Finding good information sources is only one aspect of your research. Anyone can find some information, particularly on the internet. You need to be able to critically evaluate, interpret and synthesise what you have found into something new for your essay or report.
Read about your responsibilities as an author from
CDU Study Skills website. Read particularly the parts on quoting sources and paraphrasing.
Skills you need to develop to avoid plagiarism are:
- Planning
- Note taking
- Referencing
Planning: researching, thinking and rewriting all take time, so try to avoid leaving your assignments until the last minute. If you are in a rush you may not be as careful about referencing correctly as you need to be.
Note taking: it is difficult to remember whose ideas are whose if you don’t have proper notes. When you are using a quote or paraphrase from an author remember to note all the publication details to use when referencing.
Your Turn: work through the next two activities to learn what details you need to record.
Tip: read the instructions and follow all the steps. Click on Return to Referencing when finished, or click the back button. You may need to scroll vertically.
Work through the 8 questions in the activity below.
Activity: details required to reference an article
Referencing: when done correctly referencing allows the reader to follow an idea, using the details provided, to locate the original publication. This could be because the reader is interested in the topic or because they wish to verify the details of the quotation, making sure the author hasn't been taken out of context.
Tip: it is tempting to leave referencing until last, but if you don't record the details as you go you won’t be able to reference properly.
Different referencing styles: disciplines have their own preferred style of referencing. A commonly used style at CDU is CDU Harvard. However you should always check with your lecturer or tutor to see which style they recommend. The library referencing guide provides examples for CDU Harvard, APA and other styles.
Tip: we can't provide examples for all eventualities - sometimes you'll need to guess what to record, but confirm the details with your lecturer.
When you have completed all of the activities please go take a look at the scenarios.