Key advice relevant for essays, referencing and style

Dr Elsa João, University of Strathclyde

It is essential that all the assessed work has academic rigour. Equally important is the ability to
write clearly using good English. Jargon is not recommended. There are several books that can
teach you how to improve your writing. Three useful guides are:
Becker, H. (1986), Writing for social scientists: how to start and finish your thesis, book, or
article. Chicago, Chicago University Press. [Main Library D 802.0 BEC]
Day, R. (2006) How to Write & Publish a Scientific Paper Cambridge University Press [Main
Library D 820-4(09) DAY]
Gowers, E. (1986), The Complete Plain Words. 3rd ed, revised by Sidney Greenbaum and Janet
Whitcut. London: HMSO. [Main Library D 802.0 GOW]

One key element of writing clearly is how to write paragraphs. When writing your essays, each
point you want to make should occupy a separate paragraph. State your point or argument clearly in
the first sentence. The rest of the paragraph should consist of explanation and/or discussion and/or
analysis and/or examples. “The paragraph is essentially a unit of thought (… ) Every paragraph
must be homogenous in subject matter, and sequential in treatment of it” (Gowers 1977: 258).
Please avoid writing too many very short paragraphs. Each paragraph must have a beginning, a
middle and an end and therefore, as a rule-of-thumb, it could be said that, generally, paragraphs
should probably have at least three phrases. Another rule-of-thumb is that if the paragraphs are three
lines or less, then they are probably too short. At the same time, avoid writing paragraphs that are
too long. If a paragraph is one page long or more, then it is too long and you should try to break it
into two or more paragraphs. Please note that it is crucial that the readers can see where are your
paragraphs, by using either indentation or a blank line between paragraphs.
Finally, it is imperative that all your assessed work is referenced correctly. This is key aspect of
achieving academic rigour. References are scholarly acknowledgements of work referred to or
quoted. It is important that you use a recognised citation system. There are several different
conventions, and it does not matter which one you adopt provided that you cite sources properly,
giving all the necessary information, and keep to the same convention throughout.
The Harvard System is used by the majority of the students (see part II of this advice
document). This citation system requires you to put in the text of your work the surname of the
author and the date of publication all within brackets - e.g. (Johnson, 1991). In case of a direct quote
you also need to include the page number(s) - e.g. (Johnson, 1991: 334). At the end of the piece of
assessed work you then give a single list of all the references you have used. This list of references
should be arranged alphabetically with full bibliographic information. The alphabetical list should
include all the references which have been used (books, articles, reports, government publications,
theses, Internet, etc.). If you choose to adopt an alternative convention from the Harvard System,
make sure both that it is an acceptable one and that you use it consistently. Students will be
penalised for poor, inconsistent or sloppy references.

Advice for essays and referencing – Dr Elsa João, University of Strathclyde - Page 1 of 11
I. ADVICE ON ESSAY WRITING
A number of assessment forms will be used throughout the programme, including essays,
presentations, laboratory work and group work. It is expected that all students are able to write
comprehensive and cogent essays is fundamental in order for you to do well both on the diploma
and on the MSc. Many students apparently forget that the point of an academic essay is to discuss
the complexity of a question and to develop an argument. Ideally, an academic essay should
contribute to the debate on a particular topic. Too many times students confuse this style of writing
with journalism or creative writing, which may display a great deal of talent, but do little to satisfy
an examiner.
A common mistake is for students to consider an essay a test of their own opinion rather than a
summary of all possible perspectives on the set topic. Whilst your opinion is critical later on in the
essay, the early stages should include a review of the debate on the question set. For example, an
essay on resources might review fatalistic (Malthusian) against optimistic (Boserup) arguments.
What is important is that you describe each as different approaches to the set topic rather than one
as right and the other wrong - until the end when you may reach a conclusion, which reflects your
own opinion.
In order to achieve academic rigour in your essay writing it is necessary that you link your
argument to the academic and theoretical literature. It is also important that you take care with your
style of language. A very informal language is usually inappropriate and can get in the way of a
serious argument. Avoid for example the use of the first person "I". Scientific writing is still almost
always written in third person, passive voice.

