2.

2a An Introduction to Referencing and Citation

For each of the questions in the following exercises, answers can be found
in Cite Them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide.

Exercise 1
Look at pages 1 and 2.
1. Explain in only one sentence what referencing is.
According to the book:
‘... referencing is the process of acknowledging the sources you have used in writing
your essay, assignment or piece of work.’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 1)
In other words:
Referencing is the process through which writers make it clear to their readers where
any information included in their written work has been taken from.

2. What does referencing allow a reader to do?

According to the book:
‘It [referencing] allows the reader to access your source documents as quickly and
easily as possible in order to verify, if necessary, the validity of your arguments and the
evidence on which they are based.’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 1)
In other words:
Referencing allows a reader to locate the articles that a writer has taken
information from. Once the reader has located them, she or he can then check
that the information is correct and the evidence is logical or trustworthy.

3. What is the difference between a reference list and a bibliography?

According to the book:
‘The reference list only includes the sources cited in your text. ... a bibliography ... uses
the same referencing style, but also includes all material, for example background
readings, used in the preparation of your work.’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 1)
In other words:
Bibliographies contain details of sources of all information used in a writer’s final piece
of work and also any information they read while creating the piece of work. However,
a reference list only contains details of sources of all information used in the writer’s
final piece of work.

4. Write four examples of actions that could be considered plagiarism.

According to the book the following are all examples of plagiarism:

‘Passing off as your own a piece of work that is partly or wholly the work of another
student’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 1)
In other words:
Using some or all of someone else’s work and pretending that it is yours.

‘Citing and referencing sources that you have not used’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 2)
In other words:
Saying that information you have used came from a particular source when it
did not, or you did not actually use any information from that source.
 ‘Quoting, summarising or paraphrasing material in your assignment without citing the
original source’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 2)
In other words:
Using the words and ideas of another author, or explaining their ideas using different
words, but not including an appropriate reference to show that these are not your own
ideas and/or not your words.

‘“Recycling” a piece of your own work that you have previously submitted for another
module or course’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 2)
In other words:
Handing in the same piece of work twice for different courses.

5. How many main techniques can be used to help avoid plagiarism?

The book lists five different techniques.

Exercise 2
When attempting the following exercises, to locate the relevant sections of the book more quickly,
search for key words in the ‘Index for the Harvard referencing style’ (pages 116 to 120).
1. Explain in only one sentence what in-text citations are.
According to the book:
‘In-text citations give the brief (abbreviated) details of the work that you are quoting
from, or which you are referring in your text.’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 4)
In other words and with slightly more details:
In-text citations are short pieces of information contained in a piece of written work
which the reader can use to find a corresponding item on the reference list which
provides full details of a source.

2. Give two examples of in-text citations.

According to the book:
‘Harris (2008, p. 56) argued that “nursing staff ...”’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 4)
‘In a recent study (Evans, 2010), qualifications of school-leavers were analysed ...’
(Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 4)

3. Explain in only one sentence what secondary referencing is.

According to the book:
‘In some cases you will want to cite/reference a work mentioned or quoted in another
author’s work ... [which] ... is known as secondary referencing ...’ (Pears & Shields,
2013, p. 7)
‘Secondary referencing [is] citing/referencing a work that has been mentioned or
quoted in the work you are reading.’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 113)
In other words:
Citing a source of information in your own work which you have not actually read, but
have only read about in an article by a different author.

(If we compare this to people talking, it would be similar to saying:

“Joe told me that Anne said she was going to visit Shanghai this weekend.”
The information came from Anne, but the person did not actually hear Anne say it. Their
‘secondary’ source was actually ‘Joe’.)

4. Give one example of a secondary reference.

According to the book:
‘Harvey (2010, quoted in Lewis, 2012, p. 43) provides an excellent survey ...’ (Pears &
Shields, 2013, p. 7)
‘White’s views on genetic abnormalities in crops (2011, cited in Murray, 2012) support
the idea that ...’ (Pears & Shields, 2013, p. 7)

5. Explain in only one sentence what the difference is between a quotation and a paraphrase.
A quotation (also known as a direct quotation) repeats the idea of an author in her or his
own words whereas a paraphrase repeats the idea using different words.

