can come with careful

editing. It’s good advice to leave the work for a day or two so you can come back to it with

fresh eyes. Getting a colleague or friend whose opinion you trust to look at the writing and

point out where what you’re saying isn’t clear can also help. (Don’t let anyone else tell you

how you should have written the essay though.) This is an extract from an essay that needs

editing:

I’m going to focus my attention on X Radios running order first, after listening to the three

shows from X Radio. The main contributes

to the running order was the advert breaks, the

Music, the Weather, the Presenter, and Traffic and Travel. Analysing the advert break each,

advert break lasted from six to seven minutes not only that, in each advert break there were

up to ten to fifteen ads running. I also found that the quality of production that went into

making the adverts was poor. They were very hard to understand not well produced and

heard to hear. The creative side of making the adverts were poor, dull and not exciting.

And this is the edited version:

Having listened to and recorded three shows from X Radio, I noticed how important

advertisements are to the running order. The main content was provided by the presenter,

music, weather forecasts, traffic and travel information and advert breaks; ad breaks were 6

to 7 minutes long and contained 10 to 15 ads. The production level of the advertisements

themselves was rather poor: the sound quality was so bad that it was not always possible to

understand them. Also, perhaps because of the short time of each, they were loud,

formulaic and unimaginative. In this way, the ads made the station much less enjoyable to

listen to.

The edited version is so much clearer: it uses language much more carefully and avoids

misleading statements and unsupported statements of opinion.

Clarifying your argument

Sometimes, it is far better to rewrite a section from scratch rather than tinkering with

individual words and phrases. This may be the case if you have written a paragraph quickly

in order to get the ideas down, but find later that it needs polishing – to flow better and to

be in a more appropriate academic style.

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The idea of having people phoning and texting in their votes each week was put together

off the back of a rise in mobile phone ownership and they then set about getting the

disposable income youngsters would normally spend on cd’s each week and get them to

spend the money on phone credit to vote for their favourite acts for which the programme

got a percentage and made profit off of playing on the fact that the fans had to vote each

week if they wanted to see their idol next week.

A good technique for re-writing is to take a paragraph like the one above, extract the main

points

Mobile phone ownership allowed audience interaction via text messages.

Young audience transferred spending from CDs to text messages.

Profit was generated through texting / phone messages.

Programme structure encouraged repeat voting throughout series.

then rewrite from scratch, possibly reordering the main points:

Reality TV had acquired a new source of revenue: telephone voting. This was especially

profitable as almost all teenagers (a core audience group) had mobile phones and could be

persuaded to divert their funds from CD purchases to text messages to support their idol.

The structure of the competition (with evictions each week) ensured that income from

voting would be maintained.

Referring back to the question / brief

If, on rereading your essay, you see that your line of argument has wandered from the

question or central thesis, you should edit, rephrase, or reject these parts [see 3.3, 3.4 for

further explanation]. Most often, the point made is valid and sufficient evidence is

provided, but the writer hasn’t managed to explain its relevance to the argument.

During editing you will find places in your essay where you have not explained the relevance

of your material – often because the general connection to the question is obvious. It is

when you force yourself to explain the importance of a point that the best analysis occurs;

new ideas can occur to you at this stage.

Moving sections of your essay

It is possible that once you have finished writing the first draft, you decide it would make

more sense if a section was moved elsewhere. Also, within sections you might want to

reorder the points you make, put a quotation somewhere else and move an argument to

where it would be more effective. This is a useful and constructive editing process; word-

processing makes it easy to cut and paste.

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However, you should be aware that doing this will then require careful re-reading and some

rewriting to smooth out the new shape of the essay. If you are not careful, quotations can

be separated from their explanation, paragraphs can seem not to follow the previous ones

and arguments can be cut in half so they finish before they begin; you can end up with a

weaker essay than before the changes. Always give your final draft a careful read, in a

single sitting if possible.

Section Summary

Your essay may not say everything you think it does

Typos are more easily spotted when reading off a page than off a screen

Rewriting weak sections may be the best option

Make sure that you are consistently relevant

Layout for essays and dissertations

Section Outline

1. Page layout

2. Paragraphs

3. Citation

4. Short quotation

5. Block quotation

6. Titles of books, essays, reports, poems, films etc.

7. Plates, tables and figures

8. Bibliography / list of references

9. Contents page

10. Appendices

This section will describe a commonly used and effective set of layout rules. As usual, there

are different practices and preferences; some of the advice below may contradict what you

are told in-programme by your tutors. If so, please follow what they say.

One tutor has estimated that good presentation is worth 2-3%. This has nothing to do with

assessment criteria, but with how easy it is to read and the positive or negative effect that

layout has.

Page Layout

Use a nice clear font (Arial and Garamond are good, this guide is written in Calibri). Use 12

pt font size and use double or 1.5 line spacing; some tutors insist on double, others prefer

1.5. Use single spacing for block quotations [see below]. Using a header or footer can be a

good idea for document page number and/or essay information (course name, student

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number, essay title, module name etc), but it can also clutter the page and be distracting.

Justified text looks good, but some people dislike it.

Paragraphs

There are 2 kinds of paragraph breaks: a single line break with an indent (use the tab key to

get the indent not the space bar) and a double line break with no indent.

*…+ and consequently, curriculum has shifted to accommodate this new pedagogy.