The following is important advice on how to write a good essay, develop your argument, and
find the relevant literature:

1. Plan your research and start your reading and writing weeks, not days, before the essay is due.

2. Essay questions sometimes contain one or more of the following KEY WORDS, which are your
main guide as to what is required:

(a) Analyse: Consider the various parts of the whole and describe the inter-relationship
between them.

(b) Compare: Examine the objects in question with a view to demonstrating their similarities
and differences.

(c) Contrast: Examine the objects in question for the purpose of demonstrating differences.

(d) Define: Give a definition or state terms of reference.

(e) Discuss: Present the different aspects of a problem or question and draw a reasoned
conclusion.

Advice for essays and referencing – Dr Elsa João, University of Strathclyde - Page 2 of 11
(f) Evaluate: Examine the various sides of a question and try to reach a judgement.

(g) Summarise: Outline the main points briefly.

3. Question the question itself. Consider its possibilities, scope and limitations. If you are unclear
about what is wanted, ask your lecturer or tutor for clarification.

4. The most comprehensive form of research is performed in the library, where there is a wide
selection of support systems, catalogues and indexes designed to assist you in the task of
locating and using particular items. Always make a note of what you read - author, title, date,
publisher, pages. It is your responsibility to provide complete and correct references. Note that
postgraduate students should draw on research papers as well as books - bibliographic databases
will be particularly useful in this respect.

5. Plan your initial research around questions relevant to the topic.

(a) Use small cards on which to build up a file of material. Question headings can go on these.

(b) See that your reading is not too general and that you do not amass material haphazardly and
to no purpose. Prune steadily as you read and actively assess the value of the material.

(c) Continually check your reading against your questions - and the question asked. Your
subject may redefine itself as you become more familiar with the material.

(d) It is helpful to note ideas, facts, and quotes on separate cards. This action makes later
organisation of material much easier, especially if you have to rewrite a draft.

6. Review all your materials and decide what your line of approach (argument, plan) will be. Sort
your ideas into a pattern that will best support the development of your ideas. This is a very
important part of your work. It is rarely sufficient to summarise material. You will be required
to use techniques such as analysing (detecting unstated assumptions, seeing interrelationships
between ideas, distinguishing facts from hypotheses), synthesizing (arranging ideas or
information in such a way as to build a pattern or structure not clearly there before), and
evaluating (making judgements about the value of material and methods for given purposes).

7. It is your responsibility, not that of your readers, to see that you make sense of your material.
An introduction outlining the question and the organisation of your answer is necessary. In the
same way, a conclusion that sums up and clinches your argument is necessary. Remember that
sub-headings may be helpful in some subjects. This may be achieved by a carefully planned
outline.

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One basic framework for an essay outline is the following:

(a) Introduction
(i) Comment on the subject of the essay. (What do you understand by it? How is it important?
etc.).

(ii) Introduce the points you are going to discuss, first stating your case in general terms: the
opinion you are going to support in the rest of the essay.

(iii) Very briefly summarise the overall theme of your essay, indicating the main points to be
made and perhaps the order in which they are to be presented. This gives the reader an
idea of what to expect and greatly increases his or her comprehension. Do not waste your
own and the reader’s time with padding.

Key aspect about the introduction: Should be snappy rather than long-winded. The aim is to
show that you understand the question and know how to structure your answer.

(b) The Main Body

(i) Develop your line of argument through several main ideas.

(ii) Support each idea with examples drawn from the books, articles and any other sources you
have used.

Key aspect about the main body of the essay: It is fundamental that you argue a point. This
means you present evidence for an opinion based on past research and facts. This is very much part
of answering the question.