Exercise 3
Look at pages 18, 19 and 20. These three pages of the book are extremely useful because
they contain a sample article with in-text citations, a sample reference list, and a checklist of
what needs to be included in different types of references.
1. Look at the in-text citation for Bowman and Jenkins (2011). Do you think ‘Bowman’ and
‘Jenkins’ are the authors’ family names or given names?
They are their family names.
2. Look at the entry on the reference list for Bowman and Jenkins (2011). What do you think
the ‘R’ following ‘Bowman’ and the ‘S’ following ‘Jenkins’ refer to?
They refer to the initials (the first letters) of the authors’ given names.
3. Look at the sample reference list. Look at the references which include website
addresses. What two types of information can appear after website address? What do you
think each type of information means?
A URL/DOI may appear and the date accessed/downloaded.
A URL is a website address.
A DOI is a special number which is given to some documents; it is similar to the ISBN
number found on the back of most books. Each DOI number is unique and will only
match one article.
The ‘date accessed’, is the date that the person read the information on the Internet.
If the person actually copied a file containing the article onto their computer, then the
‘date downloaded’ is the date they did this.
4. Look at the checklist on page 20. What three items are included for every type of reference?
The NAME of the AUTHOR. The YEAR of publication. The TITLE of the publication (that
is, the name of the article or book).
5. Look at the checklist on page 20. What three items do books or their chapters require
which no other reference type requires?
They require PLACE OF PUBLICATION, PUBLISHER and EDITION.

Citations above refer to:

Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2013) Cite Them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide. 9th edn. Hampshire:
Palgrave Macmillan.

Exercise 4
Visit the RWAC Moodle page. Find the Lesson 2.2 Source List. Read Appendix 7 of this book
on Moodle and use it to help you decide which of the sources are academic. Then, use the
 information from the relevant pages of Cite Them Right to create a reference list of the sources
you decided were academic.

SOURCE 1 SOURCE 2
(Web page with organisation as author: p41) (Electronic journal article with doi: pp30-31)

not quite very not quite very

academic academic academic academic academic academic
 x x x x 
SOURCE 3 SOURCE 4
(Publication of international organisation – online: p53) (Electronic journal article with doi: pp30-31)

not quite very not quite very

academic academic academic academic academic academic
x x  x x 
SOURCE 5 SOURCE 6
(Blog: pp41-42) (Electronic journal article without doi: pp30-31)

not quite very not quite very

academic academic academic academic academic academic
 x x x x 
SOURCE 7 SOURCE 8
(Web page with organisation as author: p41) (Web page with organisation as author: p41)

not quite very not quite very

academic academic academic academic academic academic
x  x x x 
Note: Source 7 is an example of a source which some university tutors may feel is academic but others may feel is not. This
will depend on the familiarity of the tutor with the source and is a judgement which they have the right to make. Therefore,
before submitting any assignment, it is advisable to show any sources like this to the module tutor to check if they are
acceptable or not for that particular assignment.

In Harvard-style references, items in reference lists always appear in alphabetical order. Therefore, the
order of the sources in the reference list below does not follow the same order as they appear in the
table above.
References
Bryce, J., Boschi-Pinto, C., Shibuya, K. and Black, R.E. (2005) ‘WHO estimates of the causes of death in children’, The Lancet,
365(9465), pp. 1147-1152. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71877-8.

Jack, L., Grim, M. and Auld, M.E. (2012) ‘Health promotion practice expands focus on global health promotion’, Health Promotion
Practice, 13(3), pp. 289-292. doi: 10.1177/1524839912443244.

Lopez, A.D., Mathers, C.D., Ezzati, M., Jamison, D.T. and Murray, J. L. (2006) ‘Global and regional burden of disease and risk
factors, 2001: systematic analysis of population health data’, The Lancet, 367(9524), pp. 1747-1757.
The issue number in the above reference, ‘9524’, did not appear in the article. To locate it, you would have had to search for this
information online (or in the UNNC library database – ‘NUSEARCH’) using the article title.

PDR Health (2015) Quinidine Gluconate Injection. Available at: http://www.pdrhealth.com/drugs/quinidine-gluconate-injection

(Accessed: 20 September 2015).
Near the bottom of the page it says “© 2015 PDR Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved”; this is why we can put the year ‘2015’ as
the year of publication.
USAID (2015) West Africa – Ebola Outbreak. Available at:
https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1864/07.28.15%20-
%20USG%20West%20Africa%20Ebola%20Outbreak%20Fact%20Sheet%20%2341.pdf (Downloaded: 20 September 2015).
Even though the above looks like a webpage, it is actually a ‘PDF’ file which can be downloaded onto a computer. Since I decided
to download and save it onto my computer, I wrote ‘Downloaded: 20 September 2015’ in the above, rather than ‘Accessed’.