There has also been a diversification of courses on offer at post-compulsory level to suit

different aptitudes: NVQs, GNVQs, HNDs, and A-levels, although all struggle to reach the

same recognition as the latter. Perhaps more important is the emergence of lifelong

learning as a main plank of the government’s educational policy. The whitepaper Learning

to Succeed: a new Framework for post-16 Learning (DfEE 1999) outlines the principles of

this initiative; the chapter ‘Supporting Adult Learners’ begins:

All adults need the opportunity to continue to learn throughout their working life, to bring

their qualifications up to date and, where necessary, to train for a different job. Now and in

the future, employability is and will be the best guarantee of employment. (DfEE 1999: 7.1)

This is not the time to debate the validity of this argument for responsiveness between post-

compulsory education and the skills requirements of the labour market and economy (a

responsiveness presided over by the LSC). Instead, this emphasises another expansion of

education: it is no longer a process which ends, but one which one may keep returning to in

order to boost one’s skills, one’s ‘employability’. All of these examples of expansion

(education for all for longer, deployment of new technologies and pedagogies to deliver

education more widely, etc) can be termed temporal expansions of the education sector.

Citation

[For an explanation of what citation is see Referencing: The Basics] For Harvard, use

parentheses () and follow the author-date system unless told otherwise. If the citation goes

with a quotation or refers to material on a specific page of the work you are citing, then give

a page number (author date: page).

Several analysts have argued that the rise of ‘self esteem’ as an educational issue has led to

increased dependency by students on praise and reassurance from academic and non-

academic staff (Ecclestone 2003; Furedi 2004).

Notice that punctuation (commas, full-stops, etc.) comes after the citation if it is in the text.

Or:

Comment [e1]: No line break between paragraphs – indent first line of new paragraph

Comment [e2]: Title of whitepaper is in italics

Comment [e3]: Citation of the source – refers to full listing in List of References/Bibliography

Comment [e4]: The title of a chapter or article goes in inverted commas

Comment [e5]: Block quotation in smaller font size, single spaced, and indented. No quotation marks

Comment [e6]: Use of inverted commas here suggests that the writer is not completely happy with the word as used by policy-makers

Comment [e7]: Italics are used here for emphasis

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The 19th century has been described as preoccupied with history, “with its themes of

development and of suspension, of crisis and cycle, themes of the ever-accumulating past”

(Foucault 1998: 237).

Citation with block quotation is slightly different – see below.

Short Quotation

Short quotation (less than 3 lines) is embedded into the body of your text. As you can see in

the example above, the quotation is put in quotation marks (“…”). Some writers prefer to

use single quotation marks (‘…’) but either system is acceptable so long as it is consistent. If

you need to put a quote-within-a-quote then see this example below:

Taylor suggests a distinction between Camp and Whimsy: “If *…+ ‘the essence of camp is its

love of the unnatural,’ the essence of whimsy is its flirtation with the insignificant and

random” (2005: 116).

Block Quotation

This is when you have a longer quotation (3 lines or more) and you present it separately.

Danto points out that furniture design is full of social information.

The cabriole legs of Queen Anne furniture emblemize the elegantly curved foreleg of the prancing horse, a horse trained and bred to aristocratic ends – not the plug, not the plowhorse, not the spavined and heavy-legged horse of the parson, but the exact and delicate foreleg of the thoroughbred animal. (1988: 13)

Interestingly, this also shows that…

The standard layout is:

Use a smaller font size than for the body of your essay (10 pt instead of 12 pt is standard).

Instead of double or 1.5 line spacing, use single spacing – under Paragraph on your toolbar in

Word.

Indent the quotation on either side (1 cm right and left will be fine) – under Paragraph

(Indentation) on your toolbar bar in Word.

Use punctuation at the end of the quotation, not after the citation.

Do not use quotation marks.

Do not italicise the quotation.

For more advice on how to use quotation, see Using Sources

Titles of Books, Essays, Reports, Poems, Films etc

Italicise the titles of ‘whole works’ such as Books, Films, Magazine titles and Reports.

Use inverted commas for the titles of poems, essays, conference papers and newspaper

articles.

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If you are handwriting a piece of work (very unusual, not usually acceptable), use inverted

commas as above, but underline book titles etc. instead of italicising them. This applies in

the body of your essay and to the bibliography.

See the bibliographies on the Learning Space for examples of which titles are italicised, and

which are in inverted commas.

Referencing Illustrations, Plates, Figures and Tables

see Section 5 of the Referencing Guides on ASK Referencing pages on the Learning Space

Bibliography / List of References

Again see the ASK referencing pages on the Learning Space. Printed copies of a sample

bibliography are available from the ASK office.

Contents page

Only decide to use a contents page if you need to – if you use a lot of plates and figures, or

have appendices [see below]. Microsoft Word will generate a table of contents for you –

use the References toolbar (you will need to use heading styles to format your Chapter

headings). Your table of contents could be laid out like this:

Contents

Introduction page 1

Chapter 1 [title if you have one] page 4

Chapter 2 page 8

[etc]

Table 1: Mean effect size estimates page 4

[etc]

Figure 1: Top 5 populations, mid 2002 page 2

[etc]

Appendix 1 : Transcripts of interviews page 15

Appendices

Not many essays or dissertations need an appendix / appendices. Here are some types of

material that you might consider including as an appendix (they would require an appendix

each):

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Personal correspondence

Tables or figures from which you have taken data

Images that you think need to be presented in a larger format

Material from your own research: surveys, photographs, transcripts etc.