(c) Conclusion
(i) Summarise the main ideas.

(ii) Form a tentative answer by way of final comment to the question. Be prepared to write
more than one draft - in the first you will concentrate on content rather than style.

Key aspect about the conclusion: Conclude by referring to your arguments. This is all part of
arguing well. Some essays appear weak because the conclusion seems tacked on to the end of a long
list of facts. A good conclusion should be based on arguments, and ideally involve some
implications for the big debate mentioned in the introduction, and use the review of the question’s
subject matter to form the opinion expressed. Stating opinion alone without explaining why will
appear biased. Remember this is an academic essay, not a magazine article or political manifesto.
You have to base conclusions on evidence presented.

Advice for essays and referencing – Dr Elsa João, University of Strathclyde - Page 4 of 11
N.B. Note that it is often helpful to start writing in a different order - e.g. first draft of the main
body, then the conclusion, then finally the introduction. Remember, be prepared to re-draft your
work, this is a point mentioned continually in the Becker book. Becker (1986) considers that
students tend to write just one draft of an essay whereas he feels revision is the key to
successful writing.

II. REFERENCING ADVICE - relevant to all your assessed work!

Any research must first start with an understanding of current thinking on the particular topic
concerned. Knowledge of the relevant literature on a research topic is useful for several reasons:

a) You can tailor your research design to attempt to answer those questions which have either
never been asked or those which have not been properly addressed;
b) You can avoid any problems that have arisen in carrying out similar research and thereby
improve your research design - without first making expensive mistakes;
c) Once the research has been done, you can evaluate its worth more easily and place it in its
proper context.

Referencing is an essential tool for correct presentation of work, and as a guide to further research.
Listing references and sources is important for three main reasons:
a) It is intellectually honest to give the sources used in preparing a piece of work;
b) It tells the reader where to go to find out more about the topic;
c) It gives the reader an expectation of what the work contains. Many tutors look at the list of
references before reading a piece of work submitted for assessment.

2.1 Quoting references within the text

The most common way to cite references in the text is the Harvard System, which gives the
surname of the author (or name of organisation) and the year of publication. Every table and figure
that is not your own work should also have a source that refers to where you obtained the data, or
the reference from which you copied the table or figure. Examples of the different ways in which
correct referencing may be made in the text:
(a) Smith (1993) states that the study of social class and environmental quality is a very problematic one.

(b) According to Smith (1993) the study of social class and environmental quality is a very problematic one.

(c) The study of social class and environmental quality is a very problematic one (Smith, 1993).

In case (a): Of course you can alter the tense e.g. to ‘stated’ if required, or use other words such as:
affirmed, articulated, asserted, averred, declared, explained, expounded, expressed, presented,
propounded, put, reported, said, suggested, voiced, etc … the list is very long.

If there are two authors, quote the two, e.g. (Clark and Smith, 1993). While if there is more than
two authors, use et al., for example, Clark et al., 1993. But give all the names of the authors in the
reference list. (Note that et al., which means 'and others', it is usually written in italics).
Advice for essays and referencing – Dr Elsa João, University of Strathclyde - Page 5 of 11
What about if there is more than one author with the same surname in the same year, e.g. Smith
(1993):

(a) if different Smiths give the initials, e.g. Smith, D. M. (1993); Smith, D. E. (1993).

(b) where the same author has written two or more articles in the same year, they can be differentiated by a, b, c,
etc., e.g. Smith (1993a), Smith (1993b), Smith (1993c).

Personal Communication:
Personal communications, i.e. information and ideas given to you in a non-published form (e.g.
letters, telephone conversation, emails, interviews, memos, unpublished lecture notes, etc), need to
be referenced as well. However, because personal communications are non-recoverable from the
reader’s perspective, they are not to be included in the reference list and should only be cited in the
text as they are referred to. In order to quote personal communications in the text, you must provide
as much detail as possible and note the nature of the communication. Permission should be sought
before these sources are quoted and in some case you must keep the person (or even the
organisation) anonymous to protect privacy (see University policy relating to Ethical Practice for
Research and related discussion in General Postgraduate Handbook).