World Health Organization (2015) Malaria. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/ (Accessed: 20

September 2015).
Near the top of the article it says “Reviewed April 2015”; this is why we can put the year ‘2015’ as the year of publication.

---------------------

2.2b The General-to-Specific Structure

Exercise 1
Imagine you are writing a long essay with three different sections. Imagine that each section will
have a narrower focus than the previous one (like in Figure 1). Try to put the pieces of the essay
below into the correct order for the general to specific structure. Please note, you only need to
decide which paragraphs should go in which section, you do not have to decide what order the
paragraphs should be in.

Essay Question: Describe the main ways in Policies

which CVD rates within a nation can be reduced. A companies could
implement
Introduction
Provide funding for
the construction of
SECTION 1 B more public exercise
___________J___________
facilities
Paragraph 1 – B or C or G or I
Paragraph 2 – ________________________ Increase taxes on
Paragraph 3 - ________________________
C foods high in fat and
sugar
Paragraph 4 - ________________________
Engage in more
H exercise daily
Place educational
advertisements on
I television and the
Internet
Policies national
J governments
could implement

Provide more Create a less

SECTION 2
D nutritional food in K stressful working
_________ A _________ company canteens environment
Paragraph 5 – K or D or L .
Paragraph 6 – ____________________ Action Allow employees
Paragraph 7 – ____________________ E individuals can L regular exercise
take breaks

SECTION 3 Avoid smoking and Decrease intake of

_________ E _________ F environments where M foods high in fat and
others are smoking sugar
Paragraph 8 – F or H or M
Paragraph 9 – ____________________
Increase taxes on
Paragraph 10 – ____________________ tobacco products
G and illegalise
smoking in public
Conclusion
The General-to-Specific Structure: Causal Chains

Exercise 2
Complete the table below by placing the causes in the most appropriate place to complete each
causal chain.

OVERALL Economic Social Education

CATEGORY development attitudes levels
drinking large amounts of
alcohol is encouraged lack of public education
CAUSE increasing urbanisation
among adolescent peer programmes
groups

consuming large amounts lack of awareness

numbers of vehicles used
CAUSE of alcohol reduces decision of how disease
in cities increases
making capability spreads

individuals are less likely

decreasing air quality in to use condoms if water is often taken from
CAUSE
cities engaging in drunken contaminated sources
sexual intercourse

large numbers of
regular inhalation of contaminated water is
CAUSE adolescents engage in
particulate matter regularly consumed
unprotected sex

PHENO- Increasing prevalence High number of cases High number of cases

MENON of respiratory illness of HIV of cholera

drinking large amounts of lack of awareness

alcohol is encouraged water is often taken from
among adolescent peer contaminated sources
groups
individuals are less likely
lack of public education to use condoms if
programmes engaging in drunken
sexual intercourse
decreasing air quality in
of how disease
cities
spreads
regular inhalation of numbers of vehicles used
particulate matter in cities increases

large numbers of consuming large amounts

contaminated water is
increasing urbanisation adolescents engage in of alcohol reduces
regularly consumed
unprotected sex decision making capability
The General to Specific Structure: Individual Paragraph Structure
Exercise 3
The sentences below come from a paragraph which follows the general-to-specific structure.
Decide what the correct order of the sentences is and identify the function of each sentence.

SENTENCE FUNCTION OF
SENTENCE
NUMBER SENTENCE

In 2010, the global average for GDP spent on healthcare was Supporting Details
4 5.4%, but the average for developing nations was only 2.5%. for Idea 1

The health care problems in the developing world are varied and
1 are caused by a number of connected factors.
Topic Sentence

The amount developing nations spend per capita on healthcare is

5 also far below global averages.
Supporting Idea 2

Many developing nations can only afford to spend a small

3 percentage of their GDP on health provision.
Supporting Idea 1

In countries such as the US annual per capita spending is above Supporting Details
6 US$2000, whereas in most developing nations it is under US$21. for Idea 2

The most important of these factors is national poverty and the

2 effect it has on health care spending.
Focus

Thus, until developing nations have the ability to increase their

7 budgets, it will be extremely difficult for them to face many of Summary Sentence
their healthcare challenges.

Note: What percentage of a country’s GDP is spent on healthcare would normally be

considered to be a wider topic than how much is spent per capita (that is, how much
money is spent on each individual citizen of a nation). This is why the sentences
concerning GDP come earlier in the paragraph and the sentences concerning per
capita spending come later in the paragraph.