Some examples:
(J. Smith, Department of the Environment, personal communication, interview 12 March 1996).

O’Sullivan, S., 2003. Discussion on citation and referencing. [Letter] (Personal communication, 5
June 2003)

(Local planner A, Scottish Local Authority, talk on the benefits of environmental assessment,
personal communication, 20 October 2008)

It is important to give the initials as well as the surname of the communicator (if you have
permission to do so), the name of the organisation (if you have permission to do so), and provide
as exact a date as possible. Note that in all cases (anonymous or not) you need to add the words
“personal communication”.

You can use this method to reference interesting statements told by guest speakers at lectures for
example. Please note that lecture notes are treated as personal communication if they are
unpublished (i.e. not copied and distributed in print or on the web with the instructor's permission).

Quoting verbatim:
When you quote verbatim from the text you should place the quoted words in speech marks and
give the exact page or pages where the quote may be found, for example:

Cowlard (1993: 176-7) suggested that “the urban fabric can be regarded as an imperfectly erased manuscript.”

Advice for essays and referencing – Dr Elsa João, University of Strathclyde - Page 6 of 11
When you want to use a relatively longer quote because of its interest, you might want to indent and
use single spacing:
"..the greatest possible accuracy with respect to the scale of the map; clear expression of metric information;
good characterisation in the forms; the most naturalistic forms and colours; the greatest possible clarity of
meaning and good legibility, simplicity and clarity of graphic expression; and finally, summarising all these
qualities, a beauty peculiar to the map itself." Imhof (1982: 86)

Rather than quoting verbatim, most of the time you should express the points you wish to make in
your own words. Often this will mean paraphrasing the work of others, but do not forget to
acknowledge the sources. For example, rather than writing (a) you would write as in (b):
(a) “The variables affecting spatial differences in cost and revenue are often hard to measure accurately, and their
inter-relationships pose conceptual as well as practical obstacles“ (Smith, 1987: 35).

(b) A major problem of neoclassical location theory is the difficulty of measuring spatial differences in costs and
revenue. Moreover there are conceptual as well as practical difficulties because the costs of production are not
independent of the revenue (Smith, 1987).

Distinguishing between references read from the ones you have not read:
You should clearly distinguish between references you have actually read and unread sources that
you refer to, but have not read in the original. Very often you may quote from a textbook or an
article, which is often not the original source of the material. In the following example, a paper by
Allerston is found quoted in a textbook by Dixon.

(a) Allerston (1986, in Dixon 1989) suggested that rural settlement patterns owe more to the contingencies of history
than to a structured planning process.
(b) It has been suggested that rural settlement patterns owe more to the contingencies of history than a structured
planning process (Allerston 1986, in Dixon 1989).

In summary when referencing it is not acceptable:

a) to copy whole phrases, sentences or paragraphs and use the words in your essays without any
reference to their source;
b) to use an author’s exact words without quotation marks even when the material is referenced,
since this implies that the words are paraphrased when in fact they are copied;
c) to string together phrases from different parts of an article (e.g. beginning and end of a
paragraph) and incorporate the resulting sentence into your essay as your own work;
d) to use a secondary source as a primary source without reference to both authors (e.g. Bloggs,
1980 in Smith, 1984), since it is possible that the second author paraphrased or misquoted the
first author.

2.2 Listing references at the end of the work

It is necessary to ensure that all references mentioned in the text should be listed in full at the end of
the piece of work. The most common way is to list books and papers at the end of submitted essays
or projects in alphabetical order of the surnames of the authors (or names of organisations). If you
have used several books or papers from one author, then these are then arranged according to date
with the oldest material first.
Always list references in full. The minimum amount of information you need to give is the
author(s) name(s) and initials, the year of publication or edition, the title of the book (in italics) or

Advice for essays and referencing – Dr Elsa João, University of Strathclyde - Page 7 of 11
the title of the article, journal title (in italics), volume number and page numbers. In the case of an
article in a book also give the name of the editor and initials and book title (in italics) and the page
numbers. In the case of books in general also state the place of publication and the publisher. (N.B.
Do not use underline.)

Notice the different ways of citing books, articles in journals, articles in edited books, etc.:

• A book or report can be reported like this:

Monmonier, M. (1991), How to Lie with Maps. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Department of Environment (1987), Handling geographic information. Report of the Committee of Enquiry chaired
by Lord Chorley. London: HMSO.

• or if it is a book of edited papers, like this:

Buttenfield, B. and McMaster, R. (eds.), (1991), Map Generalization: Making Rules for Knowledge Representation.
Harlow: Longman.

First the author(s) and date, then the title which should be in italics, then the place of publication
followed by the publisher. Note that, in the case of the report, the author is a government institution.

• A journal article can be reported like this:

Bolstad, P., Gessler, P. and Lillesand, T. (1990), Positional uncertainty in manually digitised map data. International
Journal of Geographical Information Systems, 4 (4): 399-412.

First the author(s) and date, then the title of the article, then the journal followed by its volume,
number and page numbers. Note this time it is the journal that is in italics, not the title of the article.

• A paper or article in a book of collected and edited articles can be reported like this:

Gatrell, A. and Vincent, P. (1991), Managing natural and technological hazards. In: Masser, I. and Blakemore, M.
(eds.), Handling Geographical Information: Methodology and Potential Applications, pp. 148-180. Harlow:
Longman.

First the author(s) and date, then title, then the name of the editor(s) of the book, then the title of the
book (in italics), the page numbers of the article and finally the publisher.

• Conference proceedings can be reported like this:

Herbert, G., João, E. and Rhind, D. (1992), Use of an artificial intelligence approach to increase user control of
automatic line generalisation. Proceedings of the Third European Conference on Geographical Information
Systems. Munich, Germany, March 23-26, pp. 554-563.

First the author(s) and date, then title of the article, then title of the proceedings of the conference
(in italics), place and date of the conference and finally the page numbers.

• Theses and dissertations can be reported like this:

Painho, M. (1992), Modelling errors in digital landuse/landcover maps. Unpublished PhD thesis, Department of
Geography, University of California at Santa Barbara.

Advice for essays and referencing – Dr Elsa João, University of Strathclyde - Page 8 of 11
• A newspaper article can be reported like this:

Home, M. (1989), Haddock skippers warn of crisis, The Independent, 4th October.

• Information obtained from the Internet should be referenced like a reference (with author, year,
title, etc.). For example:

CIA World Factbook (2002) "Botswana." http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bc.html. Accessed

9/29/2002.

The important thing is to always include the author, date, title or description, and the web address
and when it was accessed.

• Other publications:
Where you are in doubt (e.g. occasional papers) include all bibliographical details or as much
information as you can.

• Unread references:
As above, but add the reference you saw it cited in, for example:

McDermott, P. (1973), Spatial margins and industrial location in New Zealand. New Zealand Geographer, 29: 64-74.
Cited in Smith (1987: 31).

2.3 Remember these important points when referencing

It is consistency and use of conventions that allows you to distinguish between a book, journal
article, article in a book, conference proceedings, article in conference proceedings, or articles in a
newspaper or magazine. This enables anyone wanting to follow up your research to distinguish
between types of publication and track them down easily.
There are many different styles of citing references, as you will see if you compare the
bibliographies at the end of a few books or articles, but you will find it useful to learn one way and
then stick to it. The examples shown in this handout follow one style. You are free to chose a style
of your liking as long as you list the references in full. Always remember to write down the full
reference (including page numbers) when you are taking notes from a book or article.

2.4 Bibliographic Databases

It is highly recommended that you use bibliographic databases for your research (both for the
dissertation and for all other assessed work as well). These give you easy and quick access to book
chapters, journal articles, conference papers, and other published materials. These databases allow
you to glance through article's abstracts and book summaries for each recorded item, so you can
save time physically searching for materials that may or may not be relevant. Two of the
bibliographic databases available at the library that is very useful for your research in environmental
health are Web of Knowledge (which gives access to the Science Citation Index) and GEOBASE
(but make sure you check if others are also useful through the University of Strathclyde electronic
services providers internet page).

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Web of Knowledge can be accessed from: http://www.lib.strath.ac.uk/wok.htm (Athens Password
required). You can access GEOBASE at http://www.lib.strath.ac.uk/artsweb/GEOGDB.htm. To
refine your search you can use the Boolean logic operators (details given by database providers).
Use the abstracts to select your key papers.

To get access to the full papers that you need, you may need to go to another library in Glasgow or
even in Edinburgh. To find out which library has which journals, you must use the SALSER
(Scottish Academic Libraries SERials) system (http://edina.ed.ac.uk/salser).

III. GENERAL STYLING ADVICE - relevant to most assessed work

3.1 Layout

• Headings and sub-headings are usually essential in reports and dissertations - think of short,
informative and interesting titles for all the sections and sub-sections. Indentation can be used
to make sections clear.
• Headings and sub-headings should be numbered in order to improve clarity. (Be aware that too
many sub-division of chapters may interrupt the flow.) Modern convention favours the decimal
system, i.e. 1.1 (first sub-section of chapter 1), 2.2 (second sub-section of chapter 2), etc., (and
even 1.1.1, 1.1.2, ...) but other systems are acceptable, provided there is consistency.
• Sections can then be referred to later in the text by their number (e.g. "as shown previously (see
section 3.1.2) this could have affected the results ...").

3.2 Tables and figures

• Statistical findings are usually clearest in tabular form, but words (e.g. descriptions) can also be
categorised to give a clear summary of findings.
• Graphs, histograms, etc. provide useful summaries. Points may also be summarised by the use
of diagrams to give a clear, visual impression and suggest relationships. Other visual material
relevant to the topic should be included as appropriate.
• Don't forget that the tables and figures should always be clearly integrated within the text, i.e.
avoid "phantom" tables. Tables and figures should be numbered and referred to in the text (e.g.
see Figure 1 and table 2). Always refer to the source of the tables and figures, when they are not
your own or when the data was not collected by you.

3.3 Abbreviations and Acronyms

• Abbreviations may be used in tables and diagrams and possibly lists. A key must be included
where necessary.
• You should avoid too many acronyms in order to improve readability
• Most acronyms need to be spelt out fully the first time they appear
• If you have many acronyms it may be useful to include a list of acronyms at the beginning of
the report or dissertation (e.g. after the table of contents)

Advice for essays and referencing – Dr Elsa João, University of Strathclyde - Page 10 of 11
3.4 Emphasis
Within the text use italics. For titles use italics and/or bold. Avoid the use of underline.

3.5 International Units and Mathematical Conventions

• Most books and papers now use metric systems and standard units (SI's) of measurement.
• Numbers under ten are usually spelt out, i.e. "eight levels".
• A zero is inserted before a decimal point for values less than the unity, i.e. 0.35 not .35.
• Order of brackets according to mathematical conventions: [{( ... )}
• In the case of mathematical formulas with fraction bars, and if you want to include the formula
in the middle of the text, then use only a single line rather over two lines:

{(a+b) / (x+y)} rather than a+ b

x+y

• If it is quite a complex formula it might help to separate it from the text and to use a special
mathematical software program.
• With any formula always explain what the variables are.

It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of

careful proof reading of all your assessed work!